Listen to the Podcast About Wildly Connected Photography
Podcast Summary
In the recent episode of “Kai on the Keys” featuring Felix and Fingers, we had the pleasure of hosting the talented Anna Treimer from Wildly Connected Photography. This incredibly captivating interview revolved around the central theme of wedding photography, specifically focussing on the MidWest’s thriving LGBT wedding scene.
Anna traced her journey from discovering her passion for photography in high school, to recognizing a need in her industry. She understood that the bulk of conventional wedding photography did not reflect the diversity and beauty she wanted to depict. Putting a finger on this void three years ago, Anna bravely pursued her vision to predominantly serve the LGBTQ community through Wildly Connected Photography. Ever since, her business has blossomed, providing representation where there was none, showcasing love in all its forms.
Moreover, Anna shared her experiences of working with a variety of wedding and elopement planners. A particular favourite happens to be ‘Queerly Beloved’ – a planning venture run by queer women for queer weddings. Apart from capturing the vibrant ambiance of the weddings, Anna’s lens also fell upon numerous talented musicians and entertainers. Intriguingly, she recounted the incredible drag performers who enliven the atmosphere and involve the crowd.
With insights like these, Anna Treimer’s contribution to the industry of Wildly Connected Photography is notable. Moreover, her commitment to primarily serving the LGBTQ community strikes a lasting impression. Her journey beautifully demonstrates that love and creativity flourish when they are wildly connected.
Learn more about Wildly Connected Photography
This interview was provided by Felix and Fingers Dueling Pianos
Podcast Transcript
Kai: Felix & Fingers (00:23)
So hi. My name is Kai with Felix and Fingers and here we have Anna who is an amazing photographer with Wildly Connected. Say hi Anna. How are you doing today?
Anna Treimer (00:34)
Hello everybody, I’m doing well. Thanks so much for having me.
Kai: Felix & Fingers (00:38)
Yeah, well today we’re here with Felix and Fingers to talk about weddings, especially LGBT weddings and Anna is really, really well connected in the LGBT wedding scene in Minneapolis and also all over the Midwest. So Anna is gonna be a wonderful guest with us today. Tell me more about how you got started with photography or like what kind of like began that passion for photography.
Anna Treimer (01:02)
Yeah, so to be honest, I feel like the starting wasn’t all that interesting. Honestly, I just had a job in high school and I was like, well, this seems fun. And so I saved up and bought a camera and kind of just translated into like my friends knowing that I had a camera and being like, do you want to do my senior photos? And so it
kind of just snowballed from there. But specifically working within the queer community, I think was a little bit of a journey in terms of, I’ve been shooting weddings for 10 years now and the whole like huge first chunk of that was very like straight, know, very hyper religious weddings. And I just kind of was like,
Okay, wait, there’s like something missing here and like, this is not what I would want and like, I never see myself in this, you know? So I can only imagine that other couples feel the same. And so over the last three years, I’ve kind of transitioned my business to primarily serving the LGBTQ community and it’s been really beautiful.
Kai: Felix & Fingers (02:12)
Yeah, that’s amazing. So that transition happened within the last five years or so or?
Anna Treimer (02:18)
it’s been probably more like three years, yeah.
Kai: Felix & Fingers (02:21)
Nice.
Yeah, that’s really exciting. And you’ve worked with some really incredible planners. Like, what was one of your favorite planners to work with and why? Because I know that you’ve been able to work with so many different people from all walks of life.
Anna Treimer (02:36)
Yeah,
so when it comes to I kind of shoot like a variety of weddings and elopements. So on the elopement side, I kind of do all of that planning myself. And then with other planners, there’s some local planners here in the cities called Queerly Beloved. And it’s also to queer women who help plan other queer weddings. And that’s been really fun.
Kai: Felix & Fingers (02:59)
Yeah, that’s a great time. So let’s talk a little bit about music because I’m obviously a musician with Felix and Fingers. We do dueling pianos for special events of all sorts, especially weddings. What is one entertainer or musician that left an impression on you while you were doing a queer wedding and why?
I’m sure you’ve seen like hundreds of them because you’re always like taking photos of everything and you’re just focused on getting the best shot and stuff.
Yeah, it’s okay. You don’t have to think of it off the top of your head.
Anna Treimer (03:29)
I mean, I would say like being in, I’m not sure if this counts, but I think kind of having that focus on queer weddings, I’ve seen a handful of like drag performers come perform at weddings, which has just been really fun and feels like a really fun way to get the crowd like involved and excited.
And I’ve seen both performers do that and then I’ve also seen if one person in the couple happens to do it themselves, sometimes they’ll kind of like pop out and surprise their spouse and do it, which is really fun. So, yeah.
Kai: Felix & Fingers (04:06)
surprise we actually have a player in in the Bay Area that does a drag dueling pianos show and like it’s a very unique very fun show and I hope that he gets booked like all over the US because that’s like two very specific worlds colliding of like dueling and and everything so that’s that’s super super fun and I know that a lot of times you talk to vendors and you talk to vendors about like
Anna Treimer (04:26)
Yeah.
Kai: Felix & Fingers (04:32)
Okay, you know, like, here’s a great way just to kind of approach like a queer wedding or just how to be like mindful of, demure and mindful of like, you know, the LGBT community. Like, what are some things that you would say to a planner and to a vendor when you were kind of giving them like the one-on-one of working with an LGBT wedding?
Anna Treimer (04:39)
Yeah.
Yeah, absolutely. So I think like the baseline of what I tell everyone is kind of try to approach things both from a more like neutral standpoint and also from just like a very curious mindset standpoint because I think
I think the hardest thing that people get caught up on is like, well, I like don’t necessarily have experience and I don’t know the right things to say or ask. But I think for queer weddings, like each couple is so unique and it can be so many different combinations of like gender identities and representations and things like that. So I think just trying to like come from a very like curious mindset of like, hi, what?
what pronouns do you use? Like how do you identify versus like limiting your contact form to bride and groom? And yeah, I think that it just ends up leading into so many other things. I know of something that I have seen a lot is…
just kind of as it pertains to like the music and entertainment side of things. I feel like it’s something that I’ve seen a lot of like DJs and MCs and stuff like that struggle with just from the standpoint of like…
They’re so used to like, this is the flow of a wedding. It’s always one bride and one groom. And so in my script, I’m just going to say, welcome to the dance floor, bride and groom. And then it ends up hurting them because if they do a wedding that doesn’t have a bride and groom, I just, see them slip up and say that on accident all the time. So I think just trying to take out some of that gendered stuff too.
Kai: Felix & Fingers (06:28)
Yeah, that’s smart.
Like, if they want to be called spouses or if you just say their names, like, you now bringing out Ellie and Max or like, you know, whatever their names may be, like, super simple. Or like, instead of mother of the bride, you can be like, this is Ellie’s mother, you know, it’s just like a really simple… It’s not hard to kind of like, dance around words and make them make sense. And getting comfortable practicing they pronouns so that it doesn’t feel weird in your mouth when they are. Yeah. Yeah, just really basic things like that because…
Anna Treimer (06:50)
Yeah, yeah.
Kai: Felix & Fingers (06:56)
It’s so important to make our clients feel comfortable and make them feel welcome, especially since the day is centered around them. you know, what most of us, most queer people, me included, spend a lot of our lives having to either explain or educate or just, you know, exist without people making it a big deal. And when it’s their big day, like, those are all the people that they’ve already done all of the work on and now they just want to celebrate. And anyone that they have be a part of that experience, whether it be family or whether it be like the professional, like people like, you
and the musicians, we all just need to be on the same page. And that’s what’s going to get all of us, that’s what’s going to keep this whole industry alive is people will continue to value wedding workers and hire live musicians instead of just DJs and stuff like that if we show people respect and show people that, hey, also we take song requests so we get to play all of your favorite songs and center the music that your community celebrates. Because queer music taste and music taste are still, they’re different.
They’re different. There’s a lot of joy in that. So I love that you’re willing to put in the time and just kind of like talk people through that because it does take emotional labor sometimes. Yeah, for sure. So tell me about your photography style. Like how would you describe your style or like what lenses do you use? I don’t know that much about photography, but I do know that photographers love talking about photography. So I want to kind of highlight your skills and your style.
Anna Treimer (08:01)
Yeah.
You
Yeah, yeah, well thank you. I mean, to be honest, like, yes, of course, I love having, like, nice gear. But yeah, I’d probably say that I’m more interested in my style. So, like, yes, I use Canon R6s. But in terms of style, I think I’ve tried to find sort of an interesting combination of
Like, yes, I would say people could look at my photos and kind of be like, maybe they’re a little bit more, like a little darker, a little bit more moody. But at the same time, I think so much of my style is like how I interact with clients as far as like.
I don’t typically do like, okay, stand there and smile and tilt your head and look at the camera. I want it to be very like interactive and try to come up with ways that they can like do things together as a couple and have fun and just for it to feel a little bit more relaxed and genuine instead of just standing there, if that makes sense.
Kai: Felix & Fingers (09:17)
Yeah, and I think that also takes less emotional labor than to be like, now I’m supposed to smile, you know, just asking people to interact with each other in a way that they already enjoy that makes them feel like safe and loved and spontaneous. that’s what allows people to just have more social stamina in general, because you can only like stand in one place and smile. Like so many times, like, people would rather just interact with each other in a loving and fun, creative way, maybe in ways that they haven’t thought of before.
Anna Treimer (09:45)
Yeah.
Kai: Felix & Fingers (09:45)
Do
you think it’s almost kind of like choreographing?
Anna Treimer (09:48)
Hmm.
Kai: Felix & Fingers (09:48)
Sort of.
Anna Treimer (09:48)
Potentially,
I guess I don’t have any dance experience whatsoever, so.
Kai: Felix & Fingers (09:52)
When you’re staging a photo just
because you’re telling people like, you know, yeah, just Yeah, but I’m sure that you’re great at capturing all the candidates For sure. Yeah That’s great. So tell me about like your presence. You have a wonderful website and your website also includes directories to a lot of other wedding workers who are You know, like LGBT friendly and things like that. Tell me more about how you’ve compiled this really great
Anna Treimer (10:01)
Yeah.
Kai: Felix & Fingers (10:18)
helpful list of vendors on your website and what that looked like.
Anna Treimer (10:21)
Yeah, yeah, so I do have a blog on my website that kind of just addresses different topics. And I think finding that has both been, you know, just through networking and meeting people. And then it’s also been, I think, maybe similar to how you found me of just like, doing my research, reaching out to people having conversations and
Yeah, kind of just seeing how they’re doing representation in their business. So, yeah.
Kai: Felix & Fingers (10:50)
Yeah, yeah, that’s perfect. It’s just super helpful and also shows like just how much you’ve been able to build relationships and networks throughout the years. And it’s like, it’s actually really admirable. I saw that I was like, wow, like, you know, Anna is like super plugged in to the scene and like just super conscientious about who works really well with each other and what’s going on. So like, I really like that when I first like saw your website. So what is your website one more time just so can let everyone know.
Anna Treimer (11:20)
Yeah, so it’s just wildly connected photography.com. And then yeah, if you’re interested in seeing the blog, it’s just, there’s a tab for it right at the top. So yeah.
Kai: Felix & Fingers (11:30)
That’s great.
And you’re based in Minneapolis, but you travel as well. Tell me some of the places that you’ve traveled or are willing to travel.
Anna Treimer (11:37)
Yeah, so I’ve shot in Washington, California, like all over the states. I did do a little bit of shooting in Guatemala and then this upcoming March I’m headed to Ireland and Scotland to do some elements. So I’m really excited about that.
Kai: Felix & Fingers (11:55)
That’s so amazing.
I’m excited for you. That’s like, that’s a big deal. Is any of your family Irish or Scottish?
Anna Treimer (12:01)
I don’t know, I feel like I’m just a weird blend of Caucasian, I don’t know. So maybe, but I don’t, yeah.
Kai: Felix & Fingers (12:07)
Who knows? but that’s
gonna be a really cool experience. Yeah, Felix and Fingers too. We play dueling piano shows all around the United States. We have offices in California, Florida, DC, New York, LA, know, I already said California. yeah, Minnesota, Minneapolis as well, Twin Cities, all of that. Like we have people that all travel and bring a whole rig and everything, so.
Anna Treimer (12:28)
Yeah.
Kai: Felix & Fingers (12:33)
Felix and Fingers is also very open to traveling and hopefully we’ll be able to play on the same gig sometime. That would be really lovely. We do everything from small elopements to large weddings and it would be really cool if our networks were able to continue to collaborate and collide.
Anna Treimer (12:48)
Yeah,
yeah, totally.
Kai: Felix & Fingers (12:50)
Do you to say anything more about where people can find you, like social media, other places that you’re present?
Anna Treimer (12:56)
Yeah, so I am at wildly connected photo on Instagram. And then I do also have a podcast of my own, also called Queerly Beloved. You can find that on Spotify, Apple Music, a couple other places. And that kind of just deals with like all things queer weddings. So yeah.
Kai: Felix & Fingers (13:15)
Thank you so much. Is there anything else you’d like to add today?
Anna Treimer (13:18)
Yeah, think just, yeah, if you’re like a vendor listening, you know, just encourage you to like do the work to be more inclusive. And if there’s like, I don’t know, couples listening, just know that there are really lovely spaces out there for you. So, yeah.
Kai: Felix & Fingers (13:37)
Yeah, thank you so much, Anna. This has been Eventful Endeavors podcast. I’m Kai with Felix and Fingers Dueling Pianos, and we’ll see you at the next one. Bye.
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