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

Alright, Carol thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Innovation comes in all shapes, sizes and across all industries, so we’d love to hear about something you’ve done that you feel was particularly innovative.

Being a photographer means you don’t need that brick and mortar location to offer your services and I initially built my business on this framework, traveling for locations where the client desired. However, I recently decided to expand my options and ended up creating a section of my house into an actual workspace studio that has the capability to transform for many different session styles. From newborn, maternity, family, boudoir and even headshot styled sessions, this studio space has allowed for clients to find comfort and privacy during their session.

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

When I had the opportunity to learn how to build my own film camera in high school through a Photography and Digital Media course, I became hooked instantly to the art of photography! Ever since then, I’ve always had a camera around and personally worked on developing my skills through trips and adventures. When the pandemic hit everyone’s lifestyles changed. For me, it was an opportunity to really think on what I wanted to do with Photography, in which I decided it was finally time to offer my skills as a service for others and open my business.

I’m a creative, so starting off I was open to all types of sessions – whatever the client wanted! And now that I’ve been an established business for a few years, my direction has focused mainly on lifestyle portraits, branding sessions and wedding photography.

I thought that capturing epic shots would be the best part of this career path, but I have learned that it’s the people I’ve met and the small community of supporters that is truly the best part of this job. Every time a lead reaches out, I get excited to start that conversation with them and to build the start of a relationship that will last longer than just our session date together.

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

Connecting with your clients goes a long way. I only book a certain number of sessions per month so that I can properly give all my clients the attention they deserve. Every client that I cross paths with, I treat them like a close friend and I look forward to each of my sessions like a kid at Christmas. The good energy we share during our session date together is what they remember and go on to tell their friends and family about me. Then they get their photo gallery and continue to have more good things to say about my services!

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

After a session date, I still continue to stay in touch with my clients. I love to follow on their social media and connect with them any chance I get, whether that be on their page, private messages or responding to comments on my feed. This has unknowingly lead me to a beautiful community that supports my work and encourages more creativity.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.photographybycarolhernandez.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/photos_by_carolh/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PhotosByCarolH
• Other: Contact me: https://www.photographybycarolhernandez.com/contact/

Image Credits
Photography by Carol Hernandez