We were lucky to catch up with Emily McCracken recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Emily thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

I’ve always had something inside me that was creative. Throughout my life, I tried MANY different outlets, singing, dancing, poetry, song writing, painting (and the list goes on) and none of them felt like they fit. I knew there was some sort of art form in there, I just never understood what it was and never connected with any of the outlets that I was so desperately trying to pair with.

Queue 2019. I’m working for Children’s Aid Society in a social work role. My empath soul is being RIPPED apart day in and day out. And in walks photography. I dust off my used Canon Rebel T3 and I walk with my dog Charlie everyday, snapping away. Photos of him, photos of nature, I really didn’t care, just ANYTHING to make me feel something other than anxiety. After about four months of that, I said…huh…what about people? And the rest is really history.

For three years, I worked BOTH jobs. Photography slowly became more and more demanding. But was I really going to quit being a social worker? A job that took me seven years of schooling to get. Somewhere I thought I was going to retire. I struggled with the decision. And then after my partner and I had a devastating loss in our lives…it caused me to turn inward and ask myself what I really wanted. Did I want to be doing a job Monday to Friday but thinking about something else? NOPE. My husband came home from work and I said “I quit!” and the rest is history.

Since that time I’ve been able to really hone in on my own business and discovered so much more about myself. After taking the plunge, it’s completely wild to think I probably would have never jumped had I not suffered the losses I had. Dark things in life have a funny way of making you see the light. I have never looked back and never will.

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

(Back Story of How I Got Into On Previous Slide)

My name is Emily McCracken and I am a lifestyle photographer offering wedding, elopement, boudoir, and family photography to Grey Bruce, Ontario. If you don’t know Grey Bruce, it’s a jurisdiction with a TON of farm land, and lots of access to beautiful fresh water beaches as two of our borders are completely surrounded by Lake Huron and Georgian Bay. When I’m not doing photography, you can find me hanging with my husband, two huskies, and the true love of my life, my daughter, Lainey. We enjoy taking walks all together, having fires in our little backyard, and definitely catching some snuggles watching some movies. I truly am the definition of a wild child and rebel at heart. I have 13 tattoos, many of which involve moons which you’ll learn quickly I am a little too keen on. I love reading and try to read 5 books per month, listen to audiobooks, and enjoy ripping through a thriller on my kindle. I am also a little hippy dippy and loveeee anything to do with holistic forms of healing, auras, and mediums. I’m a true empath so it’s no surprise when you see me get really excited over anything to do with these. No one is ever surprised to find me in my bare feet walking in the grass somewhere (probably in a pair of ripped jeans) with untamed curly hair.

Photography to me is an incredible creative outlet and talent. I mean, we quite literally freeze time and preserve memories, that’s pretttttyyyy coool if you ask me (although, I’m a little biased). I mostly specialize in wedding photography so you can definitely say I’m a romantic at heart. There is something so humbling about being a big part of peoples biggest days of their lives and providing them with a product they pass down for generations and generations in their family. When I’m not doing wedding photography, you’ll find me swooning perfect little baby bumps and new bundles of joy that have just arrived to their families, or you can find me third wheeling a couple on a cool date while casually bossing them around to show some affection to each other. From being a social worker to becoming a photographer, I would say one of my best qualities is my ability to connect with just about anyone AND make them feel comfortable like they’ve known me for years. In fact, when I have clients leave sessions with me for the first time, they often message saying they’ve felt the completed the session with a friend or someone they’ve known for a long time. In the galleries I deliver I aim to tell a story regarding how the night/day/whenever we did this went. I work hard to deliver a gallery that people will gasp and say “how is that me?” and aim to please by delivering a large gallery with a lot of images to choose from. One of the things I like to say is I quite literally take peoples lives and turn them into art and that is something that makes me so happy and overjoyed to do. One of my main goals is to ensure people create a memory through their session with me rather than the end goal of

I’m probably the most proud of my ability to connect with people AND some of the amazing trips I’ve got to go on as a result of this career. In 2022, I was able to take my little sister to an elopement with me in Paris, France. It was an elopement with a Canadian couple who wanted to elope just the two of them. We completed a simple and sweet ceremony and then ran around all of Paris to some of the most incredible and beautiful locations taking photos for FOUR hours. It was one of the best experiences of my life and something I was so proud to have accomplished.

Since my little trip across the sea, my life has changed in a really big way. In fact the NIGHT I got back from my journey, elated and overwhelmed with emotion of getting to see so much of the world because of my talent, I was greeted with quite a big surprise. A test with two pink lines and a lot of morning sickness and in came my little Lainey Orianna. I’ve been blessed by being able to bring her to work WITH me since her birth in June 2023. I have baby worn Lainey to 50+ sessions, all while delivering the same quality of work. Some days have been so incredibly hard BUT such an amazing journey and I cannot wait to show her the things we’ve done together when she is older.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

TWO THINGS:

Something I had to unlearn in my business was my organization strategies and data management. Did you know that photographers can take between 1500-10,000 images PER wedding. For example, I averaged 4000 images per wedding in 2022 and completed 35 weddings. THAT IS 140,000 images. Obviously storing that much data comes at a cost and these are VERY important and precious memories that I hold in my hands and it is something I take very seriously. When I first started my business, I did not have great systems in place and would just dump memory cards on to hard drives with no rhyme or reason. But this resulted in an error of losing some images. At that time, I became VERY thorough and organized with how I organize these files and ensure (particularly for weddings) I have THREE copies of the original photos at all times.

Another lesson I’ve had to unlearn is “I can do it best and no one can do it like me.” As I stated, there was a time I was working two full times jobs all on my own. I took a course with Sara Monika, who is a photographer outside of Barrie, Ontario and through this course I learned HELP and TRAINING people to help you is a VERY good thing. Unlearning of the mentality of I NEED to do it on my own versus I can PAY someone to do it was very challenging but has had an unbelievable impact on my work life balance.

How did you build your audience on social media?

A lot of my followers are from word of mouth and tagging. I always request my clients tag me in their photos.

Also when I first started I completed a lot of giveaways that required them to follow and tag their friends.

I would say I’ve been able to maintain and continue because I am always my authentic self online. I always talk about real things and feel it’s really important to me. I enjoy talking about heavy topics that people may not feel great talking about such as mental health, body positivity, and women empowerment.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.emilymccracken.ca
• Instagram: emilymccrackenphotography
• Other: Pinterest: emilymccrackenphotography

Image Credits
Photo of Myself: Autumn Ligget Photography