Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ellie Fuqua. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Ellie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear from you about what you think Corporate America gets wrong in your industry and why it matters.
In the photography world, larger corporations upscale their business by adopting business models that serve a wide audience. While their work tends to be easily palatable and affordable, this method of upscaling also sacrifices personal connection and many of the specific needs that clients have for their weddings. People who go with corporate photography companies end up getting a standardized service with less connection, along with simplified and standardized imagery.
On occasion, people have inquired with me and decided instead to go with a more corporate wedding photography company because their pricing made sense for them. Those same people often return to me for photo sessions later because they could sense that my work dove to a deeper level than what a larger corporation might be able to provide. As a small business owner, I can take a more personal approach that delivers personalized experiences, along with imagery that tells your story uniquely.
I recently worked with a client who hired me to photograph their maternity and newborn session. As the session was coming to a close they told me about how they really wanted to hire me for their wedding photography but chose a corporate company instead. They complained that the corporation sent out one of their photographers who didn’t spend time taking images of the unique parts of their day but instead stuck to a specific list. They were bummed that the photographer missed the parts of their day that were uniquely special to them and wished that they had gone with me because they sensed that I would be invested in their personal story and would focus on what they needed instead of a generic list.
When the couple went back to the company to see what they could do to make things right, the company made it difficult to fix the issue. They avoided the couple and made it hard to communicate, which led them to slowly fade out, with no real resolution to their issues. The corporate structure of that company made it so that no one was really invested in making the couple happy. This is something that I’ve heard from other clients as well.
My hope is always to deeply connect with couples and clients in a way that helps them feel our friendship growing as we work together. It is my personal goal to understand their energy, personality, values, and vision so that when I create imagery, it embodies what they are looking for in a way that they might not even be able to verbalize themselves.
Ellie, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My name is Ellie and I am the owner owner and founder of Sun & Sparrow Photography. We are a photography company, dedicated to capturing and curating all your most precious moments. I specialize in whimsical, fairytale photography. I love to learn your dreams and true self so that we can curate moments that show who you truly are. Specifically, we photograph weddings, families, maternity, and newborns across Southern California and in the Pacific Northwest.
At the deepest level, Sun & Sparrow is about storytelling. Genuine experiences, and trust built with my clients, brings me closer to them so I can tell their stories the way they see them. The familiar and lovely connection that I often have with my clients allows me to photograph each successive event as if time hasn’t passed between us because we really do become friends.
I started photographing with my mom’s digital camera in middleschool. It felt amazing to take images of the things and people around me, and I immediately fell in love with creating a fresh perspective on things we already see all the time. By the time I graduated college, that love of creating had evolved into a career as my sister and I started Sun & Sparrow Photography. Over fifteen years, we worked together, creating fairytale imagery and telling people’s stories until she decided to pursue other avenues. These days, Sun & Sparrow is just me and a small team of people around me, but I am photographing and connecting more than ever.
It is a dream come true to get to be a part of so many people’s most precious and wonderful moments, and I would not trade it for anything. Contact us today to talk about how the Sun & Sparrow experience can work for you.
Can you open up about how you funded your business?
The nice thing about building my photography business is that I was able to grow it as it went. At the beginning I had a regular point-and-shoot camera that I bought for $300; money that was gifted to me for graduating high school. I used that to make imagery and get noticed. Eventually, people started to pay me, and that grew into my first big wedding. When I booked the wedding I knew that I needed a better camera so I used the money I saved up to buy a DSLR. From that point on, every photo session that I did put money back into the business and as our skill grew, so did our ability to get better and better equipment. By the time things got rolling, I was able to sustain the business with the sessions and weddings I photographed. I’m very fortunate that there was no need to take out loans or borrow money with this method.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
At the beginning, our reputation built itself up through word of mouth and posting pictures on social media. As my business grew, people started to believe in my work and placed me on their vendor lists. We also worked hard to create a good website and as much content as possible, while continuing to hold ourselves to a high standard of work. Our imagery and understanding of events has only grown over time.
One of the most important values of Sun & Sparrow is always “the experience” that we create with our brides, grooms, and families. By educating clients on how to approach their wedding day or family story through photography, we map out all of their expectations for the day and deliver priceless moments. Connecting and dreaming with clients and vendors leads us to long-term relationships that continue to bear fruit today.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://sunandsparrow.com
- Instagram: @sunandsparrow
- Facebook: https://Facebook.com/sunandsparrow
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/sun-and-sparrow-photography-torrance-11
Image Credits
Sun and Sparrow Photography