Episode 020 - Meghan Spencer

In this episode, I welcome Meghan Spencer! Meghan is the owner/photographer of Spencer Studios and an aerialist with Kansas City Aerial Arts. She shares some of her most memorable memories of encounters with art, and why they are the moments that matter most. Fun fact: the cover image for this episode is of Meghan, by Meghan! And BONUS: Here's a link to a blog post Meghan wrote on the creative process on a project that has been one of her most important artistic projects: https://kansascityaerialarts.com/masked-a-superhero-love-story-the-creative-process/. Enjoy!

 

Get in touch with Meghan Spencer: www.spencerstudiosphotography.com | https://www.facebook.com/SpencerStudiosPhotography | www.instagram.com/aerialist.meghan | www.instagram.com/spencerstudios | www.kansascityaerialarts.com 

Support Artfully Told: www.paypal.me/elevateart 

Artfully Told links: www.facebook.com/artfullytold | www.artfullytold.podbean.com | elevateartskc@gmail.com

Get a free audiobook through Audible!  http://www.audibletrial.com/ArtfullyTold

Schedule your interview with Artfully Told! https://calendly.com/artfullytold/podcast-interview

 

Episode 20 - Meghan Spencer

Lindsey Dinneen:  Hello, and welcome to Artfully Told, where we share true stories about meaningful encounters with art.

[00:00:07] Krista: I think artists help people have different perspectives on every aspect of life.

[00:00:13] Roman: All I can do is put my part into the world.

[00:00:16] Elizabeth: It doesn't have to be perfect the first time doesn't have to be perfect ever, really. I mean, as long as you, and you're enjoying doing it, and you're trying your best, that can be good enough.

[00:00:24]Elna:  Art is something that you can experience with your senses and that you just experience as so beautiful.

[00:00:33] Lindsey Dinneen: Hello, and welcome back to Artfully Told. I'm your host, Lindsey, and I am so excited to have as my guest today the absolutely lovely Meghan Spencer. She is an aerialist with Kansas City Aerial Arts as well as the owner and a photographer extraordinaire of Spencer Studios. And I just am so thankful that you're here with us today. Thank you, Meghan.

[00:01:02] Meghan Spencer: Thank you so much for having me. I'm, I'm super excited about getting to join you on your podcast.

[00:01:08] Lindsey Dinneen: Yay. Well, if you don't mind, I'd love if you just share a little bit about yourself, maybe a little bit about your background, if that's okay.

[00:01:15] Meghan Spencer: Yeah, absolutely. So my full time job is I am a wedding and portrait photographer. That is the studio, Spencer Studios. And my last name is Spencer. So that's where that comes from. I get asked the question, "Who is Spencer?" very often. So, that's me. And, I primarily shoot weddings and boudoir, and in the last few years, I've kind of started picking up doing some business and branding stuff. I've also started shooting other artists in Kansas City. I had a, a light bulb moment that I can shoot and also interact with my other passion at the same time, which is pretty cool. So that's my, that's my full time gig. And then my side gig is I am an aerialist with Kansas City Aerial Arts, and I not only am a performer, but I also am a coach and a choreographer. And that side of it is also really exciting for me and something that brings me a lot of joy in my life.

[00:02:11] And in terms of kind of my longterm interactions with art, I started dancing when I was about four. Took that, that little tap class that all little dancers take with the shiny black shoes and the, I think my first costume was a yellow polka dot bikini if I remember, which is amazing and I love it. And then I danced pretty much my entire childhood. I was a part of a competitive dance company. And then when I got into high school, I never thought I'd be a professional performer. I just didn't think I was talented enough. And so I decided to quit dance. I could do the performance opportunities that were available to me in high school, and like the stuff that I knew I'd only really be able to do in high school. So I was in seven music ensembles and theater.

[00:03:05] I did band and choir and show choir and all the theater productions and all that stuff, which at the time just felt like doing a bunch of stuff I enjoyed, but in retrospect has really guided all those little things have really influenced my performance ability as an adult. And then after high school, I was in the marching band for four years in college. And then, after college I did one community play and then my, my artistic options kind of dried up. I got married. I, you know, living life and I, I didn't realize how much I had missed those performance opportunities until I had a friend that suggested I try aerial. And now I've been doing that for five and a half years and I'm performing again. And, so my life has pretty much been artistic for all of it in some way, shape or form.

[00:04:02] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, absolutely. And I'm sure because I've had the opportunity to see too, but your dance background has significantly, I would say, given you a leg up, which--I probably shouldn't have said that pun, but anyway, here we are-- you know, for your aerial. I mean, do you think that that did help? I think you have a different approach than maybe somebody who doesn't have a dance background and, and comes into it, maybe from a gymnastics background or another kind of athletic background. I mean, do you think it gives you a different vibe?

[00:04:36] Meghan Spencer: Absolutely. I think both the dance background, as well as an acting background, both give me a really interesting perspective and I know that having a dance background means I don't ever have to think about my hands or my feet ever. I don't think about pointing my toes. I don't think about making my hands pretty. That's something that's really, really innate in how my body moves, which allows me the space to think about other things, which is really wonderful. And also the acting background has taught me a lot about building characters and how to communicate a lot of storytelling and emotions through the way that I'm moving my body. And I think those two things have really given me the opportunity to have a new way to express while also using all those tools that are like already in my toolbox.

[00:05:29] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, absolutely. So we'll circle back to aerial because I'm such a fan of aerialists. I, first of all, if you, as an audience member, have not seen aerial yet, please go and support a performance because aerialists are absolutely amazing athletes and artists. And I want to be one when I grow up, but, but, back to your photography. So was that something that you had dabbled in earlier and then decided, "Hey, you know, I, I really could have this as my career, as my full time job." I mean, how, how did that evolve?

[00:06:10] Meghan Spencer: So in high school, I always had a camera on me always. And point and shoots existed. The one that I have was huge, like, it didn't even fit in my purse, so I'd have to carry it separately. And I just had it on me all the time and all my friends knew that I would be the one taking all the pictures and be posting them to Facebook like the next day. So they could have access to them, and that was just like my persona in high school. I just carried my camera everywhere. And then after high school, the summer between my freshman and sophomore year of college, for a summer job, I worked with a family friend who was a photographer, and I did all the, the grunt work, right? Like I, the boring editing and setting the lights up before shoots and things like that. And one day I was driving home, listening to music, and I had this realization that I had a really awesome day doing all of the grunt work. And I was like, "Well, maybe if the boring part of this job is something that I enjoy, maybe this is the thing I should do, do for a living."

[00:07:18]And that was just, that was just the start of it. And by the end of that summer, that studio ended up shutting down for a handful of reasons. And, I was sitting in my bed one morning, being sad because the job I really liked didn't exist anymore. And I was like, "Well, I guess I'll just do it myself then." And I got up and I made a website which was ugly and terrible, and it just kind of went from there. And by the time, I mean, probably two years from then, I was, I was sure that I was going to be a professional photographer for a living. All my advisors in college knew that that was my track, and that was, that was just something--I was shooting in college-- I had technically had already opened my business and was like editing and delivering products out of my sorority house.

[00:08:12] Lindsey Dinneen: Nice.

[00:08:13] Meghan Spencer: Yeah. I remember walking a client's photos to try it out one day, 'cause I was like, well, they, they live in this other sorority house. So walking over like, so I was already starting to do that at that point. So it's always been the plan and it took some years of building it to a point where it's financially viable on its own, but it's just something that I've known I've wanted to do since that light bulb moment on my way home from work that one day.

[00:08:43]Lindsey Dinneen:  Yeah. Wow. Yeah. And you, well, okay, so this year has been wonky for everyone. We had a conversation about that even before we started recording, but you're booked up. I mean, you are in general, you have weddings all the time, all sorts of photo shoots. So your business just seems to have grown and grown and grown. So congratulations, because that's a really big deal.

[00:09:07] Meghan Spencer: Thank you. Yeah, it is and I, I have a couple of photographers that I mentor not in any sort of formal capacity, but they, and they asked me about that, and talk to me about that, and really, I mean, I had the business technically open for, I think, eight years before I went full time. And it took a long time and I almost threw in the towel a couple of times because building something like that is something that just takes a lot of time, and a lot of practice and you make a lot of mistakes, some of which are financially costly. But I just kept, I just kept pushing and eventually all the things aligned. I moved to Kansas City where my business, and my business model, and who I am as a person just fit in this market really well. And I just worked and worked and worked and eventually, yeah, just got to a point where I was able to quit my part-time job. And I got pretty lucky that I had a job that I could, as my business grew, I could cut down my hours and then eventually I could, you know, jump ship and do it full-time. And I've been really lucky that that has worked out for me pretty well. And also, I, can't not comment on the fact that my, my spouse has been very, very supportive throughout this process. And he's the one that kept me from not throwing in the towel. So, I really would not have been able to do it without, without his support.

[00:10:39] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, absolutely. I think that it's so important to have a great support system as an artist, your spouse, or, you know, your partner definitely is key. And then having a group of people who can help encourage you because it is tough. And yeah, there are definitely times when you want to throw in the towel and just go this isn't it or that, but yeah, I'm glad to hear that. Excellent. Well, I have a question, and this is just something that, you know, I've asked a couple people--it's, it's so difficult sometimes to put a price tag on art, I think. And it's important because what you do has a lot of value, obviously. And you've honed your craft for years, but sometimes still as an artist, it can be difficult to say, "Okay, well, it's worth X." How did you navigate that at the beginning? And maybe as you've grown as an entrepreneur, how has that evolved over time? Being able to sort of say, "Well, my products are great. Here's how I price it."

[00:11:48] Meghan Spencer: Well, I've been in business for 11 years and it still sucks. So, so it's gotten slightly better. It's still really hard.

[00:11:56]Lindsey Dinneen:  Yeah.

[00:11:57] Meghan Spencer: When I started, I, I had, because I had worked for someone else in the industry that meant that I had a little bit of knowledge in terms of what the industry was supporting at the time, which allowed me to have kind of a baseline which is, which was useful. And then over time, I've just raised my prices or adjusted my, my packages. There was, my original packages for weddings didn't work. They just were not what people wanted and it just wasn't working for me. And so then I changed them. They used to have eight hours and I was consistently annoyed that I wasn't able to shoot more getting ready or more reception or whatever the thing was. And so I changed it and they all include nine now. So a lot of that has been trial and error, figuring out what people want, and what works well in terms of creating those packages. And, pricing wise, I just, I try and raise my prices every couple of years to, to account for inflation and to account for the fact that I'm continuously better at my job, because I'm doing it more. And that's hard. I've been saying I was going to raise my prices for, I think, three years. And then COVID hit and then I did it again.

[00:13:20] So, I'm under-priced. And I really should fix it, but it's, it's just part of that process of, even if you've done it for a long time, being confident enough in your work to say that you're worth X amount. And I also pay a lot attention to what's going on in the market. That is always been a really big, determining factor for me in terms of if the market kind of ranges from here to here, and this is the market average. I want to be just a little bit above that market average. And that, that really has helped kind of at least give me a ballpark of where I want to be.

[00:13:59] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. That makes complete sense. So are there any particular memories or stories that kind of stand out to you as being particularly impactful or memorable about some interaction with art?

[00:14:13] Meghan Spencer: So, I know you were gonna ask this question. So I've been thinking about it like always, and honestly, I just have a lifetime of moments that stand out to me as super memorable and are thus because of art. I, in high school heading into my senior year, I, we had a girl who the previous year was a senior and was super popular and super fun and bubbly, and everybody loved her and she was diagnosed with cancer. And at that age, that was catastrophic for us and so for that year for show choir, our show choir director wrote--'cause he, he wrote all of our ballads every year and he wrote one for her--and the first time that we all sang it together, she came back and singing this gorgeous ballad with her there. And all of us, like it was, it was so emotional and pivotal. And she's okay. She beat it and everything's great. But, so like, you know, that, that moment.

[00:15:25] Or in, my sophomore year of high school, we went to London. And one day we were at the London National Art Museum. And I was just wandering, kind of by myself, 'cause I like to take my time in art museums and nothing was really catching my eye. And then I found this painting and there was something about it that I just couldn't take my eyes off it. And I sat in front of it for about a half an hour. And honestly, I've never been able to figure out what that painting is. 'Cause I wasn't smart enough to write it down and I can't find it. But I've never forgotten that moment. And it's been like 15 years. And I remember what it looks like and I just couldn't, there's something about it. And I don't even really know what it was, but I just couldn't take my eyes off it.

[00:16:15]And then even more recently, I, I created an act in 2018 for an aerial show. And it was the first time that someone had trusted me with something so important. I had a solo, and it was a really big emotional piece, and no one had ever trusted me with something that important before. And I created something that I'm really, really proud of. And then eight days later, I had a catastrophic injury and that power from that solo kind of carried me through that injury in some ways was a negative thing, because it was like, I did that. And am I ever going to be able to do it again? And the lid on that injury in my head was the day that I did that solo again, after I got hurt. And it was about a year later after I had my injury. And that moment where I realized that my body healed and my heart still had some healing to do, but that I was past it. That was a big emotional moment. So I feel like my interactions with art, because I have been so involved in art in all ways, since I was so little. It's just all these little moments that pretty much make up, you know, this timeline of my entire life.

[00:17:48] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Well, and circling back to your, your injury. So I know that, that--  well, for context, for those who don't know, Kansas City Aerial Arts and my professional company, VidaDance, partnered together for several years now and on several different productions-- and so I've had the privilege of knowing Meghan for a couple of years now. And I remember that injury just being so devastating and, you know, you're working so hard to get back and, you know, each little step forward was celebrated, but it was hard and, and you were just such a champion through it all, but yeah, what was the process like of trying to come back after having been injured and not being able to do what you love and then, really having to build that strength up, I would imagine, again. What was that like?

[00:18:43] Meghan Spencer: Yeah. The, the injury was pretty catastrophic, both physically and emotionally. And I, it was rough. I was completely grounded for eight months, but that didn't keep me from being involved. And I knew the only way I was going to survive, it was to stay involved. If I knew that all my friends were at the studio making something cool and I was staying at home, that would be significantly worse than being there and not being able to get in the air because if I was there, at least I was with my friends and I still have a brain. I still have a creative mind and I can be useful. And I got very lucky that I'm a part of an organization that wanted to keep me involved. And I was in a show. I was in a show two months later, tap dancing with a very, very injured arm.

[00:19:39] Lindsey Dinneen: Yes.

[00:19:39] Meghan Spencer: And like, I wouldn't have been able to do that had I not had a 13-year-old to tie my tap shoes and another adult to put me in my corset, like I needed so much help to be able to do that. And nobody batted an eye at helping me do that so I could still stay involved. And that was amazing. And then coming back was hard. I lost more strength than I realized I was going to. I knew that the around the injury was going to be a challenge, but I didn't realize that my entire body was going to have to essentially gain strength all over again, which has always been the hardest part about aerial for me. It took a lot and there are some, there are some rough days. The first day that I came back to condition and I was still grounded, but I was going to try and start working on strength for the rest of my body, was really hard.

[00:20:38] And I had a really rough day. And then after I was done, we had a company rehearsal. We're doing trust exercises, like trust falls and things like that. And that I couldn't participate in and I love that . So I just sat there in my puddle of like, "I'm weak and I can't do this, and now I'm sad." So there is a lot of that, but I also was so supported by my team, like, I wasn't alone one day for the first two weeks. I, every single day had somebody show up at my house and make sure I had lunch and talk to me for a couple of hours and make sure I was okay. And I remember, I was talking to a couple of our teenagers one day and I finally was able to lift my arm to 90 degrees.

[00:21:28] And you would have thought that I was doing backflips. They were so, so excited and so proud, which is, yeah, it was so sweet 'cause they're both contortionists. So like they're just like busy putting their head on their butt like it's no big deal. And they were so supportive and proud and not only in that moment was I thankful for having them in my life, but I was also thankful that I have an organization that was teaching those teenagers, like how to be good people. So, yeah, so I was, I was super supported and once I finally was back in the air, I was able to-- there was a role in the next show that was primarily a ground roll with a little bit of aerial in a way that we were able to kind of avoid the injury while I was still healing. And while it was still, you know, getting strength back and, and that was, yeah, that was probably the most important role I've ever played in my entire life.

[00:22:25]And it just, it all just worked out and it's, it's taken awhile to kind of get past it emotionally as well. And I still have a little bit of PTSD from the whole thing. I cannot watch bones break. I used to be able to watch it on TV, no big deal. Now I cannot, and injuries are harder for me to deal with, but it also has given me some space on the ground to learn how to coach. That's the time that I got to take, take time to learn how to coach and be a good coach. And now that's a really positive part of my experience with aerial is being able to coach. So yeah.

[00:23:04] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, absolutely. And I think you touched on something really, really important that the community is vital and I've always appreciated, admired that about Kansas City Aerial Arts, but it's not the only arts organization that's like that of essentially building a family of people who are staunch supporters of each other, no matter what happens and you know, are going to be there through thick and thin. And, unfortunately not every organization is like that, but to find a community like that is, is special and worth holding on to.

[00:23:44] Meghan Spencer: Yeah. Yeah. And we, we know that it's, that it's not normal, and I'm not really sure how we cultivated it. And that's the thing I think about a lot is, "How did we, how do we do it? How do we make this place?" 'Cause it wasn't always like this. and if I could, if I could bottle that, that would be amazing. Because there's a lot of arts, I mean--coming from a competitive dance world where it wasn't that supportive, and I don't have the same feelings of just like family that loves each other, no matter what, like that's just not how it was. And I still have, I still had a very positive experience, but it just wasn't that thing, because we were consistently competing against each other all the time for everything. And not even just the studios against each other, which those girls in the other studios, I still like went to school with. But also even within the, within the same studio. So it's, it hasn't been my art experience always because of the competition. And because in theater you still have to try out and you still have to audition against, you know, the other people that also want those roles. And even those, those elements exist in this company somehow it has maintained its ability to be a hundred percent supportive, a hundred percent of the time. And if I could make all of the arts feel the way that this feels, I would do it in a heartbeat.

[00:25:18] Lindsey Dinneen: Absolutely. Yeah. No, it's, it is special. It is very special. So I'm just curious, do any stories stand out to you as being particularly funny? Like, do you have any, you know, backstage moments, stories, or even onstage moments where something happened that you were like, "Hmm, that wasn't intentional."

[00:25:40] Meghan Spencer: My freshman year of high school, I was in "West Side Story," and this was my first, it wasn't like a big role, but it was my first like really big acting experience. And I love "West Side Story," 'cause it was a dance show and it was a love show. And I played the youngest girl in our little group and I was dating the youngest boy in our little group. And he was actually a year younger than me in real life, and it's so funny 'cause now he's much taller, since he's grown up, but we had a little dance moment in the dance scene and we, he did like a cheek to cheek thing. And on opening night, my then-boyfriend, now-husband was sitting in the front row, because he's so sweet and we, something happened where like we missed our cheek to cheek moment, like just a weird split second. And what ended up happening was my lipstick then got smeared all over the side of my face and his face. Hardcore looked like we've been making out.

[00:26:54] And I was 16. And when I got off stage and like saw my face, I was mortified because I was like, "Oh my gosh, my new boyfriend!" And, oh my gosh, and he didn't even notice. And now, now it's just funny, yeah, that, and I think like I have a lot of just like great backstage memories of theater in high school. My, my best friend and I called it the "Blue Light Chronicles," because for those of you that don't know, you use blue lights backstage because it helps you see, but that light doesn't travel into the audience. And so like we still, to this day, we'll like talk about "Blue Light Chronicles" of like all the random stuff that happened backstage in high school and theater. And that stuff is really entertaining, especially since most of those people have now grown up and like have children of their own. It's very entertaining.

[00:27:51] Lindsey Dinneen: That's awesome,  and I love that title. I feel like you two should write a book and get contributors, you know, of these stories that are just so memorable, because I love the fact that, as an audience member, you get to see the final product and  you don't necessarily even realize the hours and hours that go into it. But for those on the opposite side-- I joke a lot because people say, "Oh, it's such a glamorous job." I'm like, I mean, I mean, it is glamorous in some senses, but, but there's a lot that goes into it. But you know, it's just funny and sweat and tears and all the things.

[00:28:34] Meghan Spencer: Yeah. And that's what for me, I think that part about it is one of my favorite parts. Like every single time we get into tech week, and I'm like, "Oh my God, it's tech week. It's going to be exhausting." And the last time my husband was like, "Shut up. You love it." Like, because I do like late nights at the theater where, like, all my favorite people are stuck, hanging out with me for extended periods of time, like in the same space, is my favorite. Yeah, it's exhausting, but it's also so, so fun. And when you're that tired, it's the silliest things happen. Yeah, that's like my favorite part about it. Obviously I love the performances themselves, but also the experience of putting it on and all the things that happen backstage and all the things that have to go right to make it happen. And, I, that stuff I'm super into it.

[00:29:33] Lindsey Dinneen: Absolutely. Yes. It makes the experience very well-rounded and incredibly meaningful. No, I agree. I love, I love tech week. I love performing and, and it just makes it all so great. Well, I have a couple of questions that I always like to ask my guests if that's okay with you.

[00:29:54] Meghan Spencer: Of course.

[00:29:55] Lindsey Dinneen: So the first one is how do you personally define art or what is art to you?

[00:30:02]Meghan Spencer: I think art is communicating to the outside world a feeling emotion or something else you want to say, because it can be tangible. It can be movement. It can be makeup. It can be--there's a lot of, there's a lot of ways that art can take forms, but it's always about communicating something.

[00:30:35]Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Well, what do you think is the most important role of an artist?

[00:30:40] Meghan Spencer: I think creation, and this is something that I've been thinking about a lot, actually in the last, in the last year. And even in the last six months as we've been dealing with all, all the crazy that is 2020. I think for me, especially, but I think for artists in general, creation is the part that matters. And we have this like funny joke at our studio of saying, "Well, that's a choice." And normally it means like you're doing something silly or weird or whatever. But at its core, it really means that as an artist, your choices are all that matter. And I can have an opinion about your choices, but at the end of the day, they're your choices to make. And making those choices of how you want to make the art that you're making is on you, and whether or not other people like it or agree with it, or even understand it, doesn't really matter.

[00:31:50]Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Excellent. And then, and I'll define my terms a little bit here, but do you think that art should be inclusive or exclusive? And by those terms I'm referring to a, with inclusive, an artist is sort of inviting you into the process, whether that's giving you a backstory or program notes, a title. It doesn't have to be extensive. Just something to give the viewer or participant a little more context to what they've created as an artist. Versus exclusive referring more to someone who presents their art to the world, but there's not necessarily any context or explanation behind it. So, it's more for the viewer to take from it what they will.

[00:32:40] Meghan Spencer: I think that interestingly enough, this ties right back to your last question, that that is just one more choice that an artist gets to make. And whether or not the information that's given can be part of the art because if someone doesn't want you to have any information and just wants you to experience the thing in whatever form it is, then that's part of it too. I think one of my biggest frustrations in life has been someone asking me to describe what an artist is thinking. And this happens a lot, especially in like literary forms. But I don't, I don't think that's my job. I think my job is to experience the thing and then I get to have my own opinions on it.

[00:33:32] And if that experience includes some sort of information to help guide my experience, then that's great. But if the artist doesn't want to include that, then they don't have to. and like we're working on a show-- well, we were supposed to perform this show in April and it got postponed to next April-- but it's--our aerial shows, as with most traditional dance shows--there's no speaking. And this show in particular had a more complicated storyline than we've ever done before. So we used voiceovers so that the audience has an experience where they understand what's going on. And we could have chosen to not help them understand, but in this, in this instance, we made the choice to help them understand what was happening in that way.

[00:34:22]But also, I think some artists enjoy their art to stand alone, and something we tell our students when they're creating acts and building pieces is that they have to make choices. They don't have to be choices that the audience understands. Your audience member--in terms of the way that we normally perform, where we just, you know, set up our rig and get in the air and do the thing and people are there and we never interact with them in any way-- they are not probably going to know the story you're telling, because all they have is your performance and your music. And sometimes those things are just not enough to tell your story, but if you have a story in your heart and in your head, they're going to feel something. And they may not even feel what you feel, but they're going to feel something.

[00:35:14] And that's the thing that matters the most, I think, is to create something that as, as I said before, communicates, and most of the time, especially with the art, I'm making a lot of it has to do with emotion. With my wedding photography, I take it really seriously because I have one photo from my grandparents' wedding. And I was raised with my mom and my grandparents. So my grandparents were like extra, extra close to me growing up. And I only have one photo. It's on my wall in my hallway because that's the start of, you know, my family. And I think that those moments, they matter. And being able to share those moments, you know, with each other, for the rest of your life.

[00:36:08] That's always, my goal is to create imagery that my clients want to hang on the walls for the rest of their life, so that when they're having a tough day in their marriage, which happens in all, all of our marriages, they can look up at the wall and they can see those photos. And remember why they started the thing in the first place. And so even in that commercial side of art, I'm still hoping to create emotions that carry with them through their entire marriage and then honestly, probably into the lives of their children and grandchildren. And so I think for me, it's about making people feel something. And if giving information makes them feel more, than great. But it's not like I like describe what's happening in my wedding photos. Right? Like you can, you can see those moments. And for me, that's enough.

[00:37:07]Lindsey Dinneen: Great answer. And I love your insight into your own, the way that you want to communicate to other people. But I love that perspective. That's, I've not heard it yet spoken quite like that. So that was gorgeous.

[00:37:23]Meghan Spencer: Thanks!

[00:37:23] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. So, well again, Megan, thank you so very much for joining us today. I so appreciate it. And I just want to say on behalf of myself and our audience, but also, the world as a whole, thank you for sharing art, because I really do believe in the power that art has to make the world a better, more beautiful, more inclusive place. And I think that when you give and provide that, it's really special. So I want to thank you personally for bringing so many different kinds of art to the world. I think that's wonderful.

[00:38:02] Meghan Spencer: Thank you. Yeah, it's, it's, I mean, but the thing too is that it's not only benefiting those around you, but it benefits, you know, you as a person too. So all of that, all of that art in my life has definitely positively influenced my life as well.

[00:38:19] Lindsey Dinneen: Absolutely. And if people want to get in touch with you, either for your photography business, or maybe try to come see a show or something like that, is there a way for them to connect?

[00:38:31] Meghan Spencer: Yeah. So for photography, my business is Spencer Studios. You can follow me on Facebook or Instagram. On Instagram, my handle is @spencerstudios. And my website is www.spencerstudiosphotography.com. And then for aerial, if you would like to book an aerial performance, you can check out KansasCityAerialArts.com. And if you want to interact with me, then the best place to do that is probably on Instagram. And my handle is aerialist.meghan, spelled M E G H A N.

[00:39:07]Lindsey Dinneen: Awesome. Well, thank you again, Meghan, so very much for joining us. I loved your insights and your stories, and completely agree with you that capturing the moments that matter is really important. And I love the way that you said all of that. So thank you one more time for you being here, and thank you to everyone who has listened to this episode. And if you're feeling as inspired as I am right now, I would love if you would share this with a friend or two, and we will catch you next time.

[00:39:42] If you have a story to share with us, we would love that so much. And I hope your day has been Artfully Told.