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

Adam, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How do you think about vacations as a business owner? Do you take them and if so, how? If you don’t, why not?

I absolutely take vacations, and as a photographer, I believe it is creatively a necessity. Before I started shooting weddings and portraits, landscapes and travel was my sole photography obsession. Creative burnout is a real thing, and shooting the same type of session over and over can start to pollute the creative side of photography. Getting to travel resets my mind in many ways, but also helps me look at scenes differently as I get to spend a week or two taking photos without people in them! As a business owner, it’s necessary to get away for a while. You can automate messages if you need to and it’s so easy to remain connected enough to respond to emails or anything a few times during your trip. I go on a couple trips a year, and never feel like I’m missing a beat from my business. I even was able to book a session or two from Iceland earlier this summer. You may feel like you can’t step away, but you can and you should.

Adam, 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?

Before studying abroad in Spain in 2010, I had hardly taken a photo in my life. After traveling all over Europe and trying to document the trip for friends and family back home through my little Kodak point and shoot camera, I started to quickly gain an interest in photography. Shooting travel and landscapes became a hobby and helped me develop a creative eye. I’ve always been interested in cinema, and I think my love for film has definitely influenced my photography over the years. Not just in terms of framing subjects, but in my approach to editing. After upgrading cameras a couple of times and learning more, I decided to try and make some money with my passion for photography. I knew that just selling prints as a landscape shooter was going to be a rough route, so I decided to branch out and start shooting portraits. I started a website and social media pages and was really blessed to have a few people give me a chance early on so I could really get my portfolio going. Things actually grew pretty quick, and word of mouth has given me more business each year. I’m also a social worker during the day, so photography has been my side job and is such a great change of pace for me from my daily routine. I have a cap of how many weddings I take every year, and I’ve reached the point where I’m forced to turn some down. I think one of my strengths is that people have fun getting their photos taken with me. I’ve met so many couples for their engagement session who say something about how nervous they are and feel awkward being in front of the camera. By the end of our shoot, they’re laughing and telling me how much they enjoyed it. When my clients have fun, I have fun and we all win. I try to make people feel comfortable and even with a posed shot, my goal is to have them feel loose and natural.

Alright – so here’s a fun one. What do you think about NFTs?

I actually think NFTs can be pretty cool. I’ve been into the crypto scene for a while as an investor, so I’ve kind of witnessed the crazy rise of NFTs and seen the hype fade a lot over the last year or two. I think they are probably here to stay though, and interest will probably come back. I’ve looked into minting photos as an NFT and there are platforms designed basically just for that – but I haven’t pulled the trigger. It’s really just been a time issue, I think I could reach an audience there and maybe make a few sales but it just isn’t a priority for me at this point.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

Do an exceptional job and provide a memorable product and the clients will come naturally. Especially as a wedding photographer, you’re basically networking while at the event. Even if you don’t know it, there are usually people in the wedding party that are engaged or will be soon. If they had fun doing wedding party photos, they’ll remember you. I have free listings on some vendor websites, but I don’t pay for advertising. I post on Facebook and Instagram and maintain a decent following on both of those platforms. You also want to try and do things like having some strong metatags and make sure your website is formatted in a way that Google likes to improve your listing (you can run a test for free to check this!). Overall, just be approachable and build relationships!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.adamsmithphotographywi.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adamsmithphotographywi/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/photographybyadamsmith