Meet Sandy Weatherall | Commercial Photographer and Creator of YogaMA – A yoga martial arts fusion,

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sandy Weatherall and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sandy, how do you think about risk?
Outside of my business, I’m a skydiver.

I was in the sport of skydiving about three years when I had an opportunity to take my desire to move into food photography showed up. It was for a major cookbook company and I was to to a test shoot being watched by the creative director, editor and lead photographer and work with their food stylist for the first time. I was still pretty new at food photography.

I was wearing a necklace that had a closing pin from a skydiving rig on it. I held it and told myself, “If I can jump out of a plane, I can do this!”

And I have been moving forward and taking risks ever since. In business and life. If we don’t move into the unknown, we don’t grow.

I have used this risk taking to create a second business from my other passions of certified yoga instuctor and martial arts, karate black belt. It’s called YogaMA and I developed it out of the first Covid lockdown when I didn’t know where my photography career would end up. It teaches emotional awareness and self regulation through movement.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I have two, actually three “arts”.

I am a commercial, mostly food photographer but I also educate photography and create storytelling for other creatives. I also paint and thirdly, I have created a unique program, called YogaMA from the arts of yoga and martial arts.

A friend calls me an octopus.

I find the different modalities allows me to create connection and collaboration which brings richness to what I do. They each cross over to align with multiple people and businesses.This is what I get most excited about!

I did the work! I worked on my craft. I tried new things. I created and I failed and it led to a pretty cool business life.

The lessons I learned is to keep doing something – even if you don’t know it will work, even if you feel stuck. Something will always show up and work out. It’s trust. Keep your eyes open. Some people teach to become single middle focused on a goal. My best experiences have been when I said “yes” to something that was off the goal line. Sometimes life knows what’s better for us than we do.

In my photography, I want people to know that I’m here to help them and their business from a uniques perspective and a well honed craft.

For YogaMA, I am teaching the movement of fusing yoga and martial arts but more importantly how to self regulate and have emotional awareness, with dynamic release by mirroring the experience of movement with our internal states.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I was linked to Shoutout Atlanta but I actually just recently moved to Nanaimo, BC on Vancouver Island, Canada.

This is a traveller’s paradise. You can hike endlessly, surf and skydive all in one day.

The Sooke Potholes, Mt. Benson (Mt. anything, really), beaches galore, old growth forests. The urban life of Victoria such as the historical Hermann’s Jazz Club to rural Goats on the Roof in Coombs.

A huge arts scene with The Gabriola Island (a short 20 minute ferry from Nanaimo) Arts Council such as the Studio Arts Tour and lots of folk music experiences.

The nature and wildlife takes your breath away. Eagles, cougars, bears, whales…amazing!

I’ve barely touched the surface but know in a lifetime, I cannot see it all!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My mentors are in the personal realm which crosses over into business.

The Power of Now, The Untethered Soul.

My martial arts, yoga and skydiving family.

Website: https://www.jinseimedia.com, https://www.yoga-ma.ca

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jinseimedia/, https://www.instagram.com/yoga__ma/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jinseimedia, https://www.facebook.com/YogaMA-100676378247525

Image Credits
Food and product photos are by me, Sandy Weatherall. YogaMA images are by Teresa Bolinski.