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

Emily , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

I was the friend in my friends group that always had a camera in my hand, so photography was always my favorite hobby as a kid and young adult, but I never imagined it as a career!

I got my first “big girl” camera in 2016 and I was photographing anything and everything I could! I made a Facebook post in the largest local mom group about offering free photo sessions in order to practice with real families and that blew up! I photographed 50 different families in less than two months, I had messages coming in for bookings and I couldn’t believe it! From then on I knew I could turn this into a career and the rest is history!

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

Trying to summarize who I am in a mere paragraph or two might be a little tricky, but I’ll try my best😘😅!

I’m 32 years young, I’ve lived in northern Indiana my entire life and I love everything colorful!

I bought my first real camera and casually photographed families and events for the first few years while I was still working a full time job. I was also starting to join local photography groups and got to know some other amazing people in the area! That really helped with my confidence as a new photographer because it’s a very saturated industry and everyone was so kind and welcoming!

I absolutely love connecting with people through photography and showing them a side of themselves that they’ve never seen before! Hearing them say “That’s not me! No way!” is the icing on the cake for me! Did someone say cake?! Sorry! I’m a sucker for sweets haha

What sets me apart from others is the experience that you will have with me during your photo session. I make things easy going, fun, and full of creativity! Everyone is different, so I am able to adapt and adjust to just about everyone’s needs!

I believe that angles are EVERYTHING and can totally change the look of an image, so I am always taking my time to look at things from all different sides!

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I think the biggest thing that helped me build my reputation within the photography community is simply being myself 🙌😅😊! I am a very bubbly and fun individual but I also take my job very seriously and I think a lot of people that I work with can see that!

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect about being a photographer is the freedom to be able to create an idea, from scratch, and bring it to life right before your eyes!

Then the next best thing is for a client to hire you and pay you for that creativity! 🙌😘 But in all seriousness, capturing core memories for other human beings has been the best career I could have ever asked for!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.obrellaimages.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/obrella_images
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/obrellaimagesllc

Image Credits
Blackbird and Rye Photography