This is the first of a series of interviews I plan to have. They'll be focused on photography-related people that I find unique, interesting or plain genius. Photographers, artists, models, designers. However, this is based mostly on local talent. I met Emily not too long ago and found her a very interesting artist. I found her in a very interesting place so I asked her for an interview. She kindly accepted and I learned a lot. So here it is. I give you Emily Steele. Please check out her work at http://www.esteelephotos.com/ (Under construction right now)
Emily: For about eight years.
Adrian: Why did you get into photography?
Emily: I was the yearbook editor in high school. That’s how it got started. Ever since I was a kid, I always had a camera in my hand, the crayola film cameras. Art is something I always enjoyed.
Adrian: How did you get to where you're at?
Emily: I have a full time job, Monday to Friday. Photography is for the most part on the weekends. It’s changed a bit for weddings, since I need somebody to shoot with me, so one of my colleagues is now shooting with me. It’s so much nicer now, to have an extra set of eyes. She sees thing I don’t normally see.
Adrian: Would you say you have a specialty in photography?
Emily: Working with Kids. I’ll do anything, but that’s what I enjoy the most.
Adrian: How would you define your style?
Emily: Growing. I don’t think it has a true definition, so it’s changing, evolving to be more me. It was more inside the box, but now it's not anymore.
Adrian: So if you were to describe your images to me, how would you describe them?
Emily: Full of energy. Happy energy. It’s the laughing, the teasing, the joking, things like that.
Adrian: What is your business model?
Emily: As simple as possible. I don’t like people to have to ask a hundred questions. I like them to have all the answers right up front. I release copy rights, it’s simpler at the end for me.
Adrian: Who's your market?
Emily: Female, Moms, Wives. I rarely get calls from males, and even then, I mostly deal with their wives or girlfriends. It’s mostly 20’s and young 30’s, with younger kids.
Adrian: What's your marketing strategy?
Emily: It’s all networking. My sister has a cupcake business and she has 1500 friends, so when I put a picture of her and my niece on her page, the reach was over 1800 people and it added ten likes to my page. The goal is to push Facebook to my website.
Adrian: Are you where you want to be?
Emily: No. Artistically, I still have a lot of growth, I think. An artist should always be growing, which is good. I’d like to get out of the traditional way, the Mom shots.
Adrian: What’s a Mom shot?
Emily: A traditional- head on shot, either sitting perfectly posed with a great smile on their face, which they’re going to put in an 8x10 picture frame and sit in their house. Business wise, I want to get bigger. I want to get my studio.
Adrian: Where's photography going, as an industry, especially here in the Midwest?
Emily: I think people are becoming pickier on the prices, since anybody can buy a DSLR and think they’re a professional photographer. I talk to a lot of people who had recently been married and I can count four who actually hired a professional photographer. Everybody else had either a friend or relative do it.
Adrian: How does that affect your business?
Emily: It makes it a lot harder.
Adrian: So what’s your strategy to deal with that?
Emily: I will work with people. I will cut them deals. Although it’s tough because they get used to expect a deal every time.
Emily: I will work with people. I will cut them deals. Although it’s tough because they get used to expect a deal every time.
Adrian: Who are your favorite photographers?
Emily: There’s a group in Louisiana called Three Nails Photography. Their lighting I absolutely adore. There’s another one in Lawrence Kansas, called Mojica Photography.
They do a lot of Indian Weddings. Their lighting is the total opposite than Three Nails. It’s a little bit harsher. I really, really like their style.
Adrian: What's your goal for five years from now?
Emily: I would get out of wedding photography for a few years. I will re-grow the company and start over. I don’t want to worry about the money. I want to do photography because I love it. I want to figure out some techniques.
Adrian: What are the next 5 items on your list of stuff to buy?
Emily: I want the SB-910 speedlight. A Nikon 3200 as a back up camera. Also want the Nikon D2x. I want a 12-120 lens. With a 1.8 aperture. And lastly, I want studio lights. I don’t know what brand, just a studio set.
Adrian: Please describe your work flow.
Emily: We’ll schedule the session, do the session, go home and download to my computer, I shoot RAW. I then group them by similarities, and edit each group. Hue, vibrancy, saturation, etc. Then I open them individually and flip through them to find the money shot. Fix things on the background, details on wardrobe. Then move to the next group. Burn a CD and ship them to the client.
Adrian: What's your most recent project?
Emily: I don’t have one. Just trying to get through my last shoot. I have over 500 photos from a kids session. We had a glitter war and cupcake war. I also had a trash the dress shoot.
Adrian: What's the most common mistake photographers make?
Emily: Beginners : lighting. Usually of rough on the edges, but that’s normal, a learning thing. Experienced photographers: Cockiness. They tend to believe their work is better than everybody else’s.
Adrian: Do you think part of it is because there used to be some sort of ‘initiation’ to start as a photographer? We used to start as assistants, learn the ropes, then move up the ladder and now you just buy a $300 camera and proclaim yourself a pro. So these old school pros, with a brick and mortar shop and tons of gear feel like is harder on them?
Emily: I think a lot of them don’t connect with people anymore. They’re not friendly and they don’t look like they enjoy what they’re doing. A situation comes to mind, where this professional was hired for six hours on a wedding. The six hours ran up the second the couple walks in the reception, so they are being announced and he stops them and tells them he needs $200 more to walk through the door with them, since their time was up. Rather than building some good PR and waiting for later. That’s pretty gutsy.
Adrian: Some advice for beginner photographers?
Emily: Figure out why they like it so much and don’t forget that. Because it happens quite often.
