an interview

I love my clients! I don't even like using the word clients, I would prefer friends! A future bride of mine is going to business school but would love to get her hands into photography after she graduates - I don't blame her! She needed to interview someone in the career that she is most interested in pursuing and she chose me! I love the questions and they really made me stop and think! I wanted to share them with you!

Why did you choose photography as a career?

Art has been apart of my life since I can remember learning how to draw  both a body and a head instead of a big circle for a person, I believe I was 4 or 5. I took my first photography class in high school with a 35mm film camera and then when I graduated my parents gave me a canon powershot that had manual settings.  I took millions of pictures of myself, playing with concept and lighting. I did a little modeling for local photographers and when I say a little I mean a little! Then when I got married in 2007 I knew I wanted to do something with photography but just didn't know how to start so I asked my wedding photographer if I could follow her and assist her at weddings and that is how it started. I got my first DSLR a year or so later but I still was working full time at a corporate office. I made photography my career when my first child was born in 2009. I always wanted to be a stay at home mom and photography gave me that and more! So Photography kind of chose me! 

 

What do you enjoy most about your career? Why is that so enjoyable?

It's hard for me to say what is most enjoyable, I can give you two reasons and the first is being able to set my own schedule and make my children and family a priority, the second is making people happy and feel beautiful! Both are equally satisfying and enjoyable. I get great joy out of my family, helping women recognize their beauty, and capture a couples story! 

 

What has been the greatest challenge in your career? Why is this so challenging?

I think the greatest challenge is being in a career that really is apart of you. I think art is so personal to each person and when putting it on display for all to see it can be intimidating. Photography has also boomed as a career in the recent years and I think that really effects how you feel about your worth as a photographer. You, as a photographer, are your greatest challenge. 

 

What has been the key to your success? Why has that been so important?  

 It's hard to say as I am still in disbelief to where I am. I never even imaged me here! In fact most times as I compare myself with other photographers 'bookings" I think I am not as successful as others but when I step back and quit comparing myself to others (your greatest challenge) I feel like I have all the success in the world. My success is my family and the key to my success is balance between family and photography! I also feel overjoyed that the clients I have, have all been through friends and friends of friends. I have not advertised my business but only through Facebook and word of mouth and after only 3 years I have built a business that I have seen double every year in weddings booked. Making friends rather than clients is the second key to success. 

 

What would you do different if you were starting over? How would that have changed where you are at now?

I wish when I started I had more confidence in myself. I wish I had trusted my talent more and compared myself to others less. I started drawing and painting long before photography and with every artist they all have their own brush stroke and style. I wish I went into photography remembering this rather than thinking I needed to be like everyone else. As an artist we are all different with different tastes and styles and we need to embrace that. An amazing photographer, Zuzanna Audette, had said "I am an artist and photography is my medium" and when I had heard her say that I realized I will always be an artist first.

 

Have you ever faced a situation where you had to do something that you felt your ethics might be compromised? Can you describe it in general terms? How did you resolve the conflict?

I think as a photographer you really have to set yourself standards and give yourself rules. I learned that after being put in a situation I wasn't "comfortable" with. I realized after the shoot that this wasn't how I wanted to represent myself as a photographer and I have never gotten in that situation again. I am always honest and upfront with my clients (friends) and models so they know where I stand. I want to make art you would hang on your wall. 

 

What made you want to go into your desired career? And how did you decide that is what you wanted to do?

I think this goes really closely with the first question so I would like to narrow my answer down by stating why I chose wedding and women's portraiture as my main focus in my career. I actually just wrote a blog post about this so I wont go into great detail. I love making people (especially women) feel special, beautiful, and empowered. I also love change and growing and to change and grow you need to step out of your comfort zone. The wedding day is probably the biggest change a person can make, its exhilarating and frightening all at the same time. It is, for most women, the one day they can feel like a princess and be treated like one. I want to be apart of that, I want to capture that change, that new beginning! 

Women's portraits gives me the same feeling as the wedding. Helping a women feel beautiful and empowered. In our day women are told to be so many things that I want to help women realize that they are perfect enough! I just want to show people that life can be perfect in all it's imperfections. That is why I chose photography as my career. We are all perfectly imperfect.

 

What kind of training did you complete for your career?  

I am self taught. I have learned through trial and error and I still have so much more to learn. I feel like this is only the beginning!  

 

What are your likes and dislikes about your career?

Likes: being able to express myself, making art, making people happy, setting my own schedule, meeting new people, capturing memories.

Dislikes: The self-doubt that comes along with any career in the arts, the expensive equipment. : ) The sometimes competitive nature, and lastly the business side, sometimes I wish I was better at the business part of photography but then I wonder if I would get overwhelmed with it and then enjoy photography less. So secretly I am grateful for my lack of business skills! I would be afraid that the business side would be all consuming and right now I love what I am doing and where my clients are coming from that I don't feel I need to change my marketing etc.

<3