We recently connected with Aleksandra Radic and have shared our conversation below.

Aleksandra, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

When it comes to my portrait and wedding photography, my mission is to create beautiful images of people at every stage of their life which they will treasure for a lifetime. I want to empower people, especially women, to feel confident and beautiful in their own skin and to have an enjoyable experience in front of the camera. Through my travel and lifestyle photography, my mission is to inspire people to travel the world and experience different cultures.

Aleksandra, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I first became interested in photography at the age of 13. I remember my dad surprised me with my first SLR camera, and I couldn’t wait to photograph everything in sight! Around the same time, my youngest sister was born, so she was my main muse at the time. I think this is when I realized that I really loved photographing people, and in general, documenting special moments in person’s life. Going forward, I photographed everything and everyone: family, friends, family travel adventures, etc., I have always been a creative person, so I created all kinds of creative photography projects for myself. This is one of the ways I learned more about photography, and with the help of YouTube videos, but it was mostly practice, practice and more practice.

So, I am completely self-taught, and teaching myself always came easy because I had a passion for it.

As the years went on, I continued photographing people and things as a hobby, but when people started showing more interest in my work, I decided to start charging for my photoshoots. It wasn’t very much, but I remember thinking how amazing it was that someone would actually pay me for something that I loved to do. I started photographing weddings for family friends, family portraits and all kinds of events. Eventually, I decided to get more serious about my work and start a professional business. I currently mainly offer photography services for intimate weddings, elopements and portraiture (couples, maternity, family, headshots, boudoir) but since I consider myself an artist, I don’t like to limit myself. I also do quite a lot of work with small businesses, offering personal branding and product photography services.

One of the things that my clients always tell me is how easy I am to work with and how comfortable I make them feel in front of the camera. This is really important to me, because in order for me to capture a person’s true essence, it’s crucial for them to be able to relax and be themselves. And not only that, but it ends up being a much more enjoyable experience for everyone.

When it comes to my wedding photography style, I like to take a semi-documentary approach: documenting moments as they naturally unfold with a mix of traditional portraits. Similarly, my approach to portraiture ranges from lifestyle to traditional, which means that the session will include some traditional posing, freestyling posing and lots of movement. I also always give a lot of direction to my clients, especially to those who are not very comfortable in front of the camera.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

The best source of clients for me has been referrals and Instagram. I have been lucky to get a lot of business through past clients, family and friends. Like everyone says, word of mouth is really powerful! Instagram has been the other great source of new clients. Several years ago, I found that people we able to discover my business much more organically but it’s almost impossible now. Because of this, my strategy had to change. I had to start paying for ads in order to be discovered and to get more inquiries. That being said, I’ve managed to receive more inquiries through Instagram than any other social platforms or search engines.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

One of the lessons that I had to unlearn was that my gear was holding me back. For a long time, I thought I needed to get a better camera, a better lens, and all kinds of other fancy and expensive equipment to finally call myself a professional and create good work. And although some of these things can help, I realized that it’s really not the most important thing. If you don’t have a vision, imagination or a unique perspective, it doesn’t really matter what kind of equipment you have.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.aleksandraradicphotography.com
• Instagram: @aleksandraradic.photography
• Other: I am the co-owner of Love Yourself Yoga and Wellness Retreats for women. I organize retreats, teach meditation and offer self-love portrait sessions to each guest. You can find more info @loveyourselfretreats.