Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Holley Woods. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Holley, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

Being a photographer started at a young age for me, my mom also being of creative mind always pushed me to do what I loved, strangely enough I didn’t use to always be a photographer! Before stepping behind the lens, I actually did a bit of modeling for local photographers one of them being my moms’ best friend Phillip Campbell who was the owner of Creative Light Photography, Phil’s creativity and the beautiful images he captured inspired me to do the same, so I got straight to finding whatever resource I could, books in my school library, whatever I could find on the internet at the time, and overall just trial and error. Knowing what I know now, I definitely would have reached out more to people for advice as well as looked more into resources outside of my small town, but honestly without those resources I think it pushed me to work that much harder to teach myself how to do everything. Skill wise I think the most useful thing and essential thing I have learned is framing, framing is everything! If your photo isn’t framed properly it could throw off the whole vision, you can also always zoom and crop your photo but you can’t expand the photo, which is a huge thing that I leaned and is always in my head when shooting.
Growing up in a small town I didn’t have many friends or outlets for things but photography was always there! It was very difficult though growing up knowing what my passion was and not being able to take full advantage of it due to living so far out from where everyone was, it created a huge obstacle having to drive 40 minutes to do anything especially being a kid with no way to get myself anywhere, through that obstacle though I forced myself to find a way to express my work, which led to me volunteering at the Fairfield County Adoption center and taking photos of the animals to help them get adopted!

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

Hey, my name is Holley Woods, but these days I prefer to go by Fox! My first anime convention, back in 2010, was NashiCon, based in Columbia, SC. Starting as a cosplayer, I found a growing interest in helping people capture their cosplays with professional, yet fun photo shoots. After only a few years of doing shoots for a few friends here and there, I blossomed into a full fledged cosplay photographer, by 2013 Fox Dream Photography had been created as a South Carolina based photography business. Building my fan-base mostly along the Southeast Coast, growing with a clientele that continues to return for the quality and dedication towards each shoot, as well as an incredibly friendly and positive attitude. Fox Dream Photography is mainly a cosplay photography business, and subsequently travels to local anime conventions in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia. having full bookings at many of the conventions I attend. I also do event staff photography with a few of the conventions I attend. Starting in 2019 I opened up my photography variety to wedding, engagement, concerts and private family shoots. I looks forward to continuing with bettering my craft, and creating as many great photo shoots as I can with my clientele.

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

The biggest and most life changing thing was meeting Rj and Tomisina with The Variant at Ichibancon 2022, Tomi had fallen sick and Rj needed a photographer to help with the booth, I didn’t really know The Variant or Rj at the time but knew I had the extra time and figured I would help out when I can, that weekend was a wild journey and my head was spinning, but I wouldn’t change it for the world. Through The Variant I have met so many amazing individuals, fellow content creators, and more than anything I have an amazing family with The Variant.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Honesty!!! Be honest with your clients and communicate with them, your clients will come back time and time again if you are just honest with them, I see too many people that do photography as a full time along with other side projects and aren’t open with their clients! Your clients are people and they are understanding if life happens, as long as you talk to them, give them updates, and overall just make sure they know you are thinking of them and kept up to date!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://foxdreamphotography.mypixieset.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/foxdream_photography/

Image Credits
Satoru Gojo – @cara.Cosplays Siren – @thiswolfienips Persephone – @the_cake_is_good Plague Doctor – @meow.jamie Misa Amane – @blazeitchancos