We were lucky to catch up with Alex Souder recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alex , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?
This can vary depending on a person’s specific situation and goals; however, I think there are certain ingredients for success across the board. First and foremost, you’ve got to have the drive, passion, and ambition and KNOW that you have what it takes – believe in yourself. There are often times in the creative industry where you will feel like an imposter each time you make the leap up to the next level of growth, but confidence in your skills and passion is key. The “hustle culture” is often painted in a negative light, but for most creatives, this is a necessity in order to separate yourself from the crowd. A large number of creatives, including myself, hold other jobs in addition to being a photographer, videographer, etc., so if you want to be able to compete with full-timers, you’ve got to understand that each moment outside of that 9-5 needs to be leveraged into growing your skills or your business. You have to know that the hard work today will all pay off down the road.
In the photography world specifically, I’ve found that having a business background has been a game changer. Professional materials and communications can really elevate yourself and your brand over the crowd.
Lastly, it’s all about the experience you can provide. Starting from the first inquiry, communications should be detailed and professional. Every step of the process we provide a client should be with the client experience in mind – each client should feel like they are your most important. This includes ensuring your are providing all necessary information up front, anticipating their needs and questions and addressing those before they have to ask, providing a fun and unique experience on the photoshoot or wedding day, and of course delivering the best end product that you can. The goal should be to exceed expectations in each and every shoot.
Alex , 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?
My name is Alex Souder and along with my wife Mallory, run Alexander South NC. We specialize in Engagement and Wedding photography, Real Estate, Events, and Landscapes/Cityscapes.
I originally got into photography in 2016 by having a passion for sneaking onto the rooftops around the city with my Samsung phone. It was always an adrenaline rush and I loved being able to capture and share images and perspectives that had never been seen before. That was around the time cell phones introduced a manual shooting mode, so it also served as a way for me to teach myself the basics of photography. From there, we started growing a fast following on Instagram and local organizations like the chamber of commerce started reaching out to purchase these images (from my cell phone) to publish in their monthly magazines – that was the turning point.
With the traction on social media and from local businesses, I decided to get my first camera, and we formally started the business with a focus on wall prints and home decor. A community focus was always top of mind and we introduced our first product called “Coasters for a Cause”, which were handmade ceramic photo coasters with a resin glaze, with a large portion of all proceeds benefiting local homeless organizations. After a while we realized it was overly labor intensive (not to mention ruining my kitchen with dried resin everywhere) and the price point was not viable to continue hand making these so we had to discontinue those.
I think a common aspiration and assumption that new landscape/cityscape photographers have is that EVERYONE is going to be purchasing prints. It took a while to temper my expectations on that and realize that a $300+ Home decor purchase isnt going to be a frequent thing for most people. So one day my fiancé at the the time said, “Hey, we’ve got all this awesome gear. Why don’t we get into people photography?!” I was very reluctant at first because I really enjoyed the solitude and peace I had when capturing cityscapes. But, we decided to dive in head first and found some great education courses online as well as good old YouTube. Within a couple months we had booked our first wedding and we did better than we ever imagined. After that, we posted one of the wedding photos on Instagram to let people know we did weddings, and we immediately booked up for the remainder of the year. That was in 2018, so we are going on almost 5 years doing weddings and engagements now, and we love it more than we ever thought we would.
A big thing that sets us apart in the engagement/wedding space is our cityscape background. We take a non traditional approach to our photos and specialize in downtown weddings where we can incorporate a cool urban vibe and unique perspectives that the average wedding photographer wouldn’t. We love working with new wedding planners and hearing how we are “different” and unique. We don’t do weddings full time, but rather as a passion. We only do about 15 weddings per year, so we are selective with the ones we take on to ensure they are a good fit. This allows us to provide an elevated level of client service and experience, with nearly everything customized to their preferences. We love getting to know our clients through our time together and love building those relationships, that usually continue on well after the wedding photography/videography is complete.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
When we started to get heavy into weddings and engagements, we were quickly swamped. As for most businesses, 2020 was a huge test for ourselves and our business. As Covid hit and shutdowns were rampant, we had to start rescheduling most of our weddings, which would delay that revenue for another year. But about mid way through 2020, my wife Mallory was told by a cancer specialist that she likely had lymphoma. Given the impacts on her immune system and this new mystery pandemic going on, we could not take any chances with her health and wound up having to back out of our weddings for the year. We of course didn’t leave our couples high and dry and connected them with great replacement photographers, but we also had to refund every one of those deposits, which was brutal to our business and personal finances, but worth it to put her health first.
From there after months of various tests, she underwent an operation to remove the affected lymphnodes and took a while to recover. We both stayed resilient through this time and fought through our battles, while wondering if we should just give up on shooting weddings given the uncertainty around the pandemic. It was so painful to have to tell our clients that we would no longer be able to be there on their wedding day with them, and we wanted to avoid ever having to do that again. However, we stayed hopeful and resilient and continued to book weddings for the following year, and it turned out she was cancer free and recovered well, thankfully.
Can you talk to us about how you funded your business?
Photography is an expensive business to get into, but it doesn’t always have to be. You can start off with entry level gear until you get your feet wet, but it can still be daunting to think about buying camera bodies, lenses, lights, filters, poles, computers, etc.
One of the biggest pieces of advise I can share is that you have to invest in yourself, and bet on yourself. If you have the skill, drive, and determination, you will find a way to succeed. A great way to get your foot in the door is to rent gear – make sure to never show up to a job unprepared. When you’re first starting out, you’re not going to have all the necessary backups you need, so visit your local camera shop to rent what you need.
One of the best “hacks” I utilize anytime I need to buy new gear or take on a significant purchase is to credit card hack. This should only be done if you are responsible with your credit. I would research bonus offers (100,000 miles, as example) for opening new cards and understand what the spend requirement is for those (4000 in 3 months, as example), and then I would utilize these offers to make required purchases, all while getting back thousands of dollars worth of flight miles or hotel points or credit statements.
Another option for start up funding, specifically for photographers, could be to launch a kickstarter, and do a round of specialized, limited prints. For people who invest $100, they get a special print. For those investing $200, even more special. All while making a large margin on each one. Small business loans are also a great option.
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.alexanderimages.
com - Instagram: Alexandersouthnc
- Facebook: Alexandersouthnc
- Linkedin: Alex Souder
- Twitter: Alexandersouthnc
- Yelp: Alexandersouthnc