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

Abby, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What do you think it takes to be successful?

I think first we must first define what success is for each individual. In the photography industry, specifically, I’ve found that success differs from artist to artist. For example, some photographers would define success as having a full year booked with nothing but weddings, while other photographers want nothing to do with the wedding industry and only want to specialize in headshots or landscape photography. Some photographer’s definition of success might look like a six-figure year, while others are more than content with just making enough money to help support their household.

But generally speaking, regardless of what one’s definition of success is, I think what it takes to get there is first facing the fear of the “F” word: failure. I know for me, I had to go through a lot of mindset shifts and mental work of getting over the fear of failing. I think there’s a lot of pressure that entrepreneurs and artists can put on themselves to automatically be a certain version of themselves or be at a certain level of success almost instantly.

Once I allowed myself the freedom to fail, I found that’s actually where a lot of my success stories came from. Social media is a small but great example of that. Sometimes I find that I, along with a lot of other photographers, get too hung up on trying to keep up with the algorithm and our content getting lots of views and likes right off the bat. But by putting constraints on myself of what I could and couldn’t post, or what time I could and couldn’t post, that caused me to develop a lot of mental blocks and restricted a lot of my creativity. So by removing those barriers, and telling myself that it’s okay if my reel doesn’t go viral, or that it’s okay if my post only gets 10 likes, that’s when my creative freedom really began to soar.

So in summary, I think success takes time, but it also takes being willing to fail, and also being okay with the thought of failing. Because failure isn’t your final destination, it’s just a stepping stone on the ultimate path to success.

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

I’m Abby Herron. I’m a 24 year old photographer who’s local to the DFW Metroplex. I specialize in wedding and couples photography that has a romantic, cinematic, and lifestyle feel to it.

Me getting into the photography industry was a result of me beginning to become really unhappy with my 9-5 job I had previously been working. I went through a phase where I kind of felt like I began losing myself, so my husband encouraged me to find a creative outlet to help me begin finding myself again. I picked up his old DSLR camera he had lying around and began learning how to photograph pictures using a “real” camera. I had always dabbled in photography and loved taking pictures growing up, so the thought of photography wasn’t completely foreign to me.

As I began shooting more for fun, people started noticing my work and began wanting to pay me for my work to take pictures of them and their family. I think that’s when the lightbulb went off and things began to click. I quickly fell in love with photographing people and their love stories. Fast forward a couple of years and I have quit my old 9-5 and I am now doing photography full time. I love my job and sometimes have very surreal moments that this is actually what I get to do full time. I couldn’t be more in love with what I get to do.

I want my clients, and really anyone I meet and connect with, to know that I’m here to serve them. With my wedding couples especially, I want them to know I’m here to encourage, support, and champion them through what’s arguably one of the sweetest seasons of life, and I’m here to work with WITH them rather than just FOR them.

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

I think something that helped me build my reputation is simple honesty and sincerity. We all know the feeling of that “sleazy car salesman” and I vowed to myself to make working with me feel like the exact opposite of that as much as possible. I think a lot of people in today’s time are tired of feeling deceived and lied to. I find the more open, honest, and sincere that I can be, people naturally respond well to that.

A lot of my first clients were friends I asked to photograph just for fun, and then I quickly began building clientele from friends referring me to their friends. Putting myself out there and just asking people to shoot with me for fun really helped me build my reputation and my clientele in the beginning.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

There are several people that have really helped shape me and my business. The first book I would say has had significant impact on me and my business is the Bible. God imparts a lot of wisdom in His Word, and shows people how to be honest, fair, and integrous workers and business owners. The Bible is something I look to for wisdom and insight on a daily and weekly basis.

The second resource I would say that has had a lot of impact on me and my business is Nathan Chanski and all that he has to offer the photography industry. He is based in Grand Rapids, MI but I found him through his reels on instagram. Nathan harps on the power of your mindset and how much that plays a part in your business, which has helped me implement a lot of the mindset shifts I’ve taken today.

Contact Info:

• Website: abbyherron.co
• Instagram: @abbyherronphoto
• Facebook: Abby Herron Photography
• Other: TikTok: abbyherronphoto

Image Credits
All photographs are property of Abby Herron Photography.