Emma, a newbie flying soloist, has a business that allows her to juggle kids & family life, definitely the envy of most WAHM's & GTWM's
Whilst Emma has turned her passion into a business, like many new solo businesses, she has done so with some learning, discovering, hurdles & triumphs in between the good & the bad days, along the way.
As Emma says, its all very exciting and daunting at the same time.
I've been doing photography as a hobby on and off for around 10 years. And started taking it seriously 3 years ago just after my daughter was born. I am completely self taught, and everything just clicked and I started with just taking LOTS of photos of my kids, and in February I decided that I wanted to take my passion, and start a business. I realised life is too short to be doing something you don't love.
I love taking my camera and creating beautiful images. Portraits are what I love doing, I love capturing those moments when a child is playing and exploring, and just doing what they naturally do. I steer towards doing natural light and outdoors sessions as I find I capture the persons true essence as they are not posed as such in a studio. I specialise in portraits - children, families, couples and adults. Working in western Sydney and the locations I shoot at are good for people who live closer to the city or north west and also people who live in the Western Suburbs.
I worked in customer service before I had kids, then when I had kids I found I lost myself to being a mum, which I love, but I also needed something for myself, to get my creative juices flowing and photography is the perfect thing for me.
The struggles I have come across is getting my name out there, and getting clients. I learnt very early on that marketing is a huge part of being a photographer, which led me to designing flyer's and business cards, and actually branding my product so that it is a distinctive Wired to the Moon Photography product.
This includes my site http://www.wiredtothemoonphotography.com> my flyer's, business cards, CD presentation etc. So I'm proud of how my brand looks, as an artist, how I present my work is very important, and I did it all myself so that has been a triumph in itself!
I guess some unexpected things have been that there is a lot of help out there if you know where to look and who to ask, I was always really apprehensive about contacting other photographers but I have found them to be really friendly and helpful and encouraging which has been lovely.
The thing I recommend about being in business are:
- Start from the beginning. Figure out what you want your business to be, who your target market are and know your product or service before you start charging for it. Be confident in yourself, and your abilities and as a photographer I know that every photo I take is for my portfolio.
My worst day since being in business is when I've had a challenging session and I come away from it feeling deflated and the best day is when I do have an awesome session and I click with the clients and we have a great time shooting, and the images the come from the session are gorgeous!
I do most shoots on weekends so that dad can have the kids, and I have a lot of late nights of editing so that I get the most out of the day with the kids. But so far I haven't found the work/life balance to be a challenge, and because I love my job, I don't find it hard to balance it!
My clients have found me through word of mouth and my Facebook page (www.facebook.com/wiredtothemoonphotography <http://www.facebook.com/wiredtothemoonphotography> ) and a few through the flyer's.
Emma
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