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

Laura, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Being a business owner can be really hard sometimes. It’s rewarding, but most business owners we’ve spoken sometimes think about what it would have been like to have had a regular job instead. Have you ever wondered that yourself? Maybe you can talk to us about a time when you felt this way?

Sometimes when I wake up in a different part of the world after being flown from Miami to capture someone’s proposal or wedding. After I’ve grabbed my camera and strolled over to meet a couple on the happiest day of their lives, I wonder — what would I be doing if I wasn’t doing this.

I think back to when I was in college, stumbling through classes, trying to figure out what I wanted to do.

I was always driven by excitement, change, and making connections with people. I was drawn to creativity but wasn’t sure how I’d make that into a career.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I dabbled in photography for as long as I can remember (Isn’t that what they all say?) With a disposable camera at 6 years old I’d compose photographs of my parents on holidays where we would travel from England to neighboring countries. My Dad proudly posts photos I took as a child on Facebook (would he still do that even if I hadn’t become a professional photographer? Probably.)

When my husband and I got married 10 years ago at 21 years old he bought me a camera and a couple of lenses. I started taking photos for various brands who then hired me to shoot their new products. After realizing I preferred to be with people, I began taking photos of families. At that time posed photography was a big deal. The photos, smiles and bowties needed to be perfect. Even if they were forced and photoshopped.

I realized this at a time in my life where I was desperately trying bottle up these sweet and genuine moments of our children being babies and our early years of marriage, and I knew I wanted to capture authenticity above all.

I knew it wouldn’t be an easy feat because it’s not often families feel relaxed and natural in front of a camera. But I had the drive and young optimism that I’d make family photos as relaxed as possible, so we would then ultimately walk away with real happy memories captured.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

With this goal of capturing authenticity in mind, I knew I would need to connect with my clients on a deeper level than just a photographer/client relationship. I wanted anyone in front of my camera to feel like we’d known each other for years. Now, the amount of times I’ve left a session and wedding with hugs and “I just feel like we’ve been friends forever” is too many to count.

I’m an empath through and through and I try to tap into that to help take the photoshoot in the direction I feel you want it to. We’ve had tears many times as couples open up to each other, and endless laughs where kids are playing with their parents where they’re receptive to smiling because they’re genuinely happy without being forced to “say cheese.”

As a storytelling wedding photographer I always aim to make sure I’m capturing the real story of your wedding. It’s your wedding, not my photoshoot.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

They teach you all these photography rules. The rule of thirds, keep the horizon straight, don’t underexpose, don’t overexpose, don’t cut off limbs, keep symmetry, toss blurry photos, fill the frame, keep the light even, don’t let shadows cover details, chin down, eyes wide.

One of my favorite quotes by Pablo Picasso is “Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.” (Funny little anecdote: my Grandma’s first cousin was a dear friend of Picasso’s as they spent time in Paris painting together.)

I started realizing that all these rules were like handcuffs. You want to fit in a little box of perfect photographs with perfectly posed shots. Great. I promise you we will get some of those. Those are the ones I know the parents want for the mantle. But I want to get you those running across the beach shots, the ones where you’re laughing so hard because you kicked a wave and the focus went off because the droplets flew in front of my lens. I don’t want us to be handcuffed by the “rules of art”. What a silly paradox. I don’t want to rob you of the moment when you look back at your photos and remember how you felt that day.

Enjoy a small collection of some broken rules in these photos.

Contact Info:

• Website: [email protected]
• Instagram: instagram.com/laurapalaciosphot
• Facebook: facebook.com/laurapalaciosphoto
• Other: tiktok: laurapalaciosphoto

Image Credits
Laura Palacios Photography