Dear Photographers:
This blog post is LONG overdue. Better late than never though. Let me start by saying, in the most humblest of ways, that I am truly blown away and amazed by the comments, emails, tweets, messages I receive on a daily basis from photographers all over the world. When I decided to go into business for myself a couple of years ago, I never in a million years imagined I would ever have “fans” of my photography. Especially from all ends of the planet! Just a couple of months ago I received an email from a photographer in The Netherlands telling me how I helped inspire her to open a boudoir studio. Emails like that just blow my mind!! It’s truly my heart’s desire to inspire people all over the world, but when I receive a message like that, the reality that it’s truly happening touches my heart on a whole ‘nother level. It is so EXTREMELY flattering that people in the same industry as me would not only take the time to get in touch with me, but would have any desire to want to learn from me in any way. I’m just a girl who LOVES being a photographer and LOVES her clients to pieces. I found my passion for this career many years (13 to be exact) ago but it was only in the last couple of years of being in business for myself that I have truly been able to “find myself” as an artist and really create my own personal signature look and style that comes from deep within my heart. I in no way think I have arrived to where I want to be as business owner and photographer. My goals right now are to completely focus 100% on my business and clients. I am an extremely hard worker and very dedicated to my passion of this form of art. I wake up every day, thank God for blessing me with this talent and for sending me wonderful clients who love my work, and then I spend the rest of the day continuing to build my business to grow to where I want it to be.
When I started my business a little over 2 years ago, I was working around the clock 24/7 to get it off the ground. I knew if I was going to make a successful career with my talent I was going to have to work really, really hard. I believe God gives us gifts to use, but it’s up to us to meet him halfway with them. While I believe with all of my heart that God has given me so much favor and blessed me with incredible dreams, talents and passions… I know that nothing has been handed over to me easily. Everything I have today is because I worked very, very hard to get it. My motto in life, “Live the Dream” is what I preach and believe to the very core of who I am. I have proven to myself and others over and over again that you really can do ANYTHING you want and achieve any goals you set for yourself. I tweeted in the past “life will give you exactly what you ask for” and I really believe that. If you ask for MORE, you will get MORE.
Since I have started my own business, I get emailed questions quite often from photographers about different aspects of my business. For both my wedding and boudoir brands. While I wish I had the time to email everyone back, the honest truth is I don’t. I feel so awful not being able to respond to the emails I receive from photographers. : ( But if I spent time responding to photographers, my clients and business would suffer greatly. I am being completely honest when I say, my clients will always come first. They are the reason I have a business in the first place, and they are the reason my business continues to grow successfully providing me with a roof over my head.
I most commonly get asked the best advice I can give to a photographer who is just getting started in the industry. I am not sure that there is an answer that would be true to all new photographers, but I am willing to share a quick version of my personal story of how I got to where I am today. I got my first camera when I was 15 years old. (I am 28 now.) It was a film Nikon camera that I was obsessed with. I fell in love with the hobby of photography and pretty much just shot whatever was in front of me. I am the oldest of 4 siblings so my 3 younger kin became instant models in my eyes. ; ) I practiced practiced practiced. I did this for 3 years and then when I was 18 I got a job working for another photographer. During this time I learned a lot about the business side of things while continually honing my skills and talent as a photographer. It honestly wasn’t until I began my own company that I really was able to “dive into” my true talent and gifts as a photographer. It took many years of practicing and experience to get where I am today. But I can honestly say I learned almost everything I know from experience. So what is the best advice I can give you? PRACTICE. I recommend if you are just starting out to do it as a hobby for the very minimum of a year until you really get a lot of experience under your belt. I’ve seen so many people start charging clients too soon, before they are really ready and experienced, and it ends up causing so many problems for both the client and photographers. You need time to learn and grow… you need time to find out if you have the gift… because not everyone does. Anyone can buy a camera, but that does not mean everyone has the “gift” of being a true artist. Also, some may have the gift of being a true artist, but might not necessarily have the gift of running a business. Both things go hand in hand in achieving a successful photography business. Not only must you be good at photography, but you must know how to make wise business decisions. So the key to learning whether or not you are gifted as a photographer and a wise business owner boils down to PRACTICE and EXPERIENCE. Being a photographer is hard work. I know that I, along with others, make it look super fun. But at the end of the day, it’s still hard work… just like ANY successful business. The reason I am where I am today as a photographer, is because I practiced for many many years and I worked super hard to get to this place. Nothing has come easy for me… determination, motivation and a GREAT attitude go a long, long way. If you want to be a success in anything you do, those 3 little things are KEY.
The other thing I advise is once you have decided you indeed want to be a full time photographer, and you know you have what it takes… choose what you want to shoot and stick to that. Meaning if you love photographing children, specialize in that and rock it out. I find too many photographers try to shoot it ALL and in the end their business suffers greatly for it because they are fragmenting their style to suite every different kind of photography there is. If a painter is good at painting landscapes he will specialize in that and not portraits. Sure he can paint a portrait but he true “gift” shows when he paints what he is best at.
I get asked to teach workshops on a regular basis. While this may be an option in the future, it is not in my heart right now. God did not give me the gift of teaching. No… I mean it. Ask anyone who knows me!! I am a horrible teacher and I will tell you why. I was homeschooled my whole life. Yep, it’s true. The particular curriculum my mother chose to school my siblings and I with was VERY self-taught oriented. Because of this, I learned from the time I could read and on to be very self-dependent. Almost everything I know I taught myself. Photography, web design, graphic design, HTML, video editing, Photoshop, whatever.. you name it, I probably taught myself. I honestly do better teaching myself things than being taught by someone else. This is the reason I did not go to college. It was never in the cards for me. But the downfall to all of this is that I am not gifted when it comes to teaching someone else because I naturally expect everyone else to be able to learn something on their own or pick up something quickly. I know that most people do not operate like that, but even if I tell myself that, doesn’t magically make me a good teacher. Because of the fact that I realize I still have a long ways to go when it comes to this area in my life, I do not feel prepared to be able to teach others at this time. Again, not saying that I will never teach… but it’s just not the right time for that quite yet. Not to mention I still feel that even I have so much to learn before I can teach someone else anything at all.
The good news is there ARE several photographers out there who are INCREDIBLE and ARE naturally gifted when it comes to teaching. There are many amazing photographers who thrive off of teaching other photographers their tricks of the trade. I encourage you to find the truly talented photographers who have been doing this for a while, that are teaching workshops, and attend them. I am certain you will learn a lot. When and if I decide to start teaching workshops, you’ll be the first to know. ; )
I encourage you, no matter what career choice you make, to do it with excellence. Find what you are good at, what makes you happy and ROCK IT OUT with all of your heart. And again, thank you to every single one of you who have ever believed in me, sent me a kind email or message or left me a comment. I sincerely appreciate every single one more than you could ever possibly know. Keep living the dream.
xoxo
I leave you with this shot taken by me at age 15… of my little baby brother Stephen. He is still THAT cute. ; )
