We were lucky to catch up with Gary Edmerson recently and have shared our conversation below.

Gary, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Do you have a hero? What have you learned from them?

My late grandmother, Yvonne Edmerson, was always my hero is still is to this day. She my sister and I in addition to her own kids by herself and was never afforded the luxury of being tired. She had to deal with multiple personalities, juggle multiple task and sometimes go without to ensure we got everything we needed. Early on she encouraged me to pick up a camera. She noticed I had been looking at it for months while we were out shopping and never made the purchase. Well that day I decided to buy it. I quickly started to learn the camera and implemented all the teaching she instilled in me. There were times that I went with the bare minimum to ensure I could get new equipment. There were times that I felt I didn’t get the support from family and friends. There were times were I was stalled in my creativity. Unfortunately, she never was afforded the luxury of being tired and had to keep going. When I didn’t have the energy to shoot because I was juggling a full-time job, school and family responsibilities, I drew from her life and knew I had to keep going. Keep shooting. No matter the cost.

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

Allow me to reintroduce myself, my name is Gary Edmerson. I am originally from Ohio and I reside in Buford, GA. I am a self taught photographer that approached learning my craft by embracing the fundamentals. I went to workshops, read self help books, purchased creative live tutorials. I started with an event company in New Jersey and was taught how to photograph sweet sixteens, weddings and other events. However, since these jobs were fairly easy, I was afforded the luxury of being able to practice new lighting techniques I had learned from the camera expo. Pretty soon I was shooting weddings and events on my own. During that time I was also going to meetups from local photographers and learning portrait photography to incorporate into my formal wedding photos.

The one thing I would want my followers and the readers of this article to know is that I come from a technical background. The learning of the camera and composition was easier for me. It took my a while to find my voice and tap into that creative side. However, with time, dedication and experience I was able to do so. The most important thing during that time was that I never gave up.

My brand is built on naturally looking photos; not overly photoshopped or edited images. I want to give my clients quality over quantity and ensure that I can create digital images of all their special moments. For events, I aim to grow with the client through all their life moments whether it’s a photoshoot, graduation, sweet sixteen or wedding. For portraits, I am to give models quality and a look that every photographer can’t do.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

I graduated college and used my full-time position to fund my early purchases. I would take my earnings from the jobs I was booked for and reinvest it into equipment. The most important thing that I learned was how to utilize credit to get what I wanted. For instance, certain companies have financing that will allow you to pay off a balance without interest for 1-3 years. I would get all my large purchases this way and would justify it by getting X number of jobs. Then I would I have incentive to go out and get X number of jobs. The cycle kept repeating itself until I got all my equipment.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I want to start and say I am not where I want to be with followers or engagement. However, the most important things that I’ve come to realize are if you are running a business, then your page should not be private. No one can share your post etc. Secondly, if you don’t get a lot of like, it Is still important you keep posting. The last thing is to support who supports you. I have a group of colleagues who I have met along this journey that I try to make sure I support as they have supported me in the past. The rest will take care of it self.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.garyedmersonphotography.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/garyedmersonphotography
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/garyedmersonphotography
• Twitter: @GEdmersonPhoto