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

Ashley, appreciate you joining us today. So, let’s start with trends – what are some of the largest or more impactful trends you are seeing in the industry?

COLOR IS BACK BABY! Over the past few years I’ve witnessed the color trend continue to gain momentum, impacting everything from the wedding industry to the fashion and interior design. In commercial photography, bright, electric hues are often seen paired with harsh light, funky patterns, and bold props. After years of white, grey, and beige everything, it’s fun to see color stealing the limelight back.

As for my own work, this trend is popping up in the art direction clients send my way. We recently shot a national campaign for a food company, capturing their recipes in two different styles. The original art direction was clean, classic, warm, and welcoming, and at the last-minute the client added on a bright, funky, pop art-style art direction. Shooting two opposite styles was a lot of fun, but I have to say, the colorful photos are the most eye-catching and quickly becoming a new favorite style to capture.

Ashley, 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’m a Registered Dietitian turned commercial food photographer based in Minneapolis, Minnesota and the owner of Studio Moyna. Studio Moyna offers custom food photography solutions to help food brands, media publications, and restaurants stand out and thrive.

My journey to the food world began back in high school when I won the Iowa Egg Council’s recipe contest. I took my love for food one step further, majoring in culinary science and dietetics at Iowa State, gaining test kitchen experience at various Fortune 500 companies, and eventually becoming a Registered Dietitian (RD).

Grad school brought me to St. Louis where I did food photography for a local food start-up. At the end of the program, the co-founders gave me the best gift ever – a Canon DSLR camera – and asked me to do their food photography making them my first official client! *cue a little happy dance*

My first full-time job at a meal kit company brought me north to Minneapolis, a city that has since become home. After side hustling as a food photographer for awhile, I made it official in 2019 when Studio Moyna was born. And now I’m living out my dream of being a full-time food photographer!

To date, I’m most proud of helping my clients grow and succeed, giving back to my local community, and continuing to expand my skills as a photographer and business owner.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

In our increasingly digital world, building connections via in-person networking groups, organizations, and meet-ups has been a gamer-changer for growing my client base. While this strategy may at first glance seem more time-intensive than connecting digitally with folks, I’ve found in-person connections are stronger, long-lasting, and typically snowball into more in-person connections introduced to you via warm leads.

The key is being willing to be a connector yourself and add genuine value to the other person’s business first! This is a perk of this strategy in my opinion – you get to help others succeed too. With a “give first” mentality and the ability to put yourself in various social settings and find local business networking groups, you can build long lasting relationships and be “top of mind” when someone needs help with a service you offer!

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

Yes! My first job out of college was working for a food start-up, an exciting job filled with lots of cool opportunities. However, working for a start-up meant the pay wasn’t great, and many of my co-workers had side hustles to make their income more consistent. They – along with the founders of the start-up I worked for in graduate school – inspired me to start my food photography business as a side hustle.

For me, this was the ideal way to start a business. It left room for growing, making mistakes, learning (sometimes the hard way), all without the pressure of needing to make it work to put food on the table. I also niched down over time, learning what services I loved offering (food photography) and which ones I didn’t. For example, I used to offer social media marketing services to clients, but found it was difficult to always stay on top of the social trends and algorithms, so I stopped offering that service. Some people thrive in scarcity, but starting my business as a side hustle validated that I need security in order to thrive creatively.

In 2022, I felt called to go full-time with my business. I invested a lot of time and resources into rebranding, up-leveling my photography skills, and marketing myself. This was key to my business’s growth, and if resources allow, I believe there is so much power in investing in professional branding and a strong digital presence (e.g. website, social media channels, portfolio) as the foundation to one’s creative business.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.studiomoyna.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/studiomoyna/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashley-moyna-schwickert/

Image Credits

Photo of Ashley by Kelly Shotwell of Balsam Business Photography.
Food photography by Ashley Moyna Schwickert of Studio Moyna.