We recently connected with Chandler Probasco and have shared our conversation below.

Chandler , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.

I think one thing I see in my own work that I often don’t see from others in the wedding industry is the fact that I consider myself the least important person at a wedding. I often tell this to my clients and they will start to interject, saying of course I am important! And I have to explain this part of my heart for my business- your family, friends, and loved ones are the people who have seen you through this life. They have made you who you are today and brought you this far! It is so much more important that you feel seen by everyone at your wedding than me stepping on people’s toes or standing in their way to get the shot I want.

I think the wedding industry has suffered from vendors who forget that they are providing a service (i.e. serving and celebrating) their clients, and are more focused on their own portfolio. I have been lucky to work with some amazing vendors in the last year who share my same view on this, and I can see a revival of servanthood coming to the industry!

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?

Hey! I’m Chandler- I’m 24, high-energy, and I love love love celebration. I got into photography on accident- I was on my way to a career in accounting post-college, and then my sophomore year God thrust a camera into my hands and I never put it down! I have been blessed with the opportunity to create in places both near and far over my career, going all over the country and out of it to celebrate others’ love stories!

I am most proud about making people feel seen through my work. It is so important to me that others feel they have been captured well and celebrated fully when the day is done. I would love for people to know that I truly see you and your love story as art. The awe and beauty of it all is not lost on me after 5 years of this. Every story is different and uniquely captivating- and there is no shame in celebrating it as such!

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

During the onset of Covid-19, I had just moved states and was having to travel back to Colorado very often for weddings that were now being downsized and moved and changed in various ways. Plenty of times I was on planes that only held 4 passengers (though having the rows and rows to myself was nice). Covid hit hard. It took a lot of business, and in turn that carried into 2021 as well. It also exhausted us as an industry. Everyone was having to find ways to keep their business alive that were not even inherently part of the job they wanted to be doing. I was taking photos of people on their porches from the street, re-editing and sharing old sessions, re-evaluating my business models and financial tools, and honing my skills for when life went back to normal. I was also crying, a lot! By the grace of God- this business made it out of that season. It took so much creativity, hope, and tears to keep going, but here we are- and 2022 is finally feeling like a good year!

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

The biggest helper toward building a social media following for me was acting like myself. For so long I tried to emulate other photographer’s work and personalities for the internet to love me- but it wasn’t until I got tired of it and started just showing up as ME that things started to fall into place. As a small business owner, that business is an extension of you- let it be just that! Don’t cover yourself up.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.chandlerjphoto.com
• Instagram: @chandlerjphoto

Image Credits
Headshot image: @abbeyricephoto all other images mine