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

Christianne, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Looking back, do you think you started your business at the right time? Do you wish you had started sooner or later?

I’ve been in business for 12 years and I wouldn’t have changed a thing. I’ve always enjoyed stories of individuals who changed careers later on in life or decided to enter college after their own kids were done with it. I’ve always admired their courage. But I never thought I would be one of them.
Growing up in Brazil, most people I know were proud to have stability, security at work, and that meant working for the government or a big corporation for their whole lives. My dad worked at the same place from his first day at work to the day he retired. And so did many of his friends. To them, that meant they had made it. They were successful. The ones who didn’t follow that path were almost considered irresponsible. Reckless. Years later, when it was my turn to join the workforce, I battled with that idea. I wouldn’t mind having the same career, but I could not work at the same place until my retirement days. Most of my friends were dreaming of getting a job in the government. There are only a few spots available and through a test, the top scores will take them. Hundreds of thousands of Brazilians study hard to get a chance. I never did it. It was not for me. I have a creative mind and being stuck in the same place for the rest of my days. Nope. Not for me. That was my first break from the the path my life was supposed to take.
Every time I took a turn on stability I was awarded with new experiences, new people who would help shape my next move and create a comfortable environment to build up my confidence and growth. It could be a boss, a peer, a client… I am always looking for these signs. Sometimes I don’t recognize them, but years later, when I am on another level in my journey, I am capable of looking back and understanding how that comment, that conversation, that observation was crucial to help me shift gears and open up my horizons.
I never felt like I missed the opportunity or the anxiety of not moving fast enough. I am comfortable in my own pace and confident in my rhythm. So far, it has worked well for me and my business. I am sticking to this plan.
By first breaking the mold and acknowledging that a life long job was not for me, I was able to see that there were more options in the world. That first step was crucial for me. I went to college at 16 and at 20 I had a BA in Communications. I worked for one big company in Brazil and when I needed a change I moved to the US. Here I worked in graphic design for a few companies and I knew it was time to move on to my next stage. And that is when a hobby turned into business: my photography business started 12 years ago out of a “too good to be true” type of ambition. But everything I had experienced before made me confident that it would work out in the end. And it did. So, at almost 35 years old I changed careers and goals. And I turned into those mold breakers I always admired so much.

Christianne, 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?

From the birth of my photography business to today, not much has changed. I’ve always loved working with children and that is still the main focus of my craft. Of course throughout the years I’ve made mistakes, learned, tried new things that worked, others didn’t, but the essence is the same: creating a real and comfortable environment during my sessions so my clients can have beautiful images of their families. I have a very approachable and laid back personality and I know that most people feel comfortable around me. I am curious and love my conversations with my clients. I try to create a real relationship with them and that helps tremendously in achieving my goal of capturing meaningful portraits that they will cherish forever.
Some families embrace me during their whole family milestones: starting out with a maternity session, we then go to newborn photos, followed by family photos, maybe a cake smash session when baby turns one only to restart the cycle again when they expect their second child. It is such an honor to be a part of all of their life phases. I’ve seen it all, good and bad, and I am very humbled to be included in their family story year after year.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

It didn’t take long to realize that the support of peers would help me in ways I can’t even explain. For the first years of my business I worked alone, always observing and trying to learn from other professionals, but always from afar. Once I got out of my comfort zone and reached out to other photographers, my business took yet another amazing turn. I started out reaching out to photographers from other states/countries and that helped me build up the confidence to talk to local photographers. Today I am a part of an incredibly supportive group of talented photographers. They – we are open, generous and committed in helping each other grow. We understand we can grow on our own, but we can grow so much more as a group. We work hard to make our field strong and respected by making each individual strong and respected. When we start out we often don’t realize that there are people in your field that will help you. We are so afraid to be seen as a threat or someone who will try to steal clients from the other. I am sure some people feel that way on both ends: the beginner and the experienced professional. But from my experience, it is been only growth, both personal and for the industry.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

There are many ways to get new clients… and I try to stay open to all of them. I wish I could just sit and wait for the clients to land on my lap, but as you probably know that is not how it happens. In the beginning of my career, I had to rely on referrals. It is hard when you don’t have thousands of followers in social media. It is a very unsettling feeling when you want to reach potential clients but you just don’t know how. Hard work and patience. It takes a while, and you have to know it will take a while to see the results. You just need to keep going. Be it building your audience in social media, growing your email list, working on your SEO… none of that happens over night.
Today most of my new clients find me via Instagram, Google search and word of mouth. Lately I’ve been focusing more on my SEO because as much I love Instagram, we don’t know how long we will be able to ride that wave… I remember when I got a lot of reach through Facebook and now it is one of my least likely way of finding new clients.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.AllColorsPhotographyBlog.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/ChrisDowdAllColorsPhotography
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/AllColorsPhotographySD
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/AllColorsPhotographySD

Image Credits
Photographer’s portrait photo taken by Amy Cothran Gray. All other photos taken by All Colors Photography