I get tons of questions from you guys and I always answer each person who emails or messages me through Facebook!  A lot of times I get the same questions so I figured I’d make a blog post out of it and give you all a chance to literally ask me anything!  I’m an open book — you could ask me anything from photography, to my life, my business, anything!  So here goes….

 

• Why are you willing to answer anything?  Good question.  In my opinion, hiring a photographer for any event in your life is a personal thing.  If you don’t click with your photographer (especially for such an intimate moment in your life such as your wedding), you’re not going to feel comfortable with them.  I want people to know who I am inside of my photography business and outside of it as well.  I love when I get messages from people telling me they’ve read my blog and feel like they’ve known me forever, or when people tell me during their engagement session “we’re having so much fun! I feel like we’ve been friends forever!”  That means SO much to me and while I’ll admit to being extremely outgoing, silly,  personable (I could make friends with a complete stranger in no time — I get that from my dad), I’m not for everyone!  SO– if you can get to know me a little bit and feel totally comfortable and almost like we’re old friends while you’re in front of my lens, I’ve done my job!

• I’m interested in photography, what kind of camera should I buy?  This is an excellent question! It also depends on what you plan on doing with photography. Do you just want a nice camera to take photo’s of your kids; take on vacation with you; something easy that you don’t have to switch out lenses, etc.?  If so, I think a little Canon Powershot would be perfect for that! It’s small, lightweight, around 16 megapixels and inexpensive.  If you’re trying to see if photography is your *thing* and you maybe want to start a photography business of your own one day, a Canon Rebel is best!  It usually comes with 1 or 2 kit lenses to get started and its great to learn on.  This way you buy a camera that costs a few hundred dollars, instead of a few thousand to see if photography truly is your *thing* or not. I learned on a Canon Rebel XSI (they’re always coming out with new models) and once I realized it was something I wanted to take on professionally, I bought the Canon Mark II.  They don’t make the Mark II anymore since it’s recently been replaced with the Mark III — in which I will be upgrading within the next year.

• What are some tips and tricks for starting a small business?  First and foremost — GET A BUSINESS LICENSE!!!  If you are planning on starting a business and plan on charging people for a service, you MUST have a business license.  I can’t stress this enough.  I have had at LEAST 10 people message me in the last few months telling me they’ve recently started a photography business and ask me what they should be charging people.  When I ask them if they have a business license, each person has replied “no.”  GASP!  I’m always so shocked by this. If you charge someone, you have to pay taxes on that money you bring in.  It isn’t fair to all of us that do have a business license, charge clients, and give 25% of everything we earn to uncle Sam!  ALSO– there are people at the treasury’s office that browse FB business pages and match them up to business licenses filed at the city.  I know tons of photographers who have gotten in trouble for not having one — don’t take that risk! In Virginia Beach (where I’m located) it only cost $40 to get one!!  Secondly, keep track of all expenses – you get to write it all off at tax time!  3- be sure you know what you’re getting into.  Write out all of your finances, how much you’re bringing in versus how much is being put back into the business, how much you need to survive, etc.  Then there’s the customer service aspect of it!  As a small business owner, you’re the face of your business, so make sure you’re portraying your business the way you want to be known.  5- Make sure you brand yourself correctly!  I am in the process of re-branding again because I don’t love what my brand says about me.  Lastly, just do it!   I waited so long to take on this passion and I really wish I had started way sooner than I did. Put your fears aside because you only live once! Being  a small business owner is FUN! It’s stressful at times because its a lot of work, but being your own boss and making your own rules will always trump working for someone else!!  I could go on and on about more tips for starting a small business, so if you have any specific questions that I didn’t answer here, feel free to ask me!  I promise I’ll answer them to the best of my ability :)

• Whats your favorite thing to shoot? LOVE! My favorite thing to shoot, is love.  I love shooting engagement sessions because two people that just got engaged are often so giddy with love for one another, so happy, and so naturally smitten that the photo’s turn out AMAZING! I absolutely adore shooting weddings — this is such an intimate moment in two peoples lives and the emotion on a wedding day is so beautifully overwhelming.  I love shooting couples because LOVE is the one thing that makes me so weak and sappy.  I definitely want to focus more on weddings, engagement sessions and couples in the near future!

• Whats in your camera bag?  I currently shoot with a Canon Mark II (I will hopefully upgrade to the Mark III this year).  Lenses I currently have: 70-200  f/2.8L IS, 50mm f/1.4 (hoping to upgrade to the f/1.2L sometime this year), 85mm  f/1.2L, 28mm wide angle, 100mm f/2.8 Macro.  I use Lightroom for 99% of all of my editing, unless I’m editing boudoir and I use photoshop to fix blemishes, etc.  I use blogstomp to compile images/size them, and am in the process of purchasing two 600 speedlites!

So that’s it!  Those are all of the questions I received!  If you have a question that wasn’t answered here, post it below in the comments and when I have a nice list of questions again, I’ll do another ‘Ask Me Anything’ blog post!  Hope you all are having a fantastic day and making the best of whats around you.  XO!