We recently connected with Bridget Stephenson and have shared our conversation below.
Bridget, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?
The wonderful thing about success is that it can be different for each and every person. For one it can mean making enough money to support them and their family and for someone else it can mean growing to seven figure profits. Since the meaning of success can look different to everyone, so does what it takes to be successful.
My business journey started with me not fully understanding what my version of success was. I saw photographers online shooting every single day and traveling all the time, and I assumed that’s what I needed to do to be “successful”. I dreamed of booking destination weddings, traveling to new locations, and put a lot of energy into marketing my business to do that. It wasn’t until a good friend of mine sat me down and asked me what my dream life looked like before I ever thought about if that version of success aligned with what I wanted. Turns out, it wasn’t!
My dream life looked like spending the summer and fall in Maine, documenting weddings during my favorite time of year, then moving to the West Coast for ski season and completely taking work off for 7 months. It looked like A LOT of time off and working to live instead of living to work. After that conversation, I completely changed my marketing and outlook on what “success” was.
Success isn’t a one-size-fits-all definition for a business owner. It’s a goal that grows with you and is completely unique to you and your goals. Success takes knowing yourself, looking internally, and being able to say “no” to what doesn’t align.
Bridget, 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?
My partner Ryan and I are adventure wedding and elopement photographers based out of Acadia National Park, Maine and Bend, Oregon. We work with couples to plan and document intimate weddings in epic locations!
I started photography in high school when I took an intro to photography class my sophomore year. The teacher rarely gave out 100s (95s were to be expected), so being the competitive person I am, I made it my mission to get 100s on every assignment. I spent all my free time watching YouTube videos, reading blog posts, and practicing taking pictures every chance I could. I quickly fell in love with the process which progressed into senior photos and eventually weddings. Around 2020 I brought Ryan into the business when I decided to niche the business to elopements. The stress from traditional wedding days had started getting to me and I didn’t love the production and performance traditional weddings felt like. In 2020 when all larger weddings were rescheduled/cancelled, it was the perfect opportunity to take a step back and reevaluate what I wanted my life to look like. Elopements were the perfect fit! I love weddings and documenting couples and the outdoors is a huge aspect of my life. Being able to combine the two and meet other like-minded couples is truly the dream job.
Our job is a lot more than just taking photos. Because a lot of people have never actually been to an elopement before, it can be hard to know where to start with planning. Elopements are also extremely intimate situations so we make it a core part of our business to get to know our couples before their wedding, so we show up as friends instead of strangers. In order to do this and help our couples navigate this planning process, we guide them through it! From vendor recommendations to accommodation ideas, location suggestions, building the timeline, and being a go-to resource for questions, we consider ourselves half elopement planning guides and half photographers.
What’s been the best source of new clients for you?
Google! Search Engine Optimization and blogging is the best marketing tool for photographers out there. It can be overwhelming to learn, but once you do it’s super easy and has the best ROI.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
Hearing how much our couples value the photos we’ve taken for them.
As a photographer, it’s hard to not compare yourself to other people in the industry. There is always someone better and when your social media feeds are full of other people’s work, it’s easy to fall into comparison and imposter syndrome. Reading the responses from clients after they see their photos saying how much they love and appreciate our work, is really the most rewarding part of this job. We’ve gotten messages from past clients two-three years after their wedding just popping in to let us know that they were looking through their gallery again and cried because it took them right back to the moments. One even said she bought a house specifically because she though her wedding photos would look incredible on the large living room wall! Knowing that there are people out there who value the time and effort we put into this business and love the end product is incredible.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://bridgetstephenson.com/
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/bridgetstephensonphoto
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bridgetstephensonphoto
