We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lisa Schwerin a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Lisa, thanks for joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

I have been working on my second campaign to shoot 40 women over the age of 40 ending in a celebration gala event for all 40 participants. When my friend and I started this portrait photography business it was because of a session that my friend had had. She was turning 40 and wanted to do a boudoir photo shoot. She did and had a really bad experience. That was what started our entire business, knowing we could do a better job at giving women a wonderful experience and beautiful images. Playing on that same idea around the age of 40 I had seen a mention of something like that in one of the photography groups I’m am a part of. It absolutely resonated with me, our business, her experience and what we want every woman that comes for a photoshoot to feel, beautiful, seen, relaxed, taking time for themselves, telling their story and being a part of something bigger than themselves.

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?

Our brand was built because of a bad boudoir session experience. We wanted to give our clients more than just an image, we offer an experience. One that helps our clients show up as their very best. I have worked hard on posing and lighting to be able to flatter any and all body types. I want every client portrait to be a legacy for them, something they are very proud of. I want to give our branding clients and image they absolutely LOVE to share and that can help them make more money. I have had so many clients cry during their image reveal, with joy of how beautiful the feel they are. We help women find themselves again and give them a day all about JUST them.

We are a one stop shop for a luxury day of pampering with a photoshoot. Every full session includes a pre-shoot consultation, session preparation, professional hair and makeup, wardrobe guidance, fully guided head-to-toe posing and an immediate image reveal for them to choose the images they absolutely love. We strive to make it easy and even enjoyable to work with us. My happy place is 1 on 1 client interaction. They come to us for a service but leave as new friends.

From our ABOUT page:
We Believe in empowering clients and that every client is beautiful! It doesn’t matter your body shape, your skin color or your age; YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL! Let us show you. Book a session with us so that we can bring out the beauty we see that you may not. Our BOUDOIR, BEAUTY, and PERSONAL BRANDING sessions are empowering and a lot of fun!

Our Clients deserve to have gorgeous images they are proud of. Images that capture your personality. And, if you’re using them to market your business, you deserve images that show you in your best light. You deserve customer service that is the bomb! Your wishes will be heard and we will do our very best to get you exactly what you want from your session.​

We Help each of our clients through every step of the process. Through pre-shoot consultation, picking out wardrobe to choosing the perfect images, we are there to help you. You can call, text or email us with any questions or concerns.

We Want each shoot we do to capture you and your personality at your most comfortable. We will work hard for you to get the images that you want and reflect who you are. We want what you want; whether it is a small print, an album or an entire portrait art collection to place on your wall, we can get it done and done beautifully. As a Fort Smith Arkansas Boudoir and Personal Branding photographer we will meet ALL of our clients’ needs. Beauty and Boudoir are our specialty sessions! These sessions are all done in a very tasteful, classy and comfortable manner. These images are a wonderful gift for a groom or husband or for yourself, just to see and be reminded of the beauty found in each and every woman. If you would like to know more visit our blog and read about it.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

My cofounder and I used to work in a medical laboratory together, she was the phlebotomist and I was the lab supervisor. It was a very small lab and it was just the two of us. Something about our personalities made us truly click and she is now my very best friend. During our time working in the lab she turned 40. She had always wanted to do a boudoir shoot to capture herself then, at her best, in that moment. She booked a shoot and our story began. She said her session took place in a older warehouse. Interesting backdrop but didn’t have a comfortable feel. The husband of the photographer was present for part of the time, and he was smoking cigarettes. The whole start made her pretty uncomfortable. During the session she had very little guidance and did her best to do what she thought would look good in the images. However, once she saw them, she was devastated. She hated them and didn’t purchase a single one.

Of course at work she was telling me all the details as they happened. She showed me her images (which weren’t quite as bad to me as she thought, but we are our own worst critics). The day she saw all her images she looked at me and said “we could do better than this”. Of course I was confused, I had never considered my own business. I have loved photography my whole life and she was a makeup and hair girly. So out of her experience our business was born. Giving women a safe and comfortable space to be vulnerable in front of the camera. A space just for them, for that day, in that moment to love who they are in every way and work with us to create a gorgeous legacy image that captures that moment to remember for a lifetime.

She had to leave our business to care for a grandchild and I now work with my daughter. It has been bitter sweet losing my partner, but I absolutely love working with my daughter. We have fun, help our clients to have fun and give them the best experience with gorgeous images.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I learned quickly not to fight my way to the bottom. Meaning, not to undervalue what I do and “give” it away. I learned quickly that I want to be at the top of the market. Fewer clients at a higher price point to prevent burnout, overwork and to be sure I’m working with clients that truly value what we give them. It’ one of the hardest things I have done, I was raised to be quite humble, and not think myself better than others. That was hard to overcome in order to price myself and the experience I give clients at a profitable rate. I know now it’s not that I’m better, it’s that I give a valuable service and deserve to be paid in even return for that.

The higher price is not an easy place to be. Especially when times are tough and you really ‘NEED” the booking. It never serves well to cheapen the experience. You end up working with people that make the process difficult and very unfun. This is my happy place and I don’t want to dread the time I work.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.dlpictureperfectphotography.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pictureperfecphoto/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dlpictureperfectphotography

Image Credits

Lisa Schwerin with Picture Perfect Photography