We recently connected with Laura Dark and have shared our conversation below.
Laura, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. It’s easy to look at a business or industry as an outsider and assume it’s super profitable – but we’ve seen over and over again in our conversation with folks that most industries have factors that make profitability a challenge. What’s biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?
I think the biggest challenge to profitability in the photography industry is ourselves. The owners, the photographers, afraid to charge what we are worth. A lot of photographers shoot trade for print work, where the model and photographer do a session and no money exchanges hands, which is great for portfolio building, but once you are established, there is no reason to give away sessions and I think a lot of photographers don’t know when to stop. There is also just not charging one’s own worth. Not knowing what their market is and not knowing how to charge and not undercut everyone else but still not price yourself out of the market as well. There’s a fine line, a balancing act, if you will, of too little and too much and I think that scares people out of charging all together sometimes.
Laura, 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 have been shooting conceptual portrait photography for the past 27 years. I started shooting for my High School yearbook and newspaper and got hooked on the process. I attended art college and then apprenticed for 2 years under a local portrait photographer from my hometown. I opened my first brick and mortar studio in 2000 and now own a 3000 sq ft store front.
I am a Certified Professional Photographer through the Professional Photographers of America and I’m working on my Master of Photography Degree through them. I am also a partner studio for Retro Lovely Magazine and a former Fashion and Beauty Editor of Dark Beauty Magazine. I have shot for Gothic Beauty Magazine, Tattoo’d Lifestyle, The New York Optimist, and have had work in the Goth to Gothic Exhibit at the Allentown Museum of Art.
In my studio I shoot mostly women between the ages of 28 and 60. We do shoot some senior photos, but mostly conceptual photography and boudoir. We have a full service boutique studio offering designer wardrobe, accessories, and props. We have a blowout salon in the studio as well offering professional makeup and hair styling as well as a dedicated pose coach to help our clients through their session. We have 6 sets that we rotate out, but we always have 2 boudoir sets, 2 parlor style sets and some kind of seasonal set available as well as a flower wall.
We do travel some for sessions as well. Right now we have sessions set up in Mansfield, Ohio at the Old Reformatory. We are booked for Cincinnati, Ohio at a posh studio for boudoir, and in Lancaster, Ohio at a Victorian farm house that has been converted into a shoot space. We are planning more travel for Summer and Fall as well.
We also shoot with wildlife. We work with the Ohio Canid Center and The Ohio School of Falconry so we can offer our clients a way to shoot with ambassador wolves and raptors. We have been working with OCC for about 10 years and The Ohio School of Falconry for a little over a year now. It’s a great experience for clients and we love getting to be with and shoot with the animals. We hope to be adding more animal experience sessions with different kinds of animals soon.
Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
I wish I would have had more business acumen in the beginning. I didn’t really know what I was doing business wise and it cost me a lot. I had people scrambling to shoot with me, but I was GROSSLY undercharging, overpaying in sales taxes, overpaying in rent and overhead, and going into debt instead of turning a profit. I was a artist and not a business person and it showed badly. I took some classes about photography business from CreativeLive.com and they helped me tremendously. I wish I had taken them before ever trying to open a studio. I was able to get things turned around and before I knew it my brand was pulling six figures a year.
Have you ever had to pivot?
When I got divorced from my ex-husband I basically sold everything I had including my studio and started over from scratch in a new city. It was for sure a big challenge. Most photographers need word of mouth to get started, luckily I was in a big city and I knew a lot of people here and was able to start back pretty quickly. I know not everyone can do that. I was very grateful to all of those people who came and shot with me in my one bedroom apartment until I was able to afford another space. It took me about 3 years to rebuild.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.lauradark.net
- Instagram: @lauradarkphoto
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/lauradarkphotography
- Other: https://g.page/r/CT2J1SQqsNPmEB0/review
Image Credits
Robyn Randall Odette Despairr Tily Brako Jamie Gantt Gerrie Paino Kat Livingston On Call Artistry Makeup Vamp