We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Samantha Couick. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Samantha below.

Hi Samantha , thanks for joining us today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

Success looks different for many people. For me, serving others and making sure your client wins and has an amazing experience means success. On wedding days and during sessions, it’s my goal to serve the clients in any way I can- obviously I’ll be taking photos the whole time too! I want to make sure each person feels comfortable and confident in front of my camera. For example, at a recent wedding the grandmother needed a plate to go through the buffet line. She had a hard time walking, so it was already a challenge for her to walk to the line. I gave her my plate and insisted she use it. I I wasn’t doing that to be noticed by others, my goal was to serve.

Ultimately, when you serve and truly care for the people around you, you are successful!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Samantha and I am a wedding, couples and family photographer based in the Charlotte, NC area! I’ve been a photographer for 4 years, I’ve always been an entrepreneur- when I was a kid I’d bake cookies and sell them at school. Then as I was older I’d walk around the neighborhood to see if there was any way I could serve my neighbors to earn money. So I’ve always been one to look for ways to make money. As a teenager my dad gifted me a little Nikon camera and I fell in love with it. Over the years I brought it with me everywhere- even when I moved to Europe for a year. When I returned, I continued using my little camera, secretly in love with photography but never feeling like I’d be able to do it professionally. Once I graduated college, I received enough money to buy a second hand professional camera! I was through the roof excited to finally have the equipment needed to make my photography dreams come alive. At that point I had some friends who asked if I could photograph their engagement session. From there things snowballed and people kept trusting me with their photos. I was amazed when a client drove a few hours for a session with me.

My care for and service to each couple sets me apart from other photographers. When someone books me, they obviously get a photographer, but I’m also someone who truly cares about each person I work with. Something else that sets me apart is my approach to documenting events on a wedding day. I am more like a wallflower that observes and photographs events and emotions as they are happening rather than making a big show of staging for photographs. I absolutely love being a photographer and I am so thankful that I get to call this my job!

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

For me, the most rewarding aspect of being a photographer is that I get to photograph some of the biggest days of people’s lives. Not only that, but I create images for people that freezes moments in time- particularly emotions and family members. Last year I photographed a wedding and the couple mentioned that the bride’s grandfather had traveled quite far to be there. I made sure to take several photos of him throughout the night. Several months later the bride shared that he passed and the photos from their wedding were some of the last ones they had of him. It revealed to me such a deep honor that I have when photographing families and weddings.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I think consistency and a clear brand helped build my reputation. People see that I am consistently serving, showing up and that my work is consistently growing, evolving and getting better.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://samanthacouickphotography.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samanthacouickphoto/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SamanthaCouickPhoto
• Other: https://www.pinterest.com/samcouick