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

Hi Dani, thanks for joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

The story behind my mission sounds so cache but it’s actually much deeper. My mission is to capture all the big….and small moments in people’s lives. For people to look back on these moments in the future and feel like it’s a pause in a movie still. To help everyone capture the moments that we don’t realize we need to, along with the ones we know we need to. During the big moments I like to add focus on little lost details that will take someone back to how they felt in that moment.

I had a hard childhood, PTSD from an abusive mother and I had to make a hard decision to cut that damaging relationship out of my life. I always dreamed of having a loving mother and family. Those dreams made me feel very sentimental about all the loving moments I had in my own younger adult years. Note: My story isn’t tragic, I have the most supportive father, I’m married to my best friend and have happily found my way! But my past shaped how I see moments as such meaningful things. Through many years of inner healing in my life, creating photo memories in it has been a key component that has helped that healing.

While capturing moments in my life from the small ones like dancing in the kitchen in the middle of the night to the big moments like getting married, I started to realize the need we all have. You move into your first new house or you celebrate your birthday or you’re just happy to be alive–whether it’s big or small. All these moments are what create us as humans and we all love to look back on these, years down the road. Not to mention the legacy it leaves behind for our kids to look through and see where their parents came from or to see how they grew…. It’s all just so phenomenal that we have the ability to freeze moments forever.

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

I started like a lot of people have, just playing around with a high-end camera. But it took me a lot of practice and education to get where I am today.

When you tell someone you’re a photographer most people’s first reaction is how the job is easy money …or that the camera does all the work. It seems everyone has a family member or friend that is also a photographer because they splurged on a camera. Spoiler: photography is very expensive business venture and the camera doesn’t produce the images, the person’s skill along with creativity behind the camera does. There are millions of ways one image can turn out and that’s where you learn to create what you want to produce as an artist.

A lot of people see a photographer shooting a wedding for thousands of dollars in one night and think its quick cash. Photography is much more than pointing and shooting a camera for a few hours and getting paid just for the hours of shooting. After you’ve mastered the craft of taking beautiful photos that part is not even a fraction of what goes into running a photography business. Other behind the scenes tasks go from organizing client files and client calls, taxes, monthly business expenses, paying for all the tools needed for editing on the computer, maintaining spreadsheets, legal fees for contracts, building professional guides and connections for my clients, and structuring and maintaining my print shop.

In a world full of aspiring photographers it’s been important to set myself apart from the hobby and non-professional photographers. I have sought out to serve people wanting a professionally finished product which includes connecting with them to capture them in their element, not mine.

My small business has invested in a range of things to keep me & my team growing and expanding in providing a beautiful product from years of on-going education to thousands of dollars in professional equipment to beautiful magazine bound guides from my years of expertise in the industry to provide my clients with a truly professional experience.

How’d you meet your business partner?

My business partner is actually my husband and we met way before we went into business together but I’d love to share how us working together started! My husband is really my best friend and he’s incredibly supportive on my happiness and healing or whatever else is going on with me. I used to work for Corporate America, sitting in a cubical at my desk 9-10 hours a day and it was slowly sucking the life out me. My husband knew I loved photography (I took film classes in college!) so he bought my first dslr camera for my birthday many, many years ago. I spent that whole year taking photos of everything and everyone and having the time of my life.

That one gift re-ignited my love for photography. With the support of someone who loved me and wanted to see me grow, he kept pushing me to follow my heart. My heart led me to leaving my Corporate America job and starting my own photography business!!! As I dug deeper I asked myself “can I really make this into a job?” The thing is, we took on photography education together with that one little hobby and we both loved doing it. My husband was already doing it with me and by my side and with that passion I made it into a business. He has taught me so much on the technical side and I’ve taught him so much on the connection side and we really make the best team. We are truly each other’s best friend and we hear from our couples that they can see that in us. I am so proud to say my business partner is my husband and we work so well together!

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I believe my reputation has come from how much I care, because you can’t fake that. I will never just show and shoot and leave. I pour my heart in to getting to know every single client so their photos are created uniquely. I will often bring my clients a bottle of champagne or some flowers or something extra to make their session unique. I have such care for every piece of the process from the location for the photos to making people feel comfortable while taking photos to delivering a high-end product. The thank you letters, tips, notes and reviews consistently thank me for making my clients feel comfortable and giving them such attention to detail.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.elleandcophotography.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/elleandcophotography

Image Credits
Copyright Elle and Co Photography