We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kelly Simmons a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Kelly thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. One of our favorite things to brainstorm about with friends who’ve built something entrepreneurial is what they would do differently if they were to start over today. Surely, there are things you’ve learned that would allow you to do it over faster, more efficiently. We’d love to hear how you would go about setting things up if you were starting over today, knowing everything that you already know.

When I began as a photographer, I was in high school. I loved it, but completely treated it as a hobby. It was fun, it was interesting, but I never thought it was something I would pursue in the future. Then, once I went to college, I majored in Visual Communication and Design, which included photography, but I spread myself thinner by focusing equally on all parts of the major, including Graphic Design and Web Design. This did help me become a little more well-rounded in my business abilities, including designing my own logo (as well as others’ logos), creating my own website, and working as a social media manager. Unfortunately, it also caused me to just try to do too much, and I didn’t focus as much as I could have on my photography and learning more. I believe I would have gotten much further, much more quickly, as far as my wedding and product photography, if I had just focused on the photography side of my work. I do love that I am able to do lots of different things, but before the last 10 years or so, I was more of a jack of all trades, master of none. Following the birth of my daughter, I chose to focus my efforts on photography, learning more techniques, taking more classes, and simply working more within the photography field rather than working within all of the digital arts equally.

Kelly, 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?

My interest in photography began as a Freshman in high school. I was placed in a yearbook photography class at the last minute, due to a scheduling issue. It was a class I hadn’t chosen, but it was one of the only ones open at the time. Through that first semester at 14 years old, I discovered a love for sports photography and photojournalism. I worked throughout the 4 years of high school photographing events for the yearbook, as well as many sporting events, particularly football.

When I went to college, I majored in Visual Communication, which included photography, but I wasn’t sure that I was going to be able to make a career as a photographer. Throughout college, I explored portraiture, landscape, macro, and journalistic photography. I worked in a dark room, as well as with digital photography, and took photos for our school’s newspaper and website.

After leaving college, I always worked some sort of job, and practiced photography on the side. Those jobs ranged from food and bev to retail, as well as social media, graphic design, and marketing jobs. About two years ago, during the pandemic, I stopped working my non-art jobs and stuck strictly to photography and marketing.

I am now a full-time wedding, portrait, and product photographer. I focus on a more journalistic and candid style of portrait and wedding photography, and photograph products with the style social media marketing background. I love the types of photos that capture a real moment, rather than the more posed style. While I can direct clients, and am happy to provide advice, I feel like the best photographs capture genuine interactions and real moments between couples and families.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Charleston, SC is flooded with photographers. There are those who are just starting out, or who may be hobbyists just enjoying the craft, and there are professionals with decades of experience in the field. It can be difficult to build a client base with marketing and social media alone. The best way to build a reputation is by past client referrals and recommendations. At one point, I did try offering an incentive for referrals, but it really only got me so far. What I have learned is that if I provide an excellent service and deliver an excellent product, when I mention that social media tags/referrals/ratings/etc help me out and that I would love reviews, my past clients are more than happy to share my name and work with family and friends. I have built a list of repeat clients, whom I have photographed for as many as 10+ years at this point. When I get a new wedding client, I am asked by the same couple to photograph an anniversary session, family portraits, or Christmas card photos. Seeing my business name or my logo on a person’s page more than once will give future potential clients the incentive to call/email me about setting up their own session. I also aim to be as up front with all expectations and pricing as possible. My pricing is available online on my website, which is not what happens often in this industry. My clients know what they are getting, what it will cost them, and overall what to expect, which builds trust and brings them back in the future.

How did you build your audience on social media?

While my social media audience isn’t massive, it is full of people who genuinely like the services I provide and engage with my posts. Honestly, this is the most important thing, in my opinion. You can get all kinds of followers using contests where the person has to “like” or “follow” your page to be eligible for a drawing, and I have tried those in the past. However, the number of followers means nothing if they don’t interact with your posts, share your photos, or watch your videos. If your page has thousands of followers, but each post gets two likes, you know your followers aren’t engaging. My advice would be to encourage clients to follow/like pages and posts. When clients who are legitimate fans of your work begin following you, they are more likely to comment on and share your posts. When that happens, those clients’ friends will begin to see your posts in their feeds, and are more likely to also engage as they see that a real person that they know is posting it, not just a paid ad or a contest.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.pbkpix.com
• Instagram: @pbkpix
• Facebook: @pbkpix
• Linkedin: @pbkpix
• Twitter: @pbkpix

Image Credits
Photo of me was taken by Shannon Rae all other photos taken by myself