Today we’d like to introduce you to Todd & Alissa Graham.
Hi Todd & Alissa, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Alissa: We were both working a ton and wanted to spend more time together as a family, so we sold our house, left our jobs, bought an RV and started traveling this beautiful country of ours full-time with our kids. In the last 8 months, we’ve been to 17 states and going strong!
Todd: Our family has had the pleasure of sitting around campfires with people from all over the world – Doctors, Nurses, Veterans, Teachers, Entrepreneurs, and many other full-time travelers. Through our campfire chats, we began to realize how many families had never hired a professional photographer. So, we launched a boutique family photography company, Todd Graham Photography, to serve families all over the world.
If you’ve thought about traveling full-time or would like to follow our travel adventures, check out @TheFreebirdFamily on Instagram!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Alissa: No adventure worth experiencing comes without some bumps in the road. As full-time travelers in an RV, things are bound to break. We flooded our bedroom doing laundry in the first couple weeks of having our RV. While in Branson, MO our ACs stopped working in 100+ degree weather. The Winds in Texas almost tipping our RV over, Rattlesnakes in New Mexico, Thin air and difficulty breathing at high altitudes in Colorado, or our car being surrounded by 50+ bears in South Dakota – The list of bumps in the road is long, but we wouldn’t trade this time with our kids for the world! We’re at the point in our lives where we take the bumps in stride. The bumps in the road are the things you end up talking and laughing about around a campfire with your friends and loved ones.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Todd Graham Photography?
Todd: We focus on documenting the daily lives of the families we work with. As parents, we are subject to those silly tricks of time, and in the blink of an eye, our little ones aren’t so little anymore. In the fast-paced world we live in today, that time slips faster and faster. I ran a successful wedding photography company in Atlanta for many years, and one of the things I told clients all the time was that there are only two things that increase in value from the wedding day. Your marriage…and your photos. As time passes and our loved ones leave us, you’ll look back at those photos and remember the smiles, laughter, and tears. You wouldn’t trade those photos for anything. It’s no different with your family. As we grow older and our kids have moved out and begun their own journey, we will look back at these photos and cherish this time.
We understand the importance of what we do as a documentary family photographer. Which is why, in addition to standard sessions local to our clients, we also travel with families to document their vacations, reunions, celebrations, and much more. I am so proud of the work we are doing. Watching the expressions of parents opening their albums or wall art for the first time is something we will cherish and carry with us forever.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
Todd: I’ve wrestled with that term for most of my life. When it comes to success and failure, I’m not sure if it exists. Things happen in life because we’ve put ourselves in a position for good or bad things to happen. Alissa mentioned earlier how we flooded our RV doing laundry two weeks into our travels. That’s not bad luck, we forgot to open our gray tanks. That day, we learned what not to do while doing laundry. You live, you learn, you move on.
When it comes to my photography career, I’ve worked my tail off for over 15 years. I did things for free, treated people with respect, built relationships, traveled the world, made crap money and made great money. I’ve lost photography gigs I thought would change my life only to be redirected on a path that better fulfilled me. I found an incredible woman to be my wife who has supported me and believed in me, even when I didn’t believe in myself. I have failed and made mistakes my entire life. I believe that is where success lies. Somewhere between failure and growth.
Contact Info:
- Website: ToddGrahamPhotography.com
- Instagram: Instagram.com/ToddGrahamPhotography
- Facebook: Facebook.com/ToddGrahamPhotography
- Other: TikTok.com/ToddGrahamPhotography
Image Credits
Todd Graham
