We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Leslie Arnold. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Leslie below.
Alright, Leslie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you scale up? What were the strategies, tactics, meaningful moments, twists/turns, obstacles, mistakes along the way? We’d love to hear the backstory the illustrates how you grew your brand.
I began doing photography in 2018, working primarily with friends and family for a fun hobby. All of my initial clients were friends of friends, and it wasn’t until 2021 that I began seeing some real tangible growth that I needed to manage. I had managed to book a corporate gig doing marketing photos for a private school, and in that year I had about half of the graduating class reach out to me to do their senior photos. That same year, my fall was fully booked with family sessions from those families and others from that school as well. Truly, them including my photos and credit in their monthly newsletter changed the course of my photography career that year.
During that time, I poured a lot of time and energy into client relations and posing prompts and ideas. I really tried to get to know my clients during our sessions, and tailored the experience to them individually, instead of using the same prompts and poses for every individual person and family.
From a photography standpoint, I would always start with the same prompts. But I would pay close attention to their comfort level and how easily they executed them, and used that information to influence how the rest of the session went. Most often, I would end up shifting gears or changing how I approached or explained different prompts.
By adjusting the experience to the client, I found that people really blossomed in front of the camera. People who were uncomfortable with the experience initially found themselves leaning into prompts and making them their own, and fake posed smiles became genuine. This positive experience helped my business grow dramatically, and clients were happier than ever.
Additionally, these happy clients recommended me to more people. That winter season, I took some advice from other photographers (and even some clients!) and raised my prices to accommodate my bursting schedule. I found that I began booking more corporate clients as well, and landed my first traveling gig to Arizona and Nevada with Pilot Flying J and SYNC Communications in Knoxville. We spent a week on oil rigs and in oil-manufacturing labs with a full video team, and I was the solo photographer for the trip. It was truly an amazing experience, and I learned so much to apply to my work. The skills learned with Pilot and SYNC helped me later land a recurring corporate gig with the City of Athens in Tennessee as well.
Truly, embracing every individual client and booking as a learning opportunity was the best thing I could do for my business. I was constantly learning and growing in my craft, and this allowed for better client experiences, better results, and better bookings. By 2023, I had increased my photography income annually by almost 100%, and was finding that I was still fully booked every season.
If I could give anybody in my position a few years ago (or even somebody in another client-facing profession) one piece of advice, it would be to keep learning. View everything — every client, every inquiry, every booking, every gig — as a learning opportunity. Utilize what you learn, and you will see tangible growth in your craft. It’s foolproof!
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I am a photographer based in East Tennessee. I specialize in portrait and corporate photography with an artistic touch, and am known for tailoring the experience to the individual. I began my photography journey in 2018 while in college. It began as an artistic endeavor through a required photography class.
Primarily, I spend my fall seasons doing family portraits every weekend, and my spring seasons doing senior portraits every weekend. Corporate marketing gigs fill my weeks throughout the year, and I am always accepting new opportunities for professional collaborations. I also do a select few weddings, though the work required for a full wedding day restricts me to about three or four annually.
Based on client feedback and anonymous client reviews, clients praise my ability to make them comfortable during the session. It’s not often that you have a client who is truly comfortable in front of a camera, so being able to make someone open up and be comfortable is so important. Additionally, I like to add a more creative and artistic touch to my work, helping set my images apart from others.
From a corporate standpoint, one of the biggest things that sets me apart is my background in marketing. I have extensive professional marketing experience, and know what is needed while using photos in flyers, websites, and graphics. Additionally, my editing process and treatment for marketing images vary from my portraiture. Marketing and corporate images get a much more natural and crisp treatment to allow for more universally applicable images to blend with a company’s brand. These really set me apart from other photographers in the industry, and make for really wonderfully usable marketing images for any company or brand.
Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?
I have had two near-death moments for my photography business. The first was in 2019. I had just begun getting some paying clients and gigs, and was still using a camera that I was borrowing from my then-fiance. We had a pretty horrible and abusive relationship, and when things ended, I was left in shambles personally and professionally. As the camera was his, he took it back after. I was incredibly depressed, and also I found myself having to cancel all of my bookings because I had no gear. I was also being financially abused at the time, so I only had $24 to my name — a fraction of the cost of a new camera and necessary gear.
My parents were heartbroken for me, and by their love and kindness, my mother decided to purchase me a new camera herself. This new camera was representative of a new life for me. It also gave me a new appreciation for the art and my career, and I truly am so grateful for the opportunity — all thanks to my family who showed me love during this hard time in my life.
The second near-death moment for my photography business was in 2022. I had a flare up of a neck and back injury from my previous abusive relationship, resulting in a herniated disk and pinched nerve down my arm. I was bedridden for about a month, and couldn’t feel my left arm enough to hold my phone, much less my camera. I again had to cancel all of my bookings for the entire summer, because even when I was up and moving again I still couldn’t comfortably execute the movement necessary for a session.
This experience required a lot of patience and trust to get through. It was scary to trust that my clients would still be there when I was better again. It was scary to have the patience in the healing process and not jump back in too early. But I persevered and by the fall I was back booking again!
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
For me, new clients primarily come from recommendations and word of mouth. Almost all of my clients let me know that they heard about me from a previous client during the initial consultation. In such a saturated market, there are so many wonderful photographers in my region to choose from. It’s important to foster client relationships that turn into recurring and new clients, so I focus really hard on good client experiences!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://leslieclairephotography.com
- Instagram: @leslieclairephoto
- Facebook: @leslieclairephoto
Image Credits
Just Leslie Claire Photography — lol it’s a perk of being a photographer!