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

Hi Briana, thanks for joining us today. Getting that first client is always an exciting milestone. Can you talk to us about how you got your first customer who wasn’t a friend, family, or acquaintance?

My first client actually found me through the hashtag #indianaweddingphotographer on Instagram! It was so exciting when I saw that on their inquiry form, because I feel like we all just put hashtags under our images hoping they will reach someone, but they always just feel a bit hopeless in reality. At least for me. At this point, I had no paid work, only work from shoots I had thrown together. I had just moved to Indiana where I knew nobody except my immediate family.

We had our first zoom call to make sure we were a good fit for each other and we clicked so well! And I was really nervous beforehand. There’s always that fear that they won’t like you for you. That you have to show up as other photographers who are already successful. I had bought email templates from a thriving photographer and everything, took a chance not using them, and that couple actually informed me they loved that I was so personable in my emails. It felt like talking to a friend. It was a major reason they booked me actually!

Talk about a major confidence boost. I had awesome first clients and learned I could be exactly who I was and still be successful in my business!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

So I have been a hobbyist photographer for a long time. There was an interest since I was a little girl, but my senior year of high school, I took a photography course and felt really inspired. I had been given an old DSLR and was shooting everything I could just to learn proper lighting and technique during that class! However, my mom filed for bankruptcy that year and we lost our home. So after I graduated, I lived in my car for 2 years. And I was actually pursuing acting and music! I worked on film sets, did a couple commercials in atlanta, all the while recording music and made it to the third round of American Idol. It was a fun time and short-lived until I met my (now) husband and ran off to get married to him instead. Best decision I ever made. I always wanted a family more than anything. So we started a family super quickly and he was in the military.

After our first child was born, I got a new camera off eBay just to document our fam. A canon rebel t3i and a nifty fifty lens! I had given my old one to a friend. I’d considered starting a photography business then and did a few couple shoots, families, second shot a wedding, senior photos, a boudoir session, even a birth all within a month and a half! Just trying to figure out what I enjoyed. Then we found out I was pregnant again and I just decided to focus on that!

Right before our second was born, I was posting my DSLR photos of our fam on social media for friends and family to see. I got reached out to by brands and eventually started shooting product photos for kids clothing brands like Finn & Emma and Ashley Rose Clothing. I also worked with other brands like Almond Cow, Brooklinen, and more. All of that reignited my love for photography!

When my husband got out of the military January 2022, I decided to start my photography business in elopement/wedding photography! I did a few shoots before moving from Hawaii and absolutely loved it! My husband and I eloped, and I’m very passionate about keeping your wedding day intimate because SO much gets lost in larger, traditional wedding days in my experience. It tends to become way more about performance and your guests versus connection with your incredible new spouse! Even photos are rushed through and often over-posed, rather than creating the beautiful ways that you and your love naturally interact with each other and documenting you as you are. And that’s what I’ve been fostering ever since.

I focus on photographing, with help planning included, elopements and intimate weddings that allow couples to truly connect with each other on their wedding day in whatever ways are unique to them! I even create a custom Spotify playlist for their day and my couples sessions based off the artists they say the love! Sometimes this all looks like a hike, a small chapel, a sailboat followed by a dive in the ocean — you name it! I even have some all-inclusive elopement packages where I literally do everything so they can just tell me their vision and focus on enjoying their engagement season together while their wedding day gets completely planned for them based off their tastes!

It’s been such a joy to work with all my couples and celebrate them! We always become great friends in the process and remain so afterwards!

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

The beauty of photography is that it doesn’t take a lot to start. You just need a camera basically! And I’m talking brand new, baby business. There’s a lot you need to become a thriving, more profitable business. But you can find so many greater starter cameras for a couple hundred dollars on eBay or Facebook Marketplace! The Canon Rebel line is a great place to start and a canon 50mm 1.8 lens is a good starter lens. From there, just shoot everything. Get to know your settings. Shoot every day. Ask your friends to model for you. I was getting paid only $150-$200 dollars for a session at first, but I did a lot and saved up to upgrade to my first full-frame camera (Canon 6D) and a way better lens (Sigma 35mm 1.4 ART). Knowing what I know now, I’d recommend saving for a full-frame with dual card slots for your first upgrade and not settling for just any full-frame, but the 6D worked great for me for like 5 years before I upgraded. Thankfully I never had any issues with SD cards malfunctioning.

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

This may not be the case with everyone, but for me… hiring a copywriter. There are SO many different copywriters with different approaches. And many photographers had success with the one I used. But I think I would’ve been better off getting a template for copywriting (maybe $100) so I knew a good layout for my website versus paying $3000 for someone to write 3 of my website pages. Inquiries were low, and rather than checking my SEO, I got really insecure about my copy. I’m not amazing with words or anything. I just wrote how I talk. But instead of trusting that process of showing up exactly as I am, unprofessional and all, I decided I needed to show up differently. Totally ignoring the fact i was still fairly new, hadn’t done a ton of marketing, and booked every inquiry I DID get. Sometimes inquiries are just low at times of the year for everyone! So anyway… I did what I did, there was no increase in inquiries, and the ones I did get, didn’t convert. My website was filled with way more adjectives that was necessary and a bit more professional that I like to speak to people, and overall just didn’t add up. As soon as I rewrote almost all of it to sound more like me, but using some of the copy writer’s formatting, bookings were back up!

Lesson learned: don’t doubt your ability to write your own copy, but if you do wanna hire a copywriter, shop around for a while to make sure they can produce exactly what you need! Don’t just go with someone because a few people had success with them. Everybody’s business is different

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.brianawillis.com
• Instagram: Www.Instagram.com/brianawillisphotography
• Facebook: Www.Facebook.com/brianawillisphotography