This will be the last in my series for a bit. I'll continue on next fall with other areas of my photography!
Me FAQs
I get a lot of the same questions about being a photographer so I'll answer them here. I've stuck to the questions that people typically ask me.
How did you get into photography?
This is a super long question so I'll try and be quick!
I was always into taking photos and was the friend who was always carrying around a compact film camera. I loved it but didn't really know what I was doing. Looking back I can see a lot of the same themes in my work now, so clearly I had a bit of a style.
I was a liability insurance underwriter for 10 years. Honestly, I was good at my job but it wasn't a good fit for me as a person - it felt a bit like gambling and I'm a fairly risk averse person. The idea of losing millions stressed me out. Plus I wanted something a little more creative.
In 2008, while living in London, I started a food blog (I was eating out for work a lot).
Around 2010 we moved back to Montreal and I started taking evening photography courses at Concordia.
In 2012 I had my first baby and decided not to go back to insurance. Maybe (I hope!) it's changed but at the time the company I worked for was HUGE (like 60,000 employees) and there was no flexibility. Like, none. Those were the hours, period. I just knew it wouldn't be a successful formula for our family.
I kept writing my blog, which by then had become more of a Motherhood/Montreal focused blog and was quite popular. It was however, very isolating. I could see people were reading but it was like writing in a void.
In 2014 I had my second baby. I was freelance writing which was a lot of fun, but really tough.
In 2015 I was sourcing photos for my blog and came across a photo of a kid running. You have to remember that at this time family photography was still very much an in-studio, backdrop, posed type of thing. I saw the photo and immediately knew it was what I wanted to do. Within a month I had taken a couple online courses, found a few families for promo shoots and launched early 2016.
How did the launch go?
I had already worked hard to build up an audience on my blog who was familiar with me and my photographs. Honestly, it was seamless to launch into a photography business because I was not starting from scratch.
But don't get me wrong. This job is tough. There is a ton of competition and the hustle never ends. I've had some great highs and awful lows. A lot of people say to me that because I've been around so long I have it easy, but I never rest and am always promoting, creating, try to up my skills and thinking up new ways to grow.
How many sessions do you do in a day?
It depends on my schedule and the day. Sometimes if someone needs to reschedule and I'm full I'll do two full length sessions in one day but usually I only do one. If I'm in the studio I'm more likely to do multiple session. I don't do sessions everyday and 3-4 sessions per week is about max and I couldn't do that week after week.
How did you get into boudoir?
Why did I decide I wanted to do boudoir photography? It's because I worked with a lot of women in my family photography and I really connected with many of them. I wanted to work more with them on their own (which is why I also started doing headshots). But specifically, I did boudoir because I saw how HARD women were on themselves, when in reality they were amazing and I wanted to try and help them see that.
From a technical standpoint, I found a boudoir photographer I really loved and took her course. I did a few promo shoots to practice my skills and launched.
How did you actually learn photography?
As mentioned about I took quite a few courses at Concordia, but honestly it was super focused on studio lighting and sets which isn't for me right now. I honestly learned 95% through taking specialized online courses and practice. I am continuously trying new things and learning and I take photos almost everyday.
What was your hardest lesson?
OK no one has actually asked me this during a session, but I'm sure you're wondering.
When I started out I was so grateful for each and every client - but sometimes they were not a good fit or I made concessions to book them. With less experience, I was less confident.
Now after nearly 10 years, I know that sometimes requests are unreasonable or there are sessions that have giant red flags, or that some types of sessions are better off with other photographers.
What I'm saying is that I needed boundaries - but that is freaking hard. It's hard to say no or stand up to a client. Now, I just try to put them in place before hand. Laying everything out super clearly, so everyone knows what to expect. I have pretty intense boundaries now, and whenever I feel frustrated I know I have to look at it again and make changes to reinforce them.
What is your favourite food?
Someone asked me this question on Instagram recently! There are SO many responses. Maybe ice cream? I'm already dreaming of a sunday from Iconoglace or Cremerie Dalla Rosa. But there are so many meals that are so good in so many different situations!
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