We were lucky to catch up with Haylee Rolnick recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Haylee thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What do you think it takes to be successful?

I like this question because there are no right or wrong answers! Success looks different to every single person. Success to one person may look like making six figures in profit every single year. Success to another may look like booking two elopement sessions a year. Success to another may be that they have someone who isn’t family or friends find them and book them. Success is all dependent on your WHY.

Having a “why” in this industry is so important. Remembering why you are doing what you’re doing. Why do you want to achieve the goals you are setting? Why is it important to you? What does it mean to you? It’s like you’re keeping a promise to a friend, except it’s to yourself that you will work to achieve these. An example outside of the industry is one I heavily relate to. I make promises to friends all of the time that I will get coffee with them next week and we do! But I tell myself I’ll go to the gym later and never do. I have to treat myself like a best friend and not break my word. The same goes for photography! Write down your goals, how you’ll achieve them, and go get it done! Even if you don’t, you tried. And effort is so important. Showing up for yourself is so so important!

Haylee, 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?

Hello! My name is Haylee Rolnick and I am a part-time wedding photographer. I also do elopements, engagements, senior sessions, and open to more! The reason I am only part-time nowadays is because I am a full-time pilot. I currently fly private jets and flight instruct, and I will hopefully move onto the airlines soon! I have had Haylee Peyton Photography, previously known as Redside Photography, since I was 16 years old in 2016. I edited all of my photos during my photo class in high school. I never really had anything I was interested in until I tried photography out. My friends were either in sports, played an instrument, did dance, track, etc. I felt so behind everybody in finding out my hobbies. Finally, I took a photography class and decided to take it seriously and ended up taking Photography I, II, III and AP all throughout high school and continued to take a class during community college.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my main job and flying airplanes- but photography has always been my true passion and the thing that excites me the most. My favorite thing is getting to tell others that I am a professional third wheel and I wouldn’t have it any other way. The thing that makes me different nowadays is how many clients I take on. Due to the nature of my work schedule, I can’t take on every client- so those who connect with me become my priority and my few clients become my best friends. My focus is solely on you and our plans. I am so passionate about what I do and I will always put you- the client- first! These are YOUR memories being captured, so I want you to be happy with them. I try and do everything reasonably in my power to make sure you love the final result. I work with you on finding your dream location, helping nail down the perfect outfit, I tell your awkward hands where to be in photos, and I will overphotograph. I LOVE love and will be your number one hype man during our session!

Outside of my two careers, I loveeee country dancing. I love being active and going to the gym. I am all about the self-love journey and all things to better ourselves! Music is my existence- Glass Animals, Benson Boone, Twenty One Pilots, Imagine Dragons, and a lot of vibey songs (I’ll always take recommendations). I love concerts. I love trying to make the most of life! It’s so short to not live it how you choose to.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I have had this photography business since 2016 when I was sixteen years old. After I graduated high school, I hadn’t found anything else I was so passionate about. This was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. After talking to many photogs who had been doing it for 10+ years full time, most of them had lost their love for it. The sparkle in their eyes were gone. Burn out is very real and I was terrified, but I wanted to anyways. I attended the Showit Photography conference in 2019 in Tempe, AZ and my love reignited completely. Inspiration flooded through me. Passion surrounded me. This is where I decided that I would be going full time with photography in the next year. That is until I saw a cute boy on the news a month later, who happened to be a private pilot and took me up. Plans were unchanged except now I had a vision of being with a pilot boy while I chased my dreams. Once another boy took me on a date in his airplane and this is when my vision of my future completely changed. I didn’t want to be with a pilot anymore- I wanted to be the pilot. I, for the second time in my life, found something else that ignited a spark within me. I was excited. I grew another passion. I was going to be a pilot. It happened so fast. Unfortunately, I have had to put my love for photography on the back burner while I finished school. But my passion for it is still stronger than ever and every session I get to photograph is much more special because I only have a few a year. My life did a 180 and I couldn’t be happier making both of my passions a part of my life.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

The best source of new clients for me is my old ones! It is so important you are yourself on your sessions, even on your bad days. Especially weddings! I know you may be tired, but potential clients are surrounding you and they will remember how you made them feel today. A fair amount of my brides were previously bridesmaids or guests in weddings I had photographed prior! They remember how excited I was throughout the day and they loved the outcome of the images. Word of mouth is HUGEEE in this industry! It is a very saturated one, but you start to recognize names very easily.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.hayleepeyton.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/hayleepeytonphotography
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/hayleepeytonphotography
• Other: For aviation content! www.instagram.com/flywithhaylee