Today we’d like to introduce you to Julia Fenner.
Hi Julia, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I have always had a camera to play with, from disposable film cameras in elementary school to my first metallic pink digital camera in middle school. I met my now-husband, Chris, during my freshman year in college and he was a videographer and had a really nice (to me) DSLR. I loved playing with it and took photos for some friends as they got engaged or graduated college. Chris encouraged me in this and taking photos of people felt very natural and exciting to me, so I started charging a little bit of money for it. I graduated with a public relations degree, but practicing this in the real world was not a great fit for me, so I continued taking photos and started nannying part-time. I grew my business by word-of-mouth and all local customers, and here I am 10 years later with a very consistent clientele of families and new brides yearly who also continue to hire me for maternity, newborn and family shoots as their families grow.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The road to following your passions is never perfectly smooth, and it would be boring if it were! I’ve grown and learned so much from the difficulties of owning my own business, as well as the hardships of being in a service industry. My job is 100% about creating images that make people happy and capture memories, which is a massive responsibility. Family shoots aren’t a huge deal to do-over if needed, but you cannot re-do a wedding day. The pressure for these days has always been high, but I’ve learned from missing a shot here and there that I need to give the bride an extensive questionnaire and help her to work through a detailed timeline for the wedding day, which ensures I capture all of their important moments. I have learned through no-shows that I need to require a deposit ahead of time for shoots. I have also learned that there is no way I can please everyone, which is a good life lesson in general, but a really painful one every time you have to re-learn it.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a family and wedding photographer who shoots all around the Atlanta area. I shoot about six weddings a year, which I have found to be a manageable number for me. I love working with the bride on creating a timeline that ensures a smooth wedding day and I absolutely love capturing engagement shoots, which are always filled with adoration and little kisses and are, to me, the easiest thing to shoot because my couples are so excited to be in this stage of their lives and feeling so in love. I have worked with kids in some capacity all of my life, which is a big reason why I also love family shoots. I love being able to call forth a child’s personality that the parents often see but are unable to capture at home with their phone. It is always an honor when a family comes back to me year after year for their updated family photos and I get to see how the family has grown or changed. I have some families who I have captured their engagement shoot, wedding day, maternity, newborn, and yearly family photos, which I know is unique because a lot of photographers either do wedding OR family, but I love being able to do both. Something that goes along with this is that my editing style is timeless and consistent. You can look at photos I took six years ago, and while I have grown in my photography skills, the colors and composition will be consistent and they don’t just look like a dated Instagram photo. This consistency is extremely important to me as I want my clients to love their wedding photos in 30+ years and not feel like they are dated because of current trends.
Finally and most importantly to me, it is my joy and my goal to help women feel more comfortable and beautiful in front of the camera. It’s such a common thing for me to hear women say that they hate how they look in photos or they feel awkward in front of a camera. This is a wonderful challenge for me: to be able to bring out the inner beauty and speak truth to these women about who they are and watch them shine in front of me!
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
When I was first starting out, I just practiced and practiced and got really familiar with my camera and all its settings. I reached out to a couple of wedding photographers in the area who I knew and asked if I could follow them around on a wedding day. I would also sit in on their editing sessions and just watch. I second shot for wedding photographers for a long time before I had the courage to be the primary shooter for my own clients. Getting familiar with the process is so important because you want to feel comfortable and in control on the wedding day. You are a pillar to these brides and they look to you for comfort and confidence as it is a very high-stress day for a lot of people.
Pricing:
- Family shoots are $400 for up to an hour
- Wedding days are $3200 for 6 hours, with a second shooter and an engagement shoot
- Wedding days are $3800 for 8 hours, with a second shooter and an engagement shoot
- Portraiture shoots are $400 for up to an hour
Contact Info:
- Email: julia@leggybird.com
- Website: www.leggybird.com
- Instagram: @leggybirdphotos
- Facebook: facebook.com/leggybirdphotos
