Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Abbie VandenEinde. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

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

Recently, I had the opportunity to take family photos for an extended family that hadn’t seen each other in over four years. Several of the family members are in different countries overseas doing missionary work, and therefore many of them haven’t even been in the same country for that duration of time. This Christmas season, one of the daughters booked me for their family photos and kept it a surprise from some of the family until the day of our session. I was so excited to be able to make this happen for their family, especially because they let me know there was a wedding in the family as well during those four years that not everyone was able to be at. This really was such a special reunion session and providing the ability to make memories to hold onto when they are so far apart from each other. I was already excited and expectant for the session, but it really was just such a sweet session. They were so kind and fun to be with – it was one of those sessions that I didn’t want to end. Even after sending the photos, they had the kindest things to say and were so touched by the memories made. The mother of the family wrote me, saying, “Abbie!!!!! I wish I would’ve thought ahead to film our family looking at these photos. The pure joy we all felt was so evident. This made the wait for family pictures SO worth it! My prayer going into that day was that there would be one… just one photo… that everyone felt good about themselves in. There were so. many. more!! You have a gift, my dear. You brought out the best in each one of these precious people I love dearly. And you made us feel so at home – we could fully relax and be ourselves. Thank you feels really inadequate but it comes from the bottom of our hearts.” It is these kind of moments that remind me why I do what I do and really bring a sense of fulfillment to the work that I do. I don’t always get to hear the stories of how my clients receive their photos and the impact that they have, but when I hear stories like this, it makes it so worth it.

Abbie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I initially started abbie joy photography as a passion and creative outlet in the middle of college. I happened to get invited to intern for some photography friends back home in Minnesota for the summer of 2019 – I fell in love. Essentially, I was just running around with them on all of their sessions and weddings, assisting and second shooting, really doing whatever they needed. I helped with some social media and other aspects of their business too, and got a good feel for the business. Then, when I got back to Colorado that summer, I decided to start my own photography business, not even fully knowing what that all meant. People started reaching out to me asking for couples photos and asking if I did weddings, and I started to get so excited! This continued for awhile and things started to grow quicker than I expected. However, then when 2020 came, things slowed down substantially due to covid. I was devastated at first and worried that marked the end of my business. However, I started to get back up and book creative sessions while bookings were slow and learned SO much in that season. Then, after 2020, things were booming again and I felt more and more confident because of the work I put in during the slow season. This lesson has carried forward into full time as well, knowing how to make the most of slower seasons. After graduating college in May of 2022, I went full time with my business and am so excited that I did. Things have still been growing and I have had many incredible opportunities and stories through this business. abbie joy photography, though it started mainly as a creative outlet and a way to pay for gas and groceries in college, has turned into my full time occupation, and I couldn’t be more thankful.

abbie joy photography is a photography business that serves clients looking for fun, bubbly photos that showcase your own personalities. In every shoot, my goal is to capture YOUR moment. This means making sure you are comfortable and confident, while my camera and I fade into the background. I truly value capturing real, authentic moments. Therefore, in a session, we don’t do much “posing.” Rather, I will provide a few prompts to allow you to focus on the MOMENT, have FUN, and just BE while I capture the candids! I love to help clients in need of wedding photos, couples photos, proposals, family photos, senior photos, and creative/branding photos. In my business, I focus a lot on relationships as well as quality photos, because I think relationship is what provides the ability to know my clients well and capture your stories to the best of my ability. Also, when it comes to a wedding day, your photographer is with you every moment of the day, and you deserve to have someone that will be a fun personality and vibe well with you on the biggest day of your life!! I love to focus on the details and the aspects that tell YOUR story, that bring out your personalities and help the photos come to life. Photography is so much more than getting a beautiful shot; it’s about telling a story, and you can’t do that if you don’t know the story.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

The book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years changed my thinking both in life and my business of what it looks like to live a good story, and storytelling in general. If you think about it, photography is fundamentally about telling a story. I won’t give too much away from the book, but this one helped me reframe how to capture a good story – what to focus on, what to understand, what to capture in a day. It’s a beautiful book and anyone and everyone should read it.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

COVID year was a big one that required a lot of resilience. I had barely started my business and felt like I hit the biggest roadblock that was completely out of my control. I didn’t know what to do to keep going and was scared it was all over. But rather than get stuck and give up, I decided to make the most of what I had, the most of the people I was able to be around and the situations I was in and LEARN. That is the biggest advice I could give to anyone that feels like they are in a slow season or feels like their business isn’t where they want it to be – take some steps to learn and grow. Take classes, watch videos, work on your branding, go out and shoot, try more of what you want to book, try new editing styles – whatever it may be, take the time to learn and grow as much as you can in those seasons. Then, when busy season comes back, the work that you did to learn will pay off exponentially as you go forward. Trust me, I have seen it many times! It is so worth it and provides the resilience and creativity you need to keep going.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://abbiejoyphoto.wixsite.com/home
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abbiejoyphotography_/?igshid=YWJhMjlhZTc%3D
• Other: tik tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@abbiejoyphotography?_t=8YyiEZab7ec&_r=1

Image Credits
abbie joy photography