We were lucky to catch up with Heather Kirchhofer recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Heather, thanks for joining us today. Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?
I am very happy as a business owner. Before owning my own business, I worked in the corporate world, the retail world, and managed another photographer’s studio all while also freelancing when I had the time. Having experienced all of these work environments has given me so much gratitude and appreciation for what I am able to do now. I was not thriving in the corporate world. I knew it wasn’t the place for me longterm. Being able to create my schedule, work around when I know I’m at my best, not when it’s beneficial to someone else, has really helped my creativity grow. Creativity really isn’t something you can just turn on when you need to. So, having that freedom of workflow is vital to my career. Running your own business is not for everyone, but I took a leap of faith, following my intuition, to find it is the best for me. I really had to take a long look at what makes me feel fulfilled in my career path and what doesn’t. Not that owning your own business is doing anything you want anytime you want to, not at all! I have deadlines and schedules just like everyone else, but the path I take to meet those deadlines is up to me. I’m carving the way to my most successful self. At the end of the day, it is a lot of work, but it is also so rewarding.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
I’m Heather, the owner and photographer at Agnes Art & Photo. I’ve been a photographer for over twenty years. I have my BFA in Photography. College is where I really fell in love with it all. It’s cliche, I know! I spent my college days tucked into a dark room and haven’t wanted to do anything since. I worked my way through school developing film at of the oldest camera shops in America. From there, I’v done everything from freelancing to running a portrait studio to corporate photography. It wasn’t until I had my first child that I really felt ready to go out on my own fully. Right now, I’m really in love with photographing families and brands. Two totally opposite ends of the photography spectrum it seems, but each one fuels my creativity in such a fulfilling way. My drive to create honest, emotional images for families to pass down generation to generation is just as strong as my desire to create meaningful work to help businesses grow and be seen. No matter what I’m photographing, I’m striving to create something meaningful that speaks to the truth of what’s in front of my lens whether it be a moment between a mother and child or beautifully styled bottle of perfume.
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
The most effective way I have found for growing my clientele is being 100% genuine and real and consistent with my clients – always. Word of mouth is key for a small business. Whatever experience a client has with me, they are going to tell the people in their lives. If I’m giving my clients a positive experience, that is the message that will be spread. It matters to me a great deal how a session unfolds and flows and how my client is experiencing it in the moment. The experience of the creation of images matters just as much as the end result, which is the photographs. It’s a collaborative effort. I go into a session having given my clients as much information as possible with what to expect from me, what I hope from them; how to prepare themselves, inside and out, for that moment of magic we are about to create together. I could give my clients the most gorgeous images, but if they have a bad experience during the session, they wouldn’t be a return client and they wouldn’t recommend me to their loved ones, no matter how good my work is. How you treat people matters. Be kind.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
Storytelling is always my mission. Every moment of every day for all of us is unfolding into stories often untold – gut-wrenchingly beautiful, magical moments. So many of them go unnoticed. We move so fast through this world. It is so important to me to pause and honor our lives with photographs. Generations to come with thank us.
Contact Info:
- Website: agnesartandphoto.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/agnesartandphoto
- Facebook: facebook.com/agnesartandphoto
- Linkedin: linkdin.com/heather-kirchhofer