We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Autumn Stankay a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Autumn, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s kick things off with a hypothetical question – if it were up to you, what would you change about the school or education system to better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career?
The educational system is setup perfectly to follow the mold of traditional studies/academics from Kindergarten through the end of your college days, without any push in a different direction. There are so many avenues other than traditional college degrees – such as small business ownership or creative fields that may not have a good college option (like photography!). For example, most colleges (note, I can really only speak to my geographically area) do not offer a degree in photography, but rather a minor, if you’re lucky, or most often just a certification. A field like photography can support an entire family, and even payroll for staff members as well, but yet it is not even suggested as anything other than a “side hustle”. This goes for most careers in the arts in my opinion. I think the arts should be funded more heavily, rather than what is actually happening in public schools – cutbacks. When I was in high school, I felt shameful for choosing a different path than a four year college like my peers, I was embarrassed for a lot of my life to explain to people that I didn’t have a degree. But in fact, I had worked harder at my career building a business that grew tremendously. If only I had more support as a high school student on how to prepare for this, I could have grown my business even quicker and easier. Science, math and English are all mandatory but classes like accounting and finance were optional – quite honestly I believe those business track courses are just as important and could benefit all students, both college bound and not.
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
I am a portrait and commercial photographer in business for 20 years. I started into photography at age 17, opening my own business at age 20. I began shooting film, working in a small studio for less than $7/hr and grew my business by networking, grass roots followers, and good old fashioned hard work – before social media. The discipline is something that came naturally to me, always being creative with new ideas and never slowing down on trying to grow everyday. I believe in networking your community, to meet others and lift them up as you climb as well. I wholeheartedly follow the idea that we grow better TOGETHER. I do not have a million followers on social media, but I know my community inside and out. I’ve always believed that a small town with a strong loyal following will be more beneficial in my career than a world wide web of 1million people who push a like button here and there. My business is people based – meaning I want to know my clients, and I want them to trust me as their neighbor. So my brand as a photographer is classified as this… I try to first and foremost have people know the real me. In terms of my photography – My work is a mixture of portraiture of people and weddings, as well as a second side of my business that I market separately to all commercial clients. I’ve been very proud of growing that photography more in food, architecture and corporate clients over the last five years. It was a pivot point for me since the pandemic especially, because weddings and indoor portraiture were put on hold for such a long time in 2020. I feel that because I had to shut down that side of my business, it forced me to rebrand and rethink in every way, and what emerged was the photography of food and architecture that grew quickly and enabled me to keep my business afloat – and grow even more.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
The pandemic shut down my weddings in 2020, forced me to reschedule to the following year and thus bumped 2021 bookings as well. Therefore it was not just a single year affected but more like two. I knew immediately in spring of 2020, it was something that would be a big shift for my business and if I didn’t act fast it could bury me if the pandemic lasted more than a few months. So I transformed my marketing to food photography, architectural photography, and all corporate work I could. It grew and I was able to fill my calendar with work that wasn’t affected by covid19, and now in 2023 I am booming because I now have both the commercial and wedding/portrait side of the business in full effect. Thinking ahead, not sitting on my hands, and acting fast was key in that scenario.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
Trust and quality. I work endlessly at improving my photography skills so that every client is not only satisfied with my work, but I’ve also exceeded expectations. I also treat my clients with respect, honesty, and personal attention. I don’t treat people like a number, I want them to feel that I am truly invested in their photography as if it were my own family- because I truly do feel that way. I also treat the members of my community that way as well. I refer to them, help them, volunteer when I can, and meet with people as much as possible for networking. I want people to know me in real-life, not just over social media. I think that goes a long way in business, especially in business.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.skysightphotography.com
- Instagram: skysight.photography
- Facebook: facebook.com/skysightphotography
- Linkedin: Autumn Stankay