We were lucky to catch up with Dominique Newman recently and have shared our conversation below.
Dominique , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. One of our favorite things to brainstorm about with friends who’ve built something entrepreneurial is what they would do differently if they were to start over today. Surely, there are things you’ve learned that would allow you to do it over faster, more efficiently. We’d love to hear how you would go about setting things up if you were starting over today, knowing everything that you already know.
When I first started I put so much pressure on myself to ‘follow the rules.’ I was drawn to this idea of “perfection” when it came to photography because if it wasn’t “perfect” then I may as well have taken it with my iphone. I wanted the perfectly smoothed skin, the soft even light, and the big flowy dresses. I felt like I always needed beautiful golden light to illuminate each of my images because without it, I would just look like novice creating flat images. It turns out, once I started to embrace real, authentic, and raw moments, my passion for creating art started to flourish. I felt a strong pull towards creating art instead of just photographs. I began telling a story instead of just something pretty to look at. It was when I started to break the rules of photography that I worked so hard to learn that I started to create something that was deeply emotional and real. Don’t get me wrong, it was important to learn those rules because I needed to learn them in order to break them. However, if I could go back and start over, I would tell myself to start breaking those rules sooner. Lean into the authenticity of my clients and the raw moments we all want to look back on in these images. We are always evolving and changing, but I wish I allowed myself to create art instead of just photographs a long time ago.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
After the birth of my second daughter, I suffered from PPD/PPA and desparately needed something that would help. Before having my first daughter, I was a teacher for seven years and loved the creative aspect of the profession. It was something I deeply missed after being out of the classroom for a few years. One day I randomly turned to my husband and told him I wanted to try to learn photography to give myself a creative outlet that I so longed for. I spent hours on YouTube and reading blog posts to learn the fundamentals of photography and it became therapeutic for me. Ever since I started this journey, it has been my happy place.
I love capturing real moments for families. The moments that tell a story. The simple things like the way a child’s hand plays with his mom’s hair while he nurses, or the way the daughter’s fingers curl up to make room for her thumb to nestle inside her cheek. The gummy smile as Dad throws his son in the air, or the tears his mom wipes away when he falls and scrapes his knee. I strive to tell a story, not just take pretty pictures with the perfect outfit and strategically placed hair. Life isn’t perfect, and your pictures should depict the perfectly imperfect moments that make your story, your’s.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
This is a special question because I feel like my answer has been my driving force recently. I spent hours on end watching YouTube and reading blogs about the rules of photography. I learned all about how to “play it safe” with my craft because that’s what supposedly made for great art. After two years, I felt stagnant and quite frankly, burnt out. I was bored with my work and didn’t feel a connection with my craft. It wasn’t until I “unlearned” the rules that I started to create art instead of photographs. I started to tell a story through my lens and felt that fire in my soul again. Not every frame needed to be centered, I didn’t always have to backlight my subjects, and I embraced movement to tell a story. I’m falling in love with the creative process now that I’m allowing myself to take risks and not settle for the “safe” way to create an image.
How did you build your audience on social media?
Social media can be a wonderful marketing tool but can easily rip the joy right from your fingers tips. You can reach people all around the world and showcase your work for free, but it’s also very easy to get sucked into comparing your work to others and we know comparison is the thief of joy. You can use social media for inspiration, but can also spend hours traveling through the rabbit hole of what others are doing and comparing your success to their’s. I don’t have a million followers but what matters most is that I’m reaching both current clients and potential clients. Follower count is great because it helps your exposure and hopefully broadens your clientele but a high follower count doesn’t always equate to clients. My suggestion is to use relevant tags when you post, post consistently, and use your stories to communicate with your current clients. Use social media as a tool but remember that it isn’t your identity or a measurement of business success. Showcase your work and the rest will fall into place.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Www.gracemaephotography.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gracemae_photography
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1Pv9VZjwPZ/?mibextid=wwXIfr
