We were lucky to catch up with Analise Porter recently and have shared our conversation below.

Analise, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear how you think where to draw the line in terms of asking friends and family to support your business – what’s okay and what’s over the line?

I think it’s important to involve your friends and family when you’re first starting out because they will typically give you honest feedback on things you do well and things you could improve on. When I started out, I did a lot of free work for family and close friends and their feedback really helped me to improve in certain areas much faster than I would’ve without their feedback. Once I was to a point in photography and videography that I felt confident enough to take on real clients, I was able to use word of mouth from friends to book future clients. I always made sure to tell my family and friends to be 100% honest with others and to not just talk me up because they know me. Being honest with others really helps to build trust in their referral.

Analise, 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’m Analise Porter! I’m from a small town in Arizona, but I started doing photography and videography while living in Northern Utah for school. There was a photographer/videographer I followed on social media that made a post asking who wanted to “learn the ropes” and that she was offering internship opportunities where you could work with her and she’d teach you everything behind the scenes. I was accepted to be one of her interns, unfortunately due to scheduling differences, I was only able to work with her a handful of times. However, because I was accepted originally, that’s how I got started with photo and video. I did learn a lot from that experience, and living in Utah, I was given a lot of opportunities to work with other creatives to get a lot of experience early on. I truly believe that experience is the best teacher, and any other thing that I needed to learn, I turned to YouTube university. I spent hours and hours and hours studying different settings, editing techniques, business, and many other things that would help me to start my new photography and videography business.

I’ve had the privilege of doing a little bit of everything, from weddings, families, to missionaries coming home, to births, to newborns, to creating content for companies, to real estate. I think that by doing work in so many different categories that I was able to become very well rounded in many different categories and I think that’s what sets me apart from all the other photographers and videographers. So, if you’re looking for a photographer or videographer for your wedding or your company, look no further!

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

One lesson I learned early on, is that not every shoot is the same. With my first couple weddings, I would shoot things in a particular order, or would pose the couple the same way, but even though they’re both weddings, no wedding is the same. I quickly had to learn how to adapt, what pose might look really good with one couple, might look really weird with another couple. Learning how to adapt to many different situations and working with different personalities is crucial in your success.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I could spend a lot more time dedicated to photography and videography, I could work harder to get more business or creating more social media content, but after I had my second child, I was quickly humbled and had to learn the hard way that I can’t do it all, and that’s ok! After about four years of working non stop, I learned that my kids and my family were my top priority. I now have my 4th kid on the way and I still do photography and videography and I still love it, but I do a lot less of it than I used to because my family will always come first for me.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/analiseporterphoto?igsh=MXM0c25xaG1qb2J3Yw%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
• Youtube: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCgS_lNuiepmbqhbBearJEwg
• Other: Email me for inquiries! [email protected]

Image Credits
Analise Porter Photo