We recently connected with Candace Hires and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Candace, thanks for joining us today. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard.
I have been a portrait photographer for almost 14 years now. When I first started, every other photographer I knew was photographing sessions and then just sending a disc of the final images that were created, so that’s how I ran my business. But after several years of working like this with clients, I realized that I was actually doing them a diservice with leaving them on their own for choosing their favorites from an entire gallery and then figuring out about printing and framing or creating albums. That’s now how I wanted to do business. So about 8 years ago, I completely changed my business services.
When it comes to photography, I go above and beyond the industry standard to provide an exceptional experience for my clients. Instead of simply delivering digital images and leaving them to figure out what to do with them, I believe in working closely with my clients on a personal level. Before each session, I dedicate time to have one-on-one discussions with my clients, understanding their vision and goals for the artwork they want to create. By doing so, we can collaboratively determine the exact portraits we’ll need to capture.
I understand the stress and effort involved in choosing and coordinating outfits for a family photoshoot because I was once that Mom. As Moms, we tend to always take care of everyone else first. We choose their clothing and then we end up just picking whatever we can find to coordinate with the outfits we’ve chosen for them. Usually, we don’t even like it all that much – but it matches, right? This is exactly what I did at our last family session from when my children were little. It was SO stressful to me that I didn’t have another family portrait session done. To alleviate this burden for others, I provide a full wardrobe selection for families, ensuring that everyone looks their best and is beautifully coordinated. Want to know the real secret with the wardrobe? I help Mom select her clothing FIRST. Because Mom is typically the only one who really cares how she looks in the portraits. So I make sure she is wearing something that she absolutely feels stunning and beautiful in.
My aim is to offer a comprehensive service to my clients, which includes not only capturing stunning portraits but also assisting them in selecting their favorites and helping them find the best way to enjoy and display them every day. I take pride in going the extra mile for my clients, which is why I offer custom framing services. I personally handle the framing process and even go a step further by installing the frames in my client’s homes. This way, “dad” doesn’t have to lift a finger, and the artwork seamlessly becomes a part of their living space. I believe in providing a full-service experience that ensures my clients feel supported and delighted throughout their photography journey.
Candace, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I actually started my career as a Registered Nurse in the Surgical ICU for many years. Sometime around 2007 I fell in love with scrapbooking. I would spend Friday evenings at the local craft store creating layouts to go into my children’s scrapbooking albums. Somewhere along the way while searching through magazines for layout inspiration, I started paying more attention to the photos that were ON the layouts in the magazine than the actual layout itself. I wondered to myself – why are the backgrounds behind the people in the photos blurred out? Why do their photos of their children look so much better than mine? Everything was in focus in the background of mine. So even though I had always been a “mom with a camera”, I started a deep dive into learning how to best use the camera I had. I read and taught myself about manual mode and what the exposure triangle was. For almost 2 years I photographed anyone and everyone that I could get in front of my camera, for free. Because I knew I would make mistakes – and I did. But I also learned and improved my skills and speed with photographing families.
Now, I make it a priority to do at least one educational workshop/seminar every year with a goal to improve my business. Whether it’s improving my photography skills or business skills, I fully believe that investing in myself is always going to be a win for my clients ultimately. Because my line of work is all about my clients. Whether I am photographing families, newborns or commercial work – I am documenting and saving someone’s legacy. I am preserving the family and/or person as they are at that time in life. Because in the end when we are gone – photos and videos are truly all that we will have left of them. If you’ve ever pulled out an old family album, you know what I’m talking about. I can remember looking through past scrapbook/photo albums several months ago when my son walked through the room. He literally stopped from where he was going and sat down beside me on the sofa for nearly an hour while we looked through multiple albums and talked about past family members. That’s legacy. That’s what’s important. Remembering family. Remembering who we were. Preserving this time for our future generations.
Although I loved working as a registered nurse, I chose to walk away from nursing in 2020 when the pandemic hit to do photography full time and I haven’t looked back. Working as a nurse I took care of people to the best of my ability. In a way, isn’t that exactly what I’m doing with my photography?
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 think the biggest lesson I had to unlearn related to photography was the expectation that clients just want the digital images. Other photographers, both local and online, told me “clients will never want to spend money on framed portraits or albums, just give them the digital files”. For a long time, I believed that. But I thought back to my own childhood and remembered the trips to Olan Mills and having our own family portraits photographed and then framed and hanging on the wall in my childhood home. I clearly remember looking at our portraits on the walls and remember that warm feeling it gave me, even as a child. I want that for my clients. I want my client’s children to be excited when they see themselves in portraits on the walls. It’s even been proven in several studies that seeing themselves in photos on display in the home helps to foster their confidence.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
When I first started in my photography journey I was always looking at what everyone else was doing in their photography journey and using that as my measure for my own success. Were they photographing with a lot of props? Were they photographing in a field? In an urban area? On the beach? How busy were they compared to me? If they’re photographing 20+ sessions per month, I must not be successful if I’m not photographing that many. So for a few years I tried to keep up with trends and price-matching to stay as busy as a few others that caught my eye. All while working full time as a registered nurse and being a wife and mom to two small children.
One day I just realized that I could no longer keep up. That I needed to put blinders on and just focus on my own journey, because it was going to look a lot different than what someone else’s journey looked like. I increased my pricing but also increased my services (more for more). I started being more choosy about which sessions I agreed to photograph. I started leaning into photographing in a way that I loved – clean, simple, free of all the props and distractions. Light colors and just simply my clients and/or my client’s baby. Because all the rest is just noise. At least for me. There is such beauty in simplicity, and I love that I’m creating images that are timeless. I now photograph just 8 sessions per month but I’m able to give my full attention to my clients and create wonderful relationships with them and truly get to know them and their style/who they are. I absolutely believe that that’s what helps me to provide a superior service to them.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.candacehiresphotography.com/our-services
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/candace_hires/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/crhphoto
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/candace-hires-1227b1248/
Image Credits
Image credit me :) Candace Hires Photography