BP4U Photography Guides is pumped to be featuring Susie Moore from Susie Moore photography she is based in Illinois and does some great work with high school seniors. Now, for Susie! : )
Hi! I’m Susie. I’m a wife to the most wonderful guy there is, and a mom to two grown boys (25 and 23). I’m educated as a registered nurse, but would much rather spend my time behind a camera! So when my kids left for college, I began my second career as a Senior photographer.
The best things in my life are always from God, and if I can glorify Him in whatever I do, it makes my heart happy. Besides taking pictures of beautiful seventeen and eighteen year olds, I spend my time traveling with my husband to Africa and other far away places to capture images of the people who are affected by the mission of his business. What a thrill to get to photograph those incredible people!
I admit that reality TV is my guilty pleasure, and I’ve never missed a season of Survivor, The Amazing Race, The Bachelor or American Idol!
When did you first realize you wanted to be a photographer? It was about 6 or 7 years ago when my kids left for college. I’m a registered nurse, but I knew that I didn’t want to go back to nursing, and I loved all kinds of creative pursuits. I was already doing a lot of graphic design and loved photography, so I just merged the two!
When and how did you start out in photography? I officially started my business 5 years ago. Since I am a bit older than the average photographer who is starting out, I knew I had to learn a lot VERY fast! So I read everything I could get my hands on, and learned from many of my favorite photographers.
How would you describe your style? My style is clean, rich and modern. I love bright faces and sparkly eyes!
What’s in your gear bag? My Canon 5D Mark III is usually paired with my 85 1.2 or, my new favorite, my 135 2.0 . I love that lens! I feel like when I put it on, that’s when the magic happens—beautiful bokeh and juicy light! The other lenses I keep with me but don’t use as much are the 70-200 2.8, 50 1.2, 135 2.0 and the 24-70 2.8.
One lens you can’t live without? The lens I can’t live without is definitely my 85mm 1.2L. It is on my Mark III 90% of the time!
How did know when the right time to start charging was? I actually didn’t go into business until I felt that I was at a level where I could charge for my work. I think I’ve always charged right from the beginning.
How much did you charge for your first session and how much are you charging for the same type of session now? Hmmm…when I first started, I think I was charging $75 for a session and $350 for my digital package. Now, my session fee is $250, and my packages range from $650 to $2400, with my digital package priced at $1400.
How did you market yourself when you started out? When I first started, I was getting some strong input from family members that I needed to advertise in local print media.
It was very bad advice that, over the course of my first year of business, cost me $3200, because I didn’t get one lick of business from it! The VERY best marketing for me has, hands down, been Facebook. Word of mouth is the best advertising, and doesn’t cost me a cent! 🙂
Name the first person that comes to mind when you think of:
- Newborn photographer: Fran Barker
- Wedding photographer: Jasmine Star
- Lifestyle photographer: Laura Morita
- Most inspiration person: Amanda Holloway
Did you go to school for photography or were you self- taught? I am self taught, but I definitely also learned from some of my very favorite photographers, too! I think early on, participating in some awesome workshops helped me develop my own style, and gave me a good base for running my business.
What have been some of the hardest things to overcome in your business? I think the hardest thing to overcome in business is finding the sweet spot in pricing. It is always a challenge to price myself so that I’m are making a good profit, but not pricing myself out of the market either. Ideally, I like to shoot 4-5 sessions a month so I want to price myself so that I can book just that many sessions a month and make a suitable income.
Do you have any tips for photographers just starting out? Don’t try to be like any other photographer. Learn to embrace your own style, and then ROCK it!
If for some reason you couldn’t be a photographer what do you think you would be? A Grammy nominated Christian singer. Of course, that would mean I would have to actually be able to sing!
If you have any questions or comments for Susie, please feel free to place them in the comment section below!
