Tuesday Inspiration Tell All | Dec 13

Here’s this weeks Tuesday Inspiration Tell All. Again, I would just like to thank you all for who have submitted, these are so helpful to our readers and I love love love love did I say LOVE hearing all your stories. 🙂 I’ll quit yappin’ here we go! 🙂

Shanna-Kaye Fancher | Texas

How did you get started? 

My dad owned a Nikon SLR 35mm, and he taught me how to manually focus on it when I was 8-9 years old. I raised rabbits for show back then, and would “practice” on them (they were great subjects-didn’t move much! ;). I fell in love with photography-and started saving my pennies to buy a digital camera. A few cameras later-I was 16 years old and traveling to Europe with a theater group, and I bought my first DSLR, a Nikon D40. I fell deeper in love with Nikon! 2 years later when my husband and I got married at age 18, we pulled our savings together and I got a D80 to start my business with. He hasn’t regretted it since

When did you know it was the right time to jump into this full time? 

I was a new wife and pregnant with our son when I decided to jump into it “part time”. I wanted to be able to stay at home with our future kids, and still have a job that I loved doing. I spent the 9 months pregnant working on perfecting my skills and editing-and reading TONS of material online. I talked about photography all the time, and had family and friends encouraging me to go for it. After our son was born, I started back after a 6 week break, and decided to really go “full time” about 2 months ago. Since then, things have snowballed!! My name is getting out there, and clients have started referring me to their friends. It’s fabulous 😀


What were you doing before hand? 
I was a nanny for two families-and in school (homeschooling and co-op!) up till I got married, and when I started getting more serious about photography. 

How did your family/spouse/significant other react? 
My family was very encouraging…they knew how much I had wanted to do this! My husband was also very supportive…he hasn’t always loved it since I’m a little obsessive about anything photography related 😉 But I’m learning when to stop talking about what will make a “perfect” picture and live a little outside the lens! 

What’s your fav thing to shoot? 
ohh….So hard to pick! I shoot a little of everything-families, kids, babies, weddings, and recently Seniors….
I have to say I LOVED the Seniors. It is so much fun to be able to feel “free” when your shooting, and have tons of creativity in a shoot. 
Families and kids limit more because of the attention span, but a Senior is great to let you try new things!

What’s the hardest thing about owning your own business? 

Time Managment.

I spend hours a day editing, typing up marketing ideas, connecting with fans on FB, trying new ideas, and limiting myself on time is incredibly hard. I have a family, and when your son is 7 months old and wants your attention its hard to tell him no!
What’s the best thing about owning your own business? 
I am my own boss! No one can tell me “no, you can’t do that”…I can be as creative or simple as I want. I make the decisions, and I LOVE that. 

If you could give someone trying to start out in this biz, one piece of advice what would it be? 
Learn your style in editing. That has taken me the longest…and when I look back at pictures I took just last year compared to now, I think “whoa!!! That doesnt even look edited…oh man.” Invest in your editing softwares. I use LR3 and PSE8 now (I don’t have all the “latest and greatest”, but I know my programs!) and have what I need to perfect each image…when I used to not. 

What/who is the biggest source of inspiration for you? 
My husband 🙂 He has told me many times to “go for it”, even when it means taking time away that I would usually be spending with him. He has been an amazingly encouragement..and I know I couldn’t do this without him.

What’s in your gear bag? What was first in your gear bag, what did you buy next and how do you determine which other things you buy as far as lenses/cameras etc? 
In my gear bag today: 

Nikon D80
2 Spare batteries for D80
Sb-600 Flash
Spare batteries for Flash
50 mm 1.4 lens
70-300mm 4.5-5.6 telephoto lens

In my gear bag in the beginning:
Nikon D40
18-55mm lens

I added a 55-200mm telephoto lens after buying my first DSLR (off Craigslist actually) that I bought from a friend for $100 brand new…
and then 2 years later I added the 50mm. My telephoto lens’ motor went out, so I got a 70-300mm a few months ago, and LOVE it.


I check other photog’s portfolio’s, and see what lens’ they use to determine what I want. I don’t have thousands to spend on a lens, so I research to see whats the best buy for what I’m looking for-then I search Craiglist, FredMiranda, and various camera stores online to find the best price. (Can’t you tell, I’m a thrift shopper? 😉


Has there been any times that you wanted to quit? How did you make it through? 
Yes-There have been times (usually after shooting a wedding) that I’ve been so stressed out that I wanted to throw my hands up and quit…it was my husband who encouraged me now too. I had to put my big girl panties on and deal with it! And I’m so glad that I did.

I would replay all the compliments that clients had given me when I was down…and remember that in fact, there are lots of people that love my work, even if one person doesn’t! 🙂 


Shanna-Kaye Fancher
Captured Moments by SK 
twitter: photographybysk

 

Thank you so much for sharing Shanna! Questions for Shanna? Be sure to post them in our comments section!

 

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