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

Alright, Amanda thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s go back in time to when you were an intern or apprentice – what’s an interesting story you can share from that stage of your career?

After I graduated college with a degree in Photography, I worked with a couple of local wedding photographers as their assitant and second shooter. This one photographer I worked with was well known and established and I was photographing alongside her, what an amazing opportunity! I was so excited, and nervous, and at one point during the reception, another vendor asked for my business card. I was stoked, to say the least. My chance was coming! I then handed him my card, not even hestitating and went about my shooting. The photographer I was enthusiastically working under found out and was not happy. Truly, I didn’t know why. What she had kindly and graciously explained to me was that when you’re there as a second shooter or an assistant, or help of any kind on behalf of someone, you do not hand your personal and separate business card to anyone. You proceed to let them know you’re there on behalf of that photographer you’re working under and refer to them to hand over their own business card. To say I fel like an idiot would be an understatement, but it was a very humbling experience and a moment that has always stuck with me. One, because that photographer I worked for didn’t make me feel worse than I made myself feel for it and handled it with grace, and two because as I have had my own assistants and second shooters since, it allows me to educate them ahead of time on this practice!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

Hi! I’m Amanda! I am a mom of 2 boys, a 2x Melanoma survivor, and have been a full time Portrait and Wedding photographer for 13 years and have moved businesses three times now. I started in Florida in 2009, moved to Maryland in 2011, back to Florida in 2017, and landed here in California in May 2020. A whirlwind is a good way to describe it! So happy to have had such different areas to photograph such amazing clients and friends.

When I was a little girl, my favorite thing to do at my grandparents’ home was to sift through photo albums that I would find in the closet. I would stare at faces of family and friends of the family that I never got to know or meet and wonder who they were and if their personalities matched their demeanor in the photo. Several years later when I started college as a Marine Biology major and subsequently quit that program, I left feeling a little lost as to what I should be doing.

Remembering the feeling I got looking at photos so many years before, I felt a tug at my heart and I wondered if I could be the maker of those images. To give a piece of wonder and a sense of time and feeling to those looking at them. Thus began my college career into photography and a couple years later, delving right into my own business.

What brings me the most pride in what I do is the client feedback and knowing that I am giving their childrens generation the potential for those same feelings I felt looking back at my own family images. A fun experience and a feeling of friendship with those I meet through what I do is a huge part of this process for me as well.

I strive to be the most authentic and ethical person I can be in this business and that is hugely important to what I do and why. My clients feel a connection and a feeling of comfort and when that happens, it makes the process of capturing their personalities and connected family units even easier. Happy clients will gladly boast about you to their own friends and family and continue to use me as their lives develop and that is the highlight of what I do.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I began my photoraphy business in Florida back in 2009. 2 years later, I was moving to Maryland and facing my first re-start of the business. Thankfully, people were receptive and there was plenty of business to go around. I networked a lot with local photographers and people in the area and for the next 5 years, my business did really well and grew gradually. Then, in 2017, I was faced with another move……back to Florida. There starts business re-start number 2. Now, I don’t know if I am crazy or what we call resilient, but I believe if you want something, you do what you can to make it happen. So, that’s what I set out to do. I re-started the business again and fortunately, because of my prior experience there, had contacts and past clients and it took off swiftly. Throw in having 2 kids in the time since the business started, and a cancer diagnosis and we were in blissful chaos. This restart was a bit rougher than the other one and more short lived, come to find out.

When May 2020 rolled around, we were faced with an opportunity to move again…..this time across the country to California. Having never lived on the west coast, I was excited and terrified. I had 2 small kids, a dog, we bought a house and I had no idea what the market was like out there for photograpy. Before the move, I started marketing and changing my SEO to my new settings in California, reaching out to a few people in the area, and joining other groups via facebook.

If starting your business from the ground up once isn’t nerve wracking enough, let’s make it three times and call it nerves shot! But again, when you want something….you make it happen. Every move has obstacles, things that push you down, push you back, make you want to stop and make you want to quit. Thankfully, my stubborness does come in handy here and I refused to quit. How exciting would it be to be a bicoastal photographer with clients in all these different areas? That kept me going.

A huge wrench got thrown into the whole plan when my marriage ended shortly after the move and I moved 40 minutes south of our California starting point. Santa Clarita became my new home and a new start once again……in the biggest, scariest way I could ever imagine. Resilency is basically the definiton of this whole story.
When life hands you lemons, you squeeze the crap put of them, make something beautifully sweet, and throw those things in the trash! There will be so many setback, missteps, heartaches, rainbows, and pressure, but when you feel something is meant for you and makes you uncontrollably happy…….you pave a way. I do this to show my kids to never give up, but I do it for myself just the same. Only you can stop you, so keep your head up and put one foot in front of the other and with that focus, you can do anything!

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

Since moving to California, more so than other locations, Instagram has been key to my success here. According to Honeybook, which I use for my booking and backend contracts and proposals, my number one referral is Instagram. With the ability to create posts, stories, lives, and reels, the tools are endless. Utilizing them can be a bit daunting, but honestly, they are pretty user-friendly and what isn’t as easy, can be quickly taught. Quick boosts of any of these features and you can reach thousands of targeted potential clients. It’s a marketing tool that is often overlooked, but hugely impactful.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.AmandaMcMahon.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/amandamcmahonphotography
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/amandamcmahonphotography