We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ellen Wagner. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ellen below.

Alright, Ellen thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

Ellen Wagner Photo exists to women feel seen, valued, and worthy as they walk through their motherhood journey. By giving my clients a photography experience focused on the beauty of the ordinary moments with their families in their homes, they get sentimental imagery that highlights the connection and love between her and her family.

I make no apologies that much of my time during my portrait sessions are documenting the interactions between a mother and her children; I am there for her, supporting her in a way I needed to be loved as a new mom struggling with feelings of overwhelm and inadequacy.

I needed to be seen.
I needed to feel worthy.
And I found that through photography – more specifically self-portraits with my young children. Those images were far from ‘picture perfect’ – they were real.

I saw something in the way my girls looked at me, the joy in the mundane moments of the day, and my own ease as I leaned into a softer, gentler version of myself. A meandering journey of self-reflection, therapy, and God-winks led me to take a leap of faith into motherhood photography.

My business has expanded to include families, branding, and weddings, but the heart of Ellen Wagner Photo remains the same – seeing and supporting a woman on her motherhood journey.

Ellen, 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?

Photography has been a hobby for *literal* decades (yes, totally aging myself here), serving as my personal creative outlet while focusing on my career as a pharmacist. The personal to professional shift began in 2018 when I began creating content on social media in collaboration with small – then big – businesses.

I was surprised how much I enjoyed strategizing and brainstorming with these business owners and marketing teams to create imagery that would be fresh and exciting to their target audience. I didn’t have a big desire to be an ‘influencer’, but rather, stumbled into it as I formed long-term partnerships with international children’s brands.

As my girls got a bit older, and the creator market became more saturated and….intense, I could sense it was time to re-evaluate our family’s participation in the influencer world. Content creation no longer felt like it seamlessly fit into our life, and I did not want my girls to be forced to perform if they weren’t interested.

I also recognized that creating imagery for brands was WORK – for me and my children – and like any work, we deserved appropriate compensation…something that is a bit dicey in the creator marketplace. I am so proud that I drew a line with brands – I truly would LOVE to create for you, however, compensation is a non-negotiable. I, as an adult, can consent to create in exchange for growing my blossoming business, but I could not in good faith continue to ask my children to perform for free.

This was in 2021, and I could see this as the beginning of the end of our heavy content creation days. I also began to realize that the part of photography that brought me so much fulfillment was the connection with the person I was creating for…and that working with businesses that often are focused on metrics and dollars (rightfully so!) was not the right path for me. I am so thankful to have maintained friendships and business relationships with some of the small business owners that my family created content for during that time, and I truly believe that my experiences in the content creation world laid a unique foundation for my current business.

In 2022, I began offering family portraiture, with a focus on lifestyle motherhood photography in Auburn, Alabama, as Ellen Wagner Photo.

My motto is ‘Photography that celebrates the everyday moments you want to remember, forever.’

This is accomplished by learning more about the family before our time together, digging into the elements of this chapter of their life that the treasure most, working through styling options to support the ‘story’, and creating moments during our session time that mimic these treasured memories. There are rarely quite moments during our session – with music softly playing from my phone, the whirl of my handy white noise sound machine, and conversations with the parents. I like to frame my time with a family as time with a friend that happens to have a camera handy.

I’m incredibly grateful that the majority of my clients are repeat clients and friends referred by previous clients – a testament that I’m doing something right and helping the women I work with feel comfortable and seen in our time together.

This year, Ellen Wagner Photo has expanded. In additional to family portraiture, I offer personal branding, content creation, and commercial photography services to local small businesses. I continue to create user-generated content for a few children’s brands and brands for the home, but largely send this imagery off for the business to use on their own social media outlets, websites, and marketing efforts.

After many requests from fellow creatives, I have a mentorship program for photographers. We work through showing up authentically online to deepen their client relationships, guided sessions to create more emotional and connection-driven imagery of families, and behind-the-scenes support to grow their brand.

Last, but certainly not least, I photograph weddings as an associate wedding photographer for Haint Blue Collective. I truly never envisioned wedding photography as part of my ‘photographer story’, but when I met Kate Gwin, the owner and lead photographer of Haint Blue Collective, and learned about the heart behind serving couples on their wedding day, I felt strongly called to support her in that vision.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

The Myth: You need to keep your emotions out of your business to be successful.

The Truth: Me, how I show up online, and my emotions are a standout element of my business.

It is easy as a photographer to feel like it is ‘enough’ to showcase your beautiful work. But, if we are being honest, there are SO many talented creatives out there, it simply isn’t enough. People, your potential clients, are desperate for connection. It isn’t enough to be able to take a technically good image. There are many clients that feel it is just as important to love the person behind the camera, as well as the images they create.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I have been ‘behind the scenes’ of social media, deep into the messy underworld of mom-influencers (I have so many thoughts, but that is a story to tell another time). I intentionally moved to a new account for my photography business, and have largely kept my eyes on me, myself, and I haha.

I can tell you that it is very easy to manufacture the image of success and grow a large, disengaged audience with giveaways, fake engagement, and bought followers. DO NOT get discouraged when it seems like you’re not getting the same likes and follows from others.

Focus on supporting those that ARE interacting with you and being true to yourself. I am not buttoned-up, totally chill, or perfectly curated in real life. Imagine the shock my clients would feel if I showed up like that online, then when I spend hours in their home, I was completely different.

Possibly even more detrimental, imagine attracting individuals that WANT a buttoned-up, totally-chill photographer only to realize that is not what they will experience when they work with you.

AND THE BIGGEST SAD FACE OF ALL – imagine attracting all the wrong kind of folks, stifling your creativity and passion for your art, all because you’re trying to show up like everyone else.

The world needs YOUR uniqueness – your never-to-be-duplicated *spark*, so don’t be afraid of being your ordinary, weird self. Maybe it is because I’m rapidly approaching my forties, and thus entering my IDGAF era, but life is too short to not find joy in who you are, and when you do, YOUR PEOPLE will find you.

And then you will find happiness you couldn’t even dream of in your art and business. Promise.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://ellenwagnerphoto.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ellenwagnerphoto/