We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Alaina Strepparava a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alaina, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?
Wow, these are all great questions! And I feel like I can write a novel about it all, but I’ll try to keep myself from doing that! I am so incredibly grateful that I can now say that I do earn a full-time living from my photography business, but I can also say that it took A LOT of work and a lot of patience. And honestly, a lot of risks. For some context, I went to college for photography, but I never really knew what I wanted to do with my degree. My school really focused more on training students to pursue fine art or editorial work and it never particularly felt like me. I love both, but I just didn’t see myself in the gallery scene or trying to work in the fashion world.
As I was finishing up, I decided to dive right into my Master’s Degree for Counseling and Art Therapy. I was always interested in psychology, so I thought it would be a good way to get that creative fill while still working a “real job.” However, I knew from the very beginning that it wasn’t the right move for me. I questioned what I was doing the entire time I was in grad school and I ended up getting a job on the side working at a boutique family photography studio. I felt so much more fulfilled and confident in my work as a photographer than I did as a counselor, but I still didn’t quite know how to make it work. Fast forward a few years and I was finished with my degree, working in the counseling field and I was absolutely miserable. I had started my photography business, but didn’t really have the time or energy to fully invest in it…and then Covid hit. I (like many others) took that time to reflect on my life and one night I turned to my then fiancé and said “what if I leave my job and do photography full time?” Without skipping a beat, he just said “do it.” So, I did! I was working as a school counselor at the time and waited out the school year. That summer, I worked my ass off reaching out to photographers I loved, offering to work for free. I also did a mentorship with another NJ wedding photographer – Tori Kelner who is now a great friend of mine! Networking with other photographers was the absolute best thing that I could have done. I’m now connected with a great group of photographers and we all help each other out, second shooting with each other and sending each other referrals. I wanted to expose myself to literally anything and everything and it absolutely paid off. Even with doing a ton of free work, I never experienced any lapse in income. Once I had the time to actually devote to my business, I was very quickly able to earn more than I was at my counseling job.
I think the one thing that would have sped up the process is just taking that risk sooner! There is a huge part of me that wishes I would have listened to my gut from the very beginning and not continued with that counseling degree, but I also think a lot of what I learned from working in that field greatly benefits me as a business owner, so maybe it was meant to be!
Alaina, 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?
From a very, very young age, I’ve always felt like a creative person, but it wasn’t until I was in middle school that I fell in love with photography. I had an older sister who was really creative and I always looked up to her, but I struggled to find the medium that worked best for me. I got my first camera when I was in 8th grade and all of that completely changed – I brought it with me everywhere. I never would have known then that it would be my career now. Even when I was in college, I remember my mom constantly asking me why I don’t photograph weddings, but I just had no interest. They terrified me and I always had the idea of cheesy wedding photography in my head every time she asked. It wasn’t until I got engaged in 2018 that I saw how cool wedding photography could be. I immediately fell in love and started assisting and shadowing other photographers whose work I loved.
While I focus mostly on photographing weddings and couples sessions now, I do occasionally photograph families and other events as well, depending on availability, but weddings and couples are hands down my absolute favorite things to photograph! I love capturing that exciting time in their lives, when they’re surrounded by all of the people they know and love.
I’ve built my business on the idea of being an all around helping hand for my clients and going above and beyond for them. My number one goal on a wedding day is to make sure that my couples (and their families) feel comfortable with me. I’m a part of so many intimate moments and I never want people to feel like I’m just shoving a camera in their face. Their day is about them, it’s not about me or “getting the shot.” I want them to feel comfortable so that they can be themselves and I can document their day as it truly was. Honestly, I’m really proud of myself because in reading a lot of my clients’ reviews, I think I’ve been pretty successful in making that happen.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
I’m currently pivoting in pretty much all aspects of my life right now. When my son was born last June (he just turned a year old!), I felt a huge shift in my life and my business. I absolutely love what I do, but one thing that I have always struggled with since leaving my full time job is boundaries. There’s a huge misconception that creatives can just work whenever and it’s super flexible or even that we don’t work all that much, when in actuality, I work sooo much more than I ever did before. The difference now is that I love what I do so it truly doesn’t feel like work, but it can definitely still be hard. When you work a 9-5, you clock out and don’t have to respond until the next morning and that’s just not the case when you own your own business. Even when I’m on vacation, I can’t risk not responding to inquiries, or I might lose out on business. It’s very different from other jobs.
When I had my son, I quickly realized that something had to change. I could no longer spend every spare second answering emails, responding to inquiries, working on marketing, editing galleries. I had to figure out a schedule or I was going to burn out really quickly. When you work in a creative field, you often have to wear so many different hats and having my son truly taught me that in order to do all of that successfully, I had to create some boundaries. Finally, after months of struggling with how to make it all work – how to be a great mom and a great business owner, we decided to put my son in daycare 3 days a week. It was such a hard decision for me, but now having 3 dedicated WFH/session days in addition to my weekend wedding days has allowed me to be so much more present with him on the days that we’re together. I’m no longer scrambling to answer emails while preparing meals for him or racing home before he falls asleep so that I can work during his nap. Setting those boundaries has truly helped set me free and it’s something I feel isn’t talked about often. Moms are so often expected to be able to do it all and there’s such a huge misconception that working from home is easy to do while you take care of your kids and that can’t be farther from the truth. I just wanted to share my story in case there’s anyone else out there struggling to accept help. I’m here to say that whether it’s in life or business – we can’t do it all. Asking for help is a strength and it allows you to grow both in life and in business.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
I think the most rewarding thing is really just being able to provide people with memories from such an important time in their lives. After a wedding day, the photographs are really the only thing that a couple walks away with. It’s so cool to be able to allow my couples the opportunity to see moments from their day that they may not have been physically present for. I’ve also had so many past couples thank me for capturing special moments of their grandparents and/or parents on their wedding day. Especially if people have passed away after their wedding day, it’s so nice to have memories of that person laughing or dancing on the dance floor.
Image Credits
Photograph of my hands holding camera – taken by Jennifer Larson Photography