Today we’d like to introduce you to Liza Head

Hi Liza, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?

I have always been a creative person, and my parents really encouraged me to pursue art when I was growing up. I ended up getting a fine art degree but couldn’t find a way to really use it to make a living. Enter photography. My now husband introduced me to a DSLR 18 years ago, and I quickly dove head first into photographing…everything. My memory isn’t as good as I’d like it to be, and I used photography as a sort of visual journal, documenting the important moments in my life. Fast forward 4 years and our friends were getting married and hadn’t planned to hire a wedding photographer. I offered to do it for fun (and for free) and I was hooked. I loved the intersection of meaningful moments and beautiful details that weddings offered – not to mention the challenge of thinking on the fly and the adrenaline of the fast-pace of a wedding day. Photographing weddings became my primary passion and income for the next 7 years. At that point, I realized something was missing. My goal during weddings is to be as invisible as possible so I can authentically capture someone else’s important moments. I still believe in and love that practice, but it leaves little space to play with creating moments myself. This is when my journey of women’s portraiture began. It started out as a desire to pursue fine art photography – creating my own vision and hiring models to bring it to life – then morphed into something else. I realized that my love of story-telling and desire to collaborate with my clients remained. Soon I was doing creative and classic portraiture for clients – taking my visual language and using it to tell their stories. That journey evolved into a thriving boudoir and flower bath portrait business in which I photograph women who – like all of us – are learning to love, accept and appreciate themselves through every season of life.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?

I don’t know what a “smooth road” for a small business owner would look like. I had two major road blocks. The first was paperwork. I didn’t eve set out to start a business – I just started taking pictures. Then I retroactively realized I was running a business and had to figure out the details of what that meant on the fly, while working for clients. In a lot of ways, I created unnecessary work for myself by trying to reinvent the wheel. It took me an embarrassing amount of time to realize that a community of professional photographers already existed out there – that I could seek out answers to all my questions instead of trying to figure everything out on my own. Questions like “how to run a legal business in San Jose” or “how does sales tax apply to a service-based business” or “what do I need to have in my contract” would have been great to research in advance. Instead I was deep into doing photographic work before I realized I would need to figure all of that out.

The second was – and is – marketing. Like every starry-eyed creative-turned-entrepreneur, I believed that being great at taking pictures is all that was required to find clients. As it turns out, finding clients is whole other skill set which I didn’t – and still don’t – have. With social media, the world is at our fingertips. We think we’ll take a great photo, “put it out there”, and willing clients will rush to the door throwing money at us. Unfortunately, getting my work seen – and valued – by potential clients is the greatest hurdle I have faced as a photographer. I’m still throwing everything at it to see what sticks.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?

I specialize in photographing women at all stages of life. I offer maternity, boudoir, beauty, and just-because portraits. I am known for my over-the-top luxurious flower baths and my fine-art inspired studio boudoir photos. What sets me apart is not only the artistic flair I bring to my work, but also my genuine desire to get to know and connect with my clients. I love the collaborative process – for me this looks like offering a space for a woman to come and be herself and be safe and seen.

Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?

Probably the most important lesson I’ve learned is one I am still learning – to trust my intuition. To pour my heart into the projects that fit and the people I connect with and “bless and release” ideas and projects which don’t click or feel authentic for one reason or another. I think it’s evident in my work when I am really passionate about a shoot, and those are the projects I should pursue, vs. something that’s a fad which doesn’t really speak to me.

Pricing:

• My portraits are priced in two parts: the session fee and the photo collections.
• A session fee covers my work leading up to and including the shoot. Depending on the type of shoot, it might also include hair and makeup as well.
• After their shoot, a client is invited to meet again to see their photos at their “reveal”
• At the reveal is where the client chooses which photo collection works best for them.
• My clients spend an average of $2000-$4000 on a portrait shoot.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://bayareaboudoir.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/juniperspringportraits
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/juniperspringphotographypage

Image Credits

All images taken by me – Liza Head at Bay Area Boudoir.