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

Alright, Emily 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?

My mission for my wedding photography business is to create an environment where couples can feel confident that who they are will shine through in their wedding photos. The style of work I provide is a documentarian’s approach, meaning that each couple will be provided with photos that can be viewed through the lens of a wedding guest, a fly on the wall. I feel that our industry is often shifting towards wedding days becoming elaborate, editorial-style photoshoots. While this works for some couples, I personally feel my work shines the most when I’m able to understand who the couple is, and let those intimate moments be captured and shine through.

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

In April of 2013, I was asked by an older friend, who owned her own photography business, if I would like to come and be her assistant for a large scale wedding. She knew I had always been artistic, and provided me a camera to use for the day, and started teaching me how to use it. She continued bringing me to weddings as her assistant, eventually moving on from the mechanical uses of a camera, to the more nuanced lessons of framing, posing, composition, etc. I continued developing my interest in photography, taking courses in both high school and college. I moved on to photograph my first wedding as lead photographer in 2017, and continued my business alongside working for the local public library system. When Covid hit in 2020, I left my position at the library, and spent time exclusively working as a photographer. My business has since grown exponentially, going from photographing 3-4 weddings per year as lead to 20-25 weddings per year as lead, which is the maximum I will take on.

I feel clients gravitate to my work for its authenticity. Authenticity is a word that has become very popular in the field of portrait photography, but I still feel that it is incredibly accurate to my work. I work to understand who my clients are, both as individuals and as a couple, and find ways to showcase them in their portraits in a way that feels natural to them. For weddings, I prioritize and take pride in my ability to capture truly candid moments, ones they often did not remember occurring themselves, or may have not been present for. My clients have described my work as cozy and nostalgic, and when they look back at their photos, I aim to invoke the same feeling one gets as when they return home after a long time away.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

Photography had always been a side hustle, from 2013-2020. When covid hit, I was working in an incredibly public facing job. At the time, there was continued uncertainty about how severe things would get and continue to be, so my partner and I decided that I should leave that role. With no other positions lined up, I dove head first into my photography, offering outdoor sessions that complied with restrictions in place at that time, as well as photographing last minute micro weddings that were forced to be popular that year. The clients that I did have recognized my flexibility and resonated with the style of work, especially at a time when being home was so normalized, and promoted my work to family and friends, as well as continued to return to my business for their continued life milestones.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

The field of wedding photography is currently both oversaturated, as it is still a relatively easy field to get started in, but can also be one of high investment, as the challenge to grow from a beginner to a specialist is exponential in difficulty. I feel that non-creatives may struggle to bridge the gap between hiring a beginner photographer at a lower investment point, versus the cost that comes with hiring a creative that provides a very niche service within the field.

To bridge that gap, there are several key elements that allows the beginner photographer to grow into an expert, and are important to understand for a client without photography experience when choosing who may be the right photographer to invest in.

Firstly, experience. It’s the most obvious one, but with every wedding a photographer shoots; every session they plan, photograph, edit, and deliver, they gain valuable experience and learn lessons. Even excluding continuing education I’ve invested throughout the years, I still encounter sessions that provide me with new challenges to work through, and subsequently provides me with more experience.

Second is self investment. As most photography businesses grow, photographers continue to invest in themselves, mainly in their education and the equipment they use. While I firmly believe that beautiful photographs can be captured by any experienced photographer regardless of the equipment they’re using, there is no denying that a photographer with high end equipment will have more flexibility in capturing their photos, high quality images, and equipment they can trust not to have any type of technological failures.

And third, and arguably most important, is niche. As photographers gain experience, they also gain a perspective on the style of work they provide. When I started out, my work was, to put it bluntly, fairly generic. I was still learning the basics of photography, so naturally my photos were very run of the mill, fresh off a posing class, basic edits to give them a little bit of an enhancement, but lacking any level of originality. Once I had mastered the fundamentals of photography, I was able to explore different creative styles, both in my editing, posing, and business model. I found that certain types of photography I was offering was not something I was interested in shooting. By niching down, it allowed me to grow into the business I have today, and focus on working with clients that resonate with the services I offer.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://emilybraun.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emilybraunphotography/ (@emilybraunphotography)
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/emilybraunart
• Other: Tik Tok: @emilybraunphotography

Image Credits

Emily Braun Photography