We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Emily Dunn a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Emily, thanks for joining us today. Do you have a hero? What have you learned from them?
When I started my company, I was just fifteen years old. Obviously, I was still under my parents’ roof and thankfully for me, they have always been super supportive. I was fortunate enough to watch my dad and mom work incredibly hard in our family business and that’s what inspired me to start my own business. I couldn’t drive when I began so my mom had to drive me to all of my sessions and weddings and often times the clients would assume my mom was the photographer. My mom drove everywhere and was my biggest supporter and still is to this day. She is my hero by far, not just in my career but my life overall.
Emily, 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?
My name is Emily Dunn and I’m a traveling wedding and elopement photographer based out of Dallas, Texas. I started when I was fifteen and have loved every second of it since 2009. I have been so fortunate to been everywhere from hot and busy California to the beautiful beaches in Virgina for work and most recently my favorite was a Yellowstone elopement. If you’ve never had the pleasure of meeting me in person, what you should know is that I’m a goof ball. I’ve got a list of dad jokes I carry around to break the ice. Often times people when I get an inquiry, clients will tell me they heard of me from word of mouth. I take relationships very seriously in my job. When I meet you, I don’t just want to know your name, but I want to hear your story. What makes you as a person unique? What is your love story? How did you meet? Give me every bit of detail you feel comfortable sharing. One of my favorite things to ask is what is your love language. (If you’ve never done your love language I highly recommend) If your love language is acts of service, I’ll give prompts to your partner that are relating to your love language in order to not only make a soulful connection during the session but also amazing photos and memories. I hope when you work with me not only do we get to create art but memories that also last a lifetime.
Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
So, I was given an old dinosaur of a camera when I started, it wasn’t great, but it got me by. I thankfully learned to code when I was eleven, so my website was decent. I had a group of friends who loved having their photos taken so finding models wasn’t hard to come by. What I really wish I had when I started was the community. I was so young and didn’t know of any other photographers so finding resources was tough. Lots of googling. Some YouTube here and there. Mostly a lot of trial and error. There are so many resources available to new photographers. Facebook groups, mentorship programs and workshops and endless websites to gain knowledge from. If you are new to photography or looking to put a foot in the door, I would highly suggest using social media to find those tools! Hashtags are not only great for promoting your business but also learning.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
If I had to think of a time where I had to adjust my business with my life I would think about when I got married myself. I had been in the wedding business for years at this point so when my sweet husband asked me to be his bride, I couldn’t wait for it to be my turn – FINALLY! Well, while I was excited for this new chapter, I realized that I wasn’t just going to be handling brides and their big day but also trying to find time to schedule my own wedding. I was planning alongside my clients and trying to manage my now busy schedule. Planning a wedding felt like another job. Don’t forget to actually spend time with your soon to be spouse too. So, because of this new adjustment in life I got married quickly which meant I had the same struggles some brides do. Finding your vendors. Sometimes you get your dream wedding and vendors and sometimes you get what you can find. So, my advice to any newly engaged brides is to plan ahead while you can! I book up to two years in advance sometimes. Sometimes couples book before they are even engaged! If you find wedding planning to be too stressful, don’t worry – elopements are also my jam and I get to take on that planning for you too now!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.lacedingracephotography.com
- Instagram: @lacedingracephoto
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/somewhatphotography
- Other: Your love story artist since 2009