Here’s the story.
I tried really hard not to be a photographer.
I was never the little girl who was gifted a camera at 6 years old, who took photos and always knew this was my dream. In fact, I never thought too much about photography growing up - and as my mom can testify - I always squirmed when she tried to take family photos and I rarely smiled in front of the camera.
Right after I graduated high school, a few good friends encouraged me to buy my first DSLR.
This was ten years ago when Instagram just launched and people were still uploading Facebook albums like there was no tomorrow.
Initially, I thought it was fun to learn how to use a camera and portraits were the first thing I gravitated toward.
I remember my first big “portrait photoshoot”. Me and my friend were having a sleepover, sitting on the floor next to her bunk bed and we dressed up, did our make up, turned the fan on (for the “blowing hair” effect) and took photos of each other by yellow lamplight until 2 in the morning where we spent hours pouring over these photos entirely absorbed in the process and delighting in our youthful fantasy of model stardom.
I was hooked.
Soon after getting a camera, people would ask me to photograph them, their families and their lives. Photography, from that point on, always remained a fun source of entertainment and a decent summer job, but I didn’t see it as the end goal.
In fact, I tried everything not to be a photographer.
I studied English in college, attended a pre-law group to see if going to law school would be good (nope). I thought I might be a teacher (also no) but then I found business writing in my senior year of college and it all clicked.
I loved learning about business communications and copywriting so after college I interned at a design and marketing company, then ended up doing graphic design and marketing for a few healthcare startups all while staying consistent with photography.
At this point in my photography journey, I dove into the wedding industry. I had already been shooting weddings during the summers in between semesters and post-grad only gave me more time to fill my schedule up and finally enter the fall wedding scene of New England.
I had been getting lots of referrals and business from past clients and the concentric circles of referrals were growing.
While the referrals were growing, so was my disenchantment with the whole wedding photography industry. The message I kept hearing from other creatives and non-creatives alike was:
“Weddings are the only way you can make money as a photographer.”
And I believed it, so I kept taking them.
I was particularly burned-out after wedding season in the fall of 2019. I knew I needed a change and didn’t want to work weddings anymore so I looked back into the design world and decided to move and jump into a program to become a UX designer. During the off-season that year, I spent time at a bootcamp which revolutionized how I thought about design, user behavior, and launching a service into the marketplace.
Fast forward to the end of the program where we students were pushed out of the classroom and into the world of working on our case studies and pitching ourselves to tech companies.
Only I knew that’s not what I wanted to do.
I remember having a conversation with my UX Design advisor about the benefits of staying freelance, about how designing thinking was more important to integrate into a small business already if I didn’t want to completely go corporate.
These thoughts worked wonders on me as I considered staying a photographer but leaving the wedding industry.
After I finished my program, I took a leap to create something new which started with me leaving both of my part-time marketing jobs in February 2020.
Amazing timing on my part (HAHA NO) but after a rough year of COVID in 2020, I spent the entirety of 2021 launching and establishing my photography business – this time for brands, small businesses, artists – really any company I could work for who needed photos.
It required a ton of work, outreach, networking, hustling AND naps but I was amazed by the end of 2021 to have had brand opportunities from start-up MIT biotech companies, to Morgan Stanley to Lindt to just traveling to remote locations around New England to photograph an individual and their dream.
As 2022 finishes the first quarter of the year, I am excited to announce my Cinematic Brand Photography sessions for creative entrepreneurs.
Photographers, brand designers, videographers, illustrators and artists do important work in our time. This is for you. In the past year of exploration, I’ve learned an important outcome to all of these artists:
The simple desire to have art of and for themselves as meaningful and beautiful as the art they make for others.
On April 4, I’ll be launching my new pricing structure for these sessions which will land nearly double my current prices. I’m investing my entire focus to offer a high-level experience for creative entrepreneurs to be confident that their brand images will be an execution of their vision from A to Z.
So, if you’re a creative entrepreneur on the fence about doing a brand session with me and want to get in on the new Cinematic Brand Photography sessions on the old pricing (save some $!) – book a call with me by April 4 (call date can be after April 4, just make the call booking before April 4).
Let’s talk!
