We were lucky to catch up with Heidi Bent recently and have shared our conversation below.

Heidi, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear the story of how you went from this being just an idea to making it into something real.

My photography was doing great but wasn’t quite paying the bills and I wasn’t passionate about the fashion industry any longer, which is where I had spent the past few years focusing my talents. Although I continued to take photoshoots and perfect my craft, I was more focused on just enjoying it in the moment and bettering my skills, rather than building it to be any kind of business. Shortly after I married my wonderful husband, HEHphotography got revamped into Heidi Bent Photography and I started to focus on building an actual business and figuring out my niche. He’s always been one of my biggest cheerleaders and I’ve felt my craft flourish even further under his love and support.

I soon found myself paying attention to the equine world again and began realizing there was an increasing demand for high quality and well executed equine portraiture, something I have a passion for and am great at. I ended up being able to utilize my past creative work and experience with humans and horses to narrow my skills down to the two types of shoots that had higher demand and that I enjoyed the most. Now I have two branches of my photography, one catering to the equine community and the other to family lifestyle (think family photoshoots, maternity (my favorite), engagements and weddings, and similar).

Heidi, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’ve been a “photographer” for a long time. Everywhere I went as a kid I would have a disposable camera, but soon I usurped my mom’s little digital camera to practice taking photos everywhere I went. They were blurry and lacked any quality, but I was hooked. Through diligent saving and starting my own dog walking business in my neighborhood I was able to save up for a better camera. I began practicing by playing dress-up and conducting elaborate photoshoots with my friends. Soon I got involved in the horse community and began photographing horses. This opened more doors as I realized a lot of people loved having photo memories of them and their horses. I saved up for my first proper DSLR and my business, called HEHphotography at the time, was born.

I wound up dabbling in nearly every form of photography there is, equine, animals, nature and wildlife, sports, boudoir, real-estate, families, events, fashion, and more I’ve probably forgotten. I really began to take off when I entered into the world of fashion and photographing models and spent quite a few years pursuing just that. It taught me a great deal on lighting, posing, and helped me become extremely proficient at post-processing and photoshop. I became known for the quality and detail of my images. This all has played a role in setting my work apart from others in the field who produce great images, but don’t always take the time to focus on the little details.

I’ve found that to really execute my ideas to fulfil my dreams of turning my passion to profit came easily when I mirrored my client’s needs with what I liked to offer and enjoyed working on. Through this I really have learned to focus on the moment, the memory, and a more human element, while refusing to skimp on the quality and care in photo crafting that I’ve always produced.

One of the main issues I’ve noticed for many clients I speak to is the delivery of fewer images than they’d prefer. They spend hundreds on a photoshoot to receive 10 images and later be offered a chance at purchasing more. I’ve always preferred to just price my shoots appropriately for the time it takes me to deliver a full gallery, even if the cost may be a tad higher depending on the session. As such, I often tend to over deliver on the number of promised images. These are a moment in time, a captured memory, and I think my clients deserve to enjoy looking back at all the little moments that made that moment magical. I don’t want them to feel stressed trying to pick between which photo of their newborn is their favorite and which one is worth paying extra for. Perhaps this doesn’t make me the best saleswoman in the industry, but it has created satisfied clients who I love to work with and who come back to me every time.

I absolutely love hearing feedback from my clients and my followers. I want them to love the product as much as I loved making it for them. This has never just been a “job” for me. It’s a passion and something I genuinely enjoy. I want that to display through my images. I always strive for…what would look amazing on your wall? Or printed in an album? Or displayed in a gallery? I want the images to tell a story and cause people to take a moment of pause out of their busy day scrolling through endless streams of images on social media platforms.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

Many ‘non-creatives’ don’t understand the sheer amount of time and effort can actually go into a photoshoot, and more importantly the post processing. Photographers have a bad habit of severely undercharging for the amount of work they actually accomplish. But the outside world doesn’t see the late nights spent in lightroom and photoshop, sifting through, literally, thousands of images to pick the best ones and edit them with consistency, detail, and a “look” that is consistent with the quality of their product and what the client expects from them.

Most clients are coming to you specifically for your creative process and for your advice. It can be very important to lay out expectations before you even begin a photoshoot. For an example, it’s up to the photographer to explain why a more “light and airy” vibe may not look as stunning as “darker and moody” vibe when photographing an elopement in the smoky mountains at sunset. Thankfully I’ve found most clients to be extremely open to my creative process and eager to hear what I think will look best based on my years of experience.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

This is a difficult one for a lot of creatives, especially photographers and artists. There’s so many of us in the world and social media is already flooded with stunning images and videos. Creating a following on social media has always been a goal and a struggle for me. I believe in organic results; I want people to follow me who truly like my content and want to engage.

My biggest success was starting my Instagram and Facebook presence for my equine photography. This was built truly from the ground up with a brand-new account with zero followers. Yes, I cross-posted from my other photography account to receive some extra traction, but that only takes you so far when you have followers who are there for family and fashion shoots and not horses.

However, the global equine community is quite large, and the local equine communities are extremely active. By paying attention to trends and highlighting the detail of my work that sets me apart, I was able to begin growing my account fairly quickly and started booking new clients within months of setting it up on Instagram. I recently enjoyed my first “viral” video on Instagram Reels with over 100k views and over 10,000 interactions. This also led to a couple hundred more followers. I strive to keep this account very active. Even if I don’t have fresh content to drop, I am constantly sharing stories, liking and commenting on content, and interacting with my followers via comments, direct messages, and more.

I also market to and reach out in the local horse-related groups on Facebook, especially if I am offering any giveaways or contests. These groups are usually fairly active and help bring about a lot of interest.

One thing I will say that helps tremendously on social media is having clients that are willing to post on your behalf. I’ve had many leave positive reviews and post their images linking back to my page. I had one lovely lady recommend me in a local Facebook group and it garnered me over 40 followers overnight and multiple leads for shoots. It helps to build a community, a relationship, and a trust with your clients.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.heidibentphotography.com
• Instagram: Human: https://www.instagram.com/heidibent_photography/ Equine Account: https://www.instagram.com/heidibent_equinephotography/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HeidiBentPhotography

Image Credits
All images are copyrighted to Heidi Bent Photography (Heidi E. Bent)