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

Alright, Laura thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love for you to start by sharing your thoughts about the pros and cons of family businesses
My business name is MY name but it seriously is a family business. It would not be what it is today without my family’s sacrifices and support. YES, I do ALL the work, but I wouldn’t be possible to accomplish this without my husband. He works full time, comes home and takes over, then it is work mode for me. What does work mode mean for me? I usually have to leave the house and go to a coffee shop to get on my laptop. Of all the years of being a photographer it has been hard for me to be able to stay home and edit etc. Most of the time I let the house chores consume me and can’t get much work done.

We have an 11 year old and and I appreciate her so much for being extremely understanding with my crazy schedule. Especially during mommy’s busiest times of the year, it makes doing what I do a lot easier. We also have a toddler as well, and most of you know this age is quite challenging! I will be quite honest there are times it is extremely difficult to get on my laptop most days OR even leave the house. But my husband is great at kicking me out sometimes LOL! I have to also acknowledge my sisters, in-laws and my parents have lent a helping hand when it comes to caring for our girls when the hubby can’t due to work; while I either go edit, shoot or travel for photography sessions. It seriously has taken a village to grow this business.

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 am a photographer who absolutely loves and has a passion for what I do. I have never worked so hard to perfect my craft. I have attended conferences/ workshops and self taught myself on how to photograph my subjects. I have been able to use the sun and natural light around my clients to capture the most perfect of images that highlight their beauty and the moment. As a creative, you are your worst critic. Lately, I have been obsessed with my editing style. I want people to look at an image and know it was taken by ME! Warmth, enhancing of colors and skin tones are vital in my images. Having lost family members near and dear to my heart last year. I have been looking back at images focusing on their skin tone. I know we all love filters this day in age. I know I am guilty of it myself. BUT I just want to look back at these images and know THIS is how they looked when they were still here and THIS is how I want to remember them for the rest of my life. I hope that makes sense, I just feel our skin tone is who we are and should be preserved in images forever.

I provide services for all types of photography family, senior portraits, newborn, maternity, boudoir, wedding, engagement, milestones and commercial as well as other types of photography. If I have a specialty it is newborn and maternity shoots. I am known for those and most of my acclaim is from these shoots. I am most proud that I have a successful photography company that I believe provides excellent service to all of my clients despite me being the only employee. The returning clients and referrals makes me feel blessed and proud. I think what sets me apart is that I cater my shoots to my clients. It’s more than just showing up to take pictures. I build relationships with my clients to find out who they are and then customize the shoot from clothing, location etc. to reveal who they are. I want every shoot to be different than others rather than doing the same thing for every client. Each client deserves to be treated differently.

My path has definitely included adversity and several bumps along the way. Learning what my value is and being confident that people would be willing to pay was a struggle. The time commitment that took away from my family. The financial ups and downs starting out of not knowing how much money I would make from week to week and month to month. My husband has a career but we still need my income to live our life. The fear of not being able to contribute to our family motivates me. Branding and rebranding. I could talk about struggles all day but every one of them has made me better and stronger.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
When I started my photography journey. I would be online for hours looking at the most amazing photographs. Seeing so many photographers being recognized for their phenomenal work and looking at mine and thinking there was NO WAY I’d ever get there. Over the years, a lot of my work has gone viral. I have won several awards and earned many accolades . I am dumbfounded and truly humbled each and every time! I STILL feel I can grow as a photographer and there is so much more I want to learn. But I have come so far from where I started and I can’t help but be proud of everything I have accomplished over the years. I have even included a little before and after so you all can see. We all start somewhere! I am not done yet! There is so much more I want to achieve.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
Most of my clients/ followers know I had a miracle baby last year. Yes, our little pandemic baby, our blessing. Being pregnant/ having a baby and dealing with these covid times has definitely affected my business. My online presence has not been the greatest. It has been extremely difficult to balance this new mommy life and being an owner/ photographer of my business. I want to EMBRACE every second with my baby. Especially knowing she has been an unexpected gift to us. But I also, don’t want to leave my business in the back burner. Most of my clients will message me and ask if I am still shooting because they haven’t seen me post much. Which, I AM! I have been working a lot thankfully, but posting has not been a main priority , sadly. I have to dedicate my time between family /new baby (which now she’s a toddler LOL) editing, emails and all the 1 million things that entail with having your own business. Social media is so time consuming to me because I just can’t post images. I LOVE to write , I like to include something behind these images people see. Don’t get me wrong there are times where I just keep it short and sweet but most of them time I do prefer to story tell . I promise I will get it together soon! I have so many wonderful images to share! I want to share with the world!

Also, now with a baby, I am not as available as I used to be. Now, I have to work around the hubby’s demanding schedule as well as mine to make certain dates work for BOTH of us in order to book sessions. Which, now if clients want to to book a session , they would have to plan early on. I dislike turning people away due to being booked out.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.lgordillophoto.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/lauragordillophotography
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/lgordillophoto

Image Credits
My head shot taken by Anna Marisol Photography