We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Amanda Maldonado a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Amanda, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Quality control is a challenge almost every entrepreneur has had to focus on when growing – any advice, stories or insight around how to best ensure quality is maintained as your business scales?

One of the biggest challenges I see for brides when selecting a photographer is finding someone they relate with, that they can trust with their memories, and that they feel confident they know what their final images will look like when they receive them. Quality.

Right off the bat there are large companies with photographers for hire where you have no idea who will show up to your wedding day, whether you’ll want them standing near you and directing your memories on your biggest day as a couple. Don’t recommend.

For the rest of us, the question as we grow comes down to things like, do I add an associate photographer? Do I outsource some or all of my work before or after the wedding day? I started out an associate photographer for a dear friend 14 years ago. I spent 4 years with her learning and growing, it was amazing. Once she moved onto her other talents and I started my own company I knew that I was not the kind of person who can have associates. I adore my clients, most of them stay friends with me, I want them to have the very best, and I feel like I can only guarantee that and put my name on that if I show up myself! I am the quality that I can guarantee.

As for outsourcing, I don’t want to bring in an assistant to field emails and communication because I DO want clients to get the most sense of me right off the bat. I only accept 20 weddings per year to help maintain the standards I’ve set for myself and the balance in my life, so it makes sense for the client and me to both want to work together. After the wedding I have tried bringing in editors over the years from big companies with built in systems to take over after I do a set of maybe 50 “anchor” images, to having an actual human come and try to learn my style. What I’ve figured out is I’m just too darn picky! Fortunately technology has evolved, and I’m working with some AI companies to hone my style for editing to take that first layer of work and speed it up so the memories get back to the clients sooner! However, me being me, I still go through and look at every single image to make sure it looks amazing. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen anniversary posts, birthday posts, and sometimes even memorials, where the photograph, the memory they chose to represent their loved ones, was a candid one taken throughout the day that might have not received much after thought in a typical editing process, but I try to treat each and every image as though it might be THE ONE!

Everyone’s idea of success and quality control looks different. Keeping my client list small and working with everyone myself gives me the biggest sense of pride. When I got married this year I had so many client couples invited because they connected with me through my work, they stayed in my life as friends and cheerleaders, and they have invited me back to photograph their baby bumps, the tiny newborns, the rambunctious toddlers, and the sweetest, fast growing children they’ve welcomed! Quality means I care, and I hope they all know how much I cherish them and the documentation of every stage of their families!

Amanda, 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?

I started out in photography as a side distraction instead of going to law school. I worked for a photographer friend for 4 years and learned the craft and the business. In 2012 I started my own company knowing exactly that I wanted to attract clients who adored my highly extroverted, cheerful, romantic, playful approach to their wedding days! In a world full of filters I knew from day one I would keep my editing true to life. It’s like looking at a more vibrant version of your own memories from the day!

I want clients and potential clients to know how much I care about their day. It already takes a unique person to be a professional wedding photographer and to make it past the 10 year mark (yay for passing 14 years now!). This isn’t a desk job where I can finish up something tomorrow or go in feeling blah and just kinda hide out until quitting time at 5. Every wedding I attend is someone’s BEST. DAY. EVER. They are marrying the love of their life in front of their favorite people, this is the transition from a lot of months or years of dating, months of planning, usually a considerable amount of money, family has probably traveled in, friends have attended pre-wedding events galore – and we only have a few hours and one chance at making this fulfill all of their wildest dreams!

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

This can cut both ways, but I wish I had known sooner how powerful the community can be for us solitary creatures! A wedding photographer may work alone on the wedding day or have a second photographer, but once we’re back home editing and emailing we are typically alone. A few years in I started traveling to carefully selected workshops and conferences across the globe, and I have met some amazing photographers that have taught me things in every level of my business. I don’t mean just the instructors, I mean my “classmates” as well. I’ve picked up on business strategies, editing techniques, how to feel creative after years in your game, made friends so that when I do travel I likely have someone on the other side in that state or country who can come and assist me that knows the lay of the land. There is so much to be gained from sharing stories and living life with other photographers from all over!

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

We’re all getting weary of hearing about this now, but COVID. Y’all. The business survived! And that’s no small feat considering how many had to fold or take a loan to keep going. I sat down right when the crisis unfolded and decided I wouldn’t allow either of those things to happen and made a plan for what would keep my business afloat for me and my family as well as all the future brides and grooms postponing, anxiously waiting, and counting on me. I put policies in place immediately for how to reschedule, what the process would look like and when/if there were fees involved. I had couples make exchanges or add-ons for small outdoor elopements during the height of it all who still came back and welcomed me to a full blown wedding day when things calmed down. Having a system in place not only ensured the survival of my business, it also gave the couples confidence to know that while the world felt like it was falling apart, I would still be there for them, be flexible, be helpful when they needed it most.

Contact Info:

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

Image Credits
Amanda Pomilla Photography