Is Murder Still Frowned Upon?

We’re kicking off today’s episode with one more Harry Potter cocktail (this one’s a smoky activated charcoal margarita called “Skele-Gro”), and some news…
Today’s episode is going to mark the end of an era — AKA, the season finale for a very long season 1! 🥺🥳
We’re so grateful for this podcast, the community, and all the stories this incredible show has taught us… and this ISN’T GOODBYE. We promise. We’ll be updating the podcast format to seasons for 2023 instead of weekly episodes, and we’ll still be staying on this account all the time to share funny content, memes, and all the relatable things.
On this episode, you’ll get to hear about some real changes in our business (we’ve been SO busy) and the realization that we just can’t do it all…
…but, like we said, it’s not goodbye. Promise. 💗
We’re knee-deep in prepping for season 2 already, so keep sending stories to us — and let us know if you have any suggestions for topics, guests, and/or sponsors! We’re here for it. Always. And we’ll be back so, so soon.
Submit your stories and questions at perourlastemail.com, and we’ll do our best to read them as ridiculously as possible.
Check out our lawyer approved contract: Commercial Photography Agreement
Follow us on Instagram: @perourlastemail @weekendcreative

Meet Emma Maja — our Australian gal (who joined us at a wildly early hour bc of the time difference!), who’s a freelance graphic designer, illustrator, AND dog accessory and apparel designer! Today we’re kicking off with another Harry Potter themed cocktail (AKA, a frozen midori sour with a twist called Polyjuice Potion), and Emma dives on in with us over an espresso martini.
We got to hear how Emma’s product-based business has informed her service-based business, all the things she’s learned in and out of freelance, and her journey as a designer — anchored, of course, by some killer stories.
Duh.
First, we get to hear about the TRUE AUDACITY of a client whose mission was to “empower women” but, well… hint, hint, DIDN’T. They treated her horribly, kept hinting towards ~future work opportunities~ and asked her to lower her already low rates… and you’re gonna cringe when you find out how much work Emma did for way too little money. We also hear about a client who reached out via Facebook Messenger and gave Emma ~the ick~ for a project that ended up having a total lack of boundaries… as they sometimes do.
We loved having Emma on the show and hearing about everything from her practical advice to the lessons she’s learned along the way to the mistakes she’s made — and it’s a really good one.
You know what to do! 😌
Follow Emma on IG at @emmamajadesign and check out her site at emmamajadesign.com
Check out her dog accessory and apparel brand: Dogs of CBR
Follow us on Instagram: @perourlastemail @weekendcreative

Today, meet Jason B. James —  an incredible food and beverage photographer by day and DJ by night! We kicked off this episode with another Harry Potter-themed cocktail (we named this one Reparo — a gin cranberry sour inspired by Command Z, AKA the Photoshop shortcut that saves our lives).
We loved hearing about how Jason transitioned from being a behavioral therapist to a photographer (AND a DJ) — and he told us how he describes his work as a little surreal, almost “like you microdosed” when looking at it.
#weloveit
You’ll get to hear about one of Jason’s events from hell during a NYE DJing gig gone wrong annnnnd his last straw before deciding freelance life was going to have to be the life for him. Because, as we all know… sometimes freelancing can be ROUGH, but man oh man is it better than anything else. 😂
Tune in now, pals!
Submit your stories and questions at perourlastemail.com, and we’ll do our best to read them as ridiculously as possible.
Follow Jason on IG at @jason.b.james and check out his website at jasonbjamesphoto.com
Follow us on Instagram: @perourlastemail @weekendcreative

Who knew Per Our Last Email would be getting into unsolved mystery podcast territory? 👀
Our friends Cierra and James of Halves Studio, an incredible lifestyle + studio photography hybrid based in Brooklyn, NY, joined us on today's episode with a rather mysterious story.
I mean... it's not every day you get shipped a 6-7K Louis Vuitton purse...
Anywho... we dove right in over a couple of Butterbeer cocktails as Cierra and James shared their journey in creating Halves Studio, what it's like to run a photography studio with your life partner, their current relationship with social media, and the time a client told Cierra she'd be a "perfect fit" to create video content for their mom and baby product line. (Spoiler alert: she's not a mom)
...but honestly, how on earth does a Louis Vuitton bag just magically appear on one's doorstep?! Asking for a friend...
Help us solve this mystery and listen on in. 🔍
You know you’re sitting on a good story that you’re just dying to share. Send it into perourlastemail.com. Submit the story now, deal with your conscience later.
Follow Cierra and James on IG and TikTok at @halves_studio and check out their website at halvesstudio.com
Follow us on Instagram: @perourlastemail @weekendcreative

In today’s episode, you get to meet the incredible women behind Four Course Media, Rylee and Laura! We’re kicking off this episode during the massive heat wave in San Jose (um, 108 degrees?! Bye), and Rylee & Laura contributed the cocktail for this month’s HARRY POTTER COCKTAIL THEME ✨
We dove in over a fernet and vermouth spritz cocktail named “The Leaky Cauldron” and talked about how they went from meeting in a Slack group for freelance photographers to starting their studio, which offers imagery, styling, recipe development and branding consulting for food and beverage brands.
In the ep you’ll get to hear about how they style food with real, fresh ingredients, tackle food waste in the industry, and run their business living in different places (Rylee’s based in Denver and Laura in Chicago).
You’ll also get to hear about a very insane, traumatic story (ugh) with a ridiculous, stressful, and absolute jerk of a client who was full of red flags — like, hi… can we NOT with clients who do things like nitpick, delay, and, um… send emails like “Did something upload incorrectly? The colors in these photos are not showing up as expected. Do you mind checking the link to see if that’s what you meant to send?”
LIKE YES IT IS WHAT WE MEANT TO SEND, PHIL.*
*Not the client’s real name. 😂
Anyways, this is a good one — and we can’t wait for you to tune in!
Submit your stories and questions at perourlastemail.com, and we’ll do our best to read them as ridiculously as possible.
Follow Laura and Rylee on IG at @fourcoursemedia and check out their website at fourcoursemedia.com
Follow us on Instagram: @perourlastemail @weekendcreative

Today we’re talking to the incredible Megan Rizzo, an amazing creative, artist, and illustrator who’s worked with tons of companies (hello… like MTV, Sony, and BET!) — and we’re kicking off with a delightful college-themed cocktail that plays off of Jungle Juice, called “Welcome to the (Freelance) Jungle.”
(Megan’s a new mom who’s taking it a little more low-key than we are, so she’s enjoying an apple juice mimosa while we breathe in memories of frat houses. Sigh.)
There’s absolutely nothing better than a multi-faceted conversation about all the things, which is exactly how our conversation with Megan went — starting diving into her work, which she describes as “playful, bold, and comforting,” and how she draws inspiration from herself and her own struggles in her work (which includes #casual things like illustrating and writing children’s books).
So freakin’ cool.
Our favorite part of every guest ep is getting to hear stories from our fellow freelancers, and Megan tells us about a client who had wildly unrealistic expectations (AKA they wanted her to completely change her style) which obvi resulted in endless revisions… Oh and we also get to hear about an inquiry she received asking her to illustrate ✨sexual encounters✨ for a sexual poetry book.
Ah, we love it.
You guys know what to do!
Send your most audacious stories, thoughts, highs and lows to perourlastemail.com.
Forever accepting memes, gifs and stress-relieving videos via Instagram, too.
Follow Megan on IG at @daizydoodles and check out her website at daisyillustrations.com
Follow us on Instagram: @perourlastemail @weekendcreative

And we are BACK with a good ole’ stories episode… arguably our most audacious one ever, so get ready!
College cocktail month is still going strong, so we’re sipping on the lovely Adios, Mother****** that we’ve aptly renamed A Magical Freelancer, and kick off telling you guys about the ~audacity~ of a company who wanted to buy our images for $15 each. Love it.
But, we digress — because the stories we have this week are INSANE. First, we hear from a listener whose client simply could NOTTTT understand why her prices had raised from pre-pandemic times — and who decided that she didn’t agree with renewal of licensing and usage, either. #nothx. Then we hear about a listener who got on a call with a potential client, only to LITERALLY hear the phrase “oh NO, we don’t work with budgets, it’s more about VALUE for us…” when she was explaining her budget.
Spoiler alert… this means they didn’t want to pay. 😅
Then we have a commercial photographer from the food space talk about a vvvv passive-aggressive email from a potential client asking if the photos in her proposal were… HER PHOTOS (well yes, duh!), and shows us the email exchange. And then, to wrap up the most audacious stories episode yet, we have a really fun (AKA, triggering) story about an incredibly picky client who did not give AF about her having COVID or her instilling any kind of client boundaries.
Oof.
It’s a lot, huh?!
Tune in to hear the tea. 🤟
Send your most audacious stories, thoughts, highs and lows to perourlastemail.com.
Forever accepting memes, gifs and stress-relieving videos via IG, too. Find us at @perourlastemail @weekendcreative!

Today’s episode kicks off with Lina Cordero of Onlychild Design, a branding and design studio, and we’re OBSESSED WITH HER… as you’ll be able to tell in this ep. 🤩
We’re continuing our theme of college cocktails this month (much to Elle’s distaste LOL), and drinking jager bombs we’ve called “Bomb Dot Com” — an ode to feeling of having amazing projects you’re proud of — and slightly wishing we were drinking palomas like Lina was. But, we digress.
Lina talks about how and why she started Onlychild Design (um, hint… in her last corporate job, she was LITERALLY asked to make changes to a project while she was in labor. No thx), and we talk about good ole client red flags, picking the right clients, and NOT having a business you have to treat like a child.
Then, as usj, we get to hear some incredible stories — including Lina’s worst ever discovery call (like, hi, a note to clients: can you not ask us ~why we’re having this call~ when you’re the one that booked it?!), a pro bono client who decided to reach out for changes almost 3 years later, being asked to work during labor, and when she accidentally deleted all of her client work from her computer.
*dies*
It’s seriously a good one, friends — head over to listen on in!
Send your most audacious stories, thoughts, highs and lows to perourlastemail.com.
Forever accepting memes, gifs and stress-relieving videos via Instagram, too.
Follow Lina on IG at @onlychildesign and check out her website at onlychildesign.com
View some of Lina's Adobe Live Streams: Part 1 and Part 2
Follow us on Instagram: @perourlastemail @weekendcreative

Imagine getting trolled for a year and receiving not one but SEVERAL inquiries by someone pretending to be Lady Gaga... 😅
Wellllll... you can stop imagining because it *actually* happened. To whom you may ask?
None other than the ~fabulous~ Marina Williams. We're over here pinching ourselves because we got to chat with one of the sweetest and most talented creative photographers in the industry. Not only does she create stunning work but she's not afraid to share what she knows via all of her educational resources.
And. We. Are. Here. For. It. 👏
In this ep, you'll get to hear about Marina's favorite college cocktail, her freelance journey, the time she got to photograph Olivia Rodrigo shortly after "drivers license" exploded, social media fatigue (so it's not just us?!),  and some of the toughest lessons she's had to learn while running her business.
You know what to do - grab your cocktail and listen in! 🍸
Follow Marina on IG at @marinawphoto and check out her site at marinawilliamsphoto.com
Check out her educational Patreon: Made To Make
Find out more about her portfolio building event: Colorpop
Follow us on Instagram: @perourlastemail @weekendcreative

On this week’s episode, we’re shakin’ it up with a good ole’ discussion topic… CONTRACT CLAUSES.
But, before we dive in over key lime martinis (that we’ve named Offlime, because… #catchy), we get really, really real about the burnout and the exhaustion we’ve been feeling this past year — caused by the pandemic and by massive changes in our personal lives. We’re in this phase where we want to really focus on what’s important to us and what’s bringing us the most joy, you know?!
We get a little deep, okay?! 😂
When we kick off our chat on contract clauses, we have a LOT to talk about — and a lot that you can probably relate to. We talk about copyright and licensing (and about how we’ve lost out on renewal fees and the like before we knew more about it), we talk about how we no longer release deliverables before final payment is made, and we also talk about the usability of the work we’re doing.
It’s a good one —  basically an episode of Suits, minus Meghan Markle and absolutely any professional legal education.
Psst… we’re running low on stories over here, and we’d love to hear yours! Send us your most cringey, most hilarious, and most ✨educational✨ stories by tapping the link in our bio or going to perourlastemail.com/submit-your-story.
Check out these resources: Illumination (Formerly Luke Studios)' Licensing and Pricing FAQ, The AOP Usage Calculator, and Getty Price Calculator
View our lawyer approved contract: Commercial Photography Agreement
Follow us on Instagram: @perourlastemail @weekendcreative