We’ve outdone ourselves here with our newest venture on the Portrait Allure site!  We’re going to pose one question to TWO different photographers for our new SHE SAID/SHE SAID feature.  We think it’s a great way to showcase a couple of new personalities and their own points of view on photography, business, artistry, style, life, and well everything else.

Today we’re featuring two of Portrait Allure’s own, Chicago Child & Family Photographer Marianne Drenthe of Marmalade Photography and  Sarasota’s Photographer for Newborns, Children and Families, Heather Skau of Catch a Star Photography.  The question is:

What was the focus of your business as it first started?  Did you have a primary focus on either maternity, newborns, children, families or did you take all of your efforts on all of these categories?

Heather Skau | www.catchastarphotography.com

Babies, babies, babies. I built my business, from day one, focusing on babies. I experienced fast growth, built a fantastic referral network, and enjoyed a high rate of return clients by structuring my marketing around photographing maternity, newborn, and baby’s first year sessions.

Prospective clients who either have a baby on the way or a new little one have a lot of things in common. Their excitement level is high. They are at a stage in their lives filled with big changes, and offering them a beautiful way to document those fleeting moments is attractive to them. They also have a tendency to know many other people who are adding a baby to the family – and in their excitement they are very likely to share information about products and services that make their lives easy and/or bring them joy at this stage in their lives.

But most important, meeting clients at this stage of life is exciting for me as a photographer. I love sharing their happiness – seeing the love between a couple awaiting the birth of their child, observing the wonder of a mom with her precious newborn, watching with joy as that baby grows and changes and achieves the first year milestones.   I love every bit of it, and I think my clients can tell. I truly am honored to be chosen to document such an important part of their family history.   I find babies fascinating -  their many expressions are completely endearing.   I look forward to each baby session, from tiny squishy newborns, to independent one year olds who joyfully smash a celebratory cupcake we provide.  I always include the parents in these sessions as well – and while we do focus on the baby, if there are siblings we will try for a sibling shot as well.

While sales averages are not as high as regular family sessions, and wall portrait sales are not the norm for baby’s first year clients, these sessions do offer many rewards. Sharing this part of their life creates a beautiful connection between myself and my clients – one that fosters clients for life. They are comfortable with me. I’ve helped the moms look their best for pregnancy images. I’ve taught some newborn tricks to first time parents who were still a little nervous holding their own babies.  I’ve assured parents it really is ok that the baby peed (or worse) at the studio while we had the diaper off.  I’ve whooped with joy along with the parents when a child rolls over or walks for the first time right there in my studio during a session.

By sharing in the joyful moments of pregnancy and baby’s first year, and tailoring my marketing to the client who appreciates high-quality photography, I’ve been fortunate to build a loyal client base.    A large number of my baby clients continue to come back for yearly family and holiday sessions – and then they do buy those wall portraits!  Their word-of-mouth referrals have helped my business grow over the years, and I’ve always had plenty of older child / family sessions as a result.   It’s been a win/win situation for me to focus on the little ones to bring business in the door.

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Marianne Drenthe | www.marmaladephotography.com

The evolution of Marmalade Photography took roots from my love of photographing children & families.  What I have found in the growth of my clientele is that many families haven’t taken the time to get photographed together.  They verbalize this sort of fear (for lack of a better word) of the studio setting and being “propped” &/or posed.  Some clients even fear their children will become demons on the backdrop (one client actually used that term!).  What eventually draws these clients to me is is the the realness and artistic execution of my work.  At the heart of it, I really enjoy photographing the interactions between family members and hopefully it shows in my work.  I love personalities, the more the better!  Bring ‘em.

I have discovered that each family is filled with quirkiness and it gives me pleasure to photograph families that appreciate these characteristics in their own relationships.  Clients who come to me have an innate desire to fill their walls with moments of quiet play, their own family personality and a visual record of how they interact with one another, they desire to capture their families’ idiosyncrasies.   It is my job to discover what makes them “tick” as a family.  It’s something I enjoy observing and capturing.  I guess it was a natural progression that my business model initially drifted to photographing families, siblings and older children in the early days based on these things.

In my former life as a registered nurse I worked closely with hundreds of families on a very personal basis.   By the time I took Marmalade Photography as a full time business I had gained vast personal insights into family life. I was granted an all access pass, inadvertently, to learn how personalities interact.  Direct observations of life and relationships at the bedside of patients and their families was a gift I can never repay.  The simple act of being present at the bedside during those life changing moments has given me an awareness of relationships that I might not otherwise have had.  Because of those experiences I feel like I really was able to see the spirit and strength of many family connections.  This is part of why family photography, REAL family photography, appeals to me.

I also know that moms aren’t in “enough family photos”.  I always tell my clients this very same thing during our pre-session consult.  I sell a lot of add on images because mom or dad (or both) will jump in on just a few.  They always end up having fun and a great deal of the time they voice their appreciation for my well thought out “come dressed & ready to jump in” statements.

All this being said, I do enjoy maternity and newborn sessions and as time passes I find myself even drawn to them.  I’ve been fortunate that the number of referrals from past clients has grown and (hopefully) keeps growing.  I feel even more fortunate in the number of return clients that I have the pleasure to work with time and time again.  I know that I am by far not the least expensive and more expensive than most photographers in my area but I am confident I provide my clients with something of long term value to their family.  I take great pride in being able to give families the best of who I am.