We were lucky to catch up with Leah Gunn Emerick recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Leah, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on to date is my Beauty Has No Age project. It’s an ongoing photography collection of women over 40 embracing who they are and creating heirloom portraits capturing what makes them ‘them’.
The project really came about for three different reasons:

1.) DIGITAL DECAY
Over the past decade plus of being a photographer, it has become apparent that thanks to smart phones we have more photos that ever. The thing is, we have fewer photos that matter and fewer still that we would want to pass on to future generations to be remembered by.
From my perspective as a portrait photographer, it truly feels like we are going to lose huge chunks of our personal history because it all lives on a cloud. As someone who is passionate about printed photos and heirloom media, I knew I had to do something.

2.) PERSONAL MEANING
I have beautiful portraits of my grandmothers from the era where you got dressed up, went to a photo studio, and had your portrait taken. My grandmothers are with Jesus now, but I still have those portraits. Every time I see them I am reminded of who I am, people who have loved me, and where I come from. I want to make sure the next generation has this as well.

3.) WOMEN NEVER STOP BEING BEAUTIFUL
As a woman about to turn 40, I feel like society expects me to become invisible.
I, personally, think that is nonsense. As someone who has been around the block a few times now, I feel that I finally have something valuable to offer! I’m not expiring, I’m THRIVING!

All three of those reasons are why I decided to create my Beauty Has No Age project.
The idea is to showcase 50 women, all over 40, over the course of the year create timeless portraits they can treasure AND highlight that Beauty Has No Age.

The project itself is running in one year cycles. 2025 was our inaugural year and culminated in a one-day showcase of the photos at The Luxe Event Space on this historic Independence Square. It featured the help of several amazing women owned businesses including Molotov Mobile Events KC, Jalyn Catering, OPT Foods, and Cali Grace Events to create a fun afternoon. On top of that, the event raised over $2,000 for the Rose Brooks Center supporting survivors of domestic violence.

My studio is continuing this project into 2026 for a new class of brave beauties. Our goal is to continue to prove that Beauty Has No Age and continue to raise funds to combat domestic violence.

Leah, 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?

Hey! I’m Leah, owner of LGEmerick Photography and Brave Boss Babe Boudoir.
I got my start as a portrait photographer completely on accident.

In 2010 I graduated college with a degree in accounting and fully intended to pursue a career in business or maybe even with the IRS as I excelled in my tax law classes. I’d paid my own way through college through working full time and maintaining scholarships. So after years of pinching pennies, I decided to treat myself. I always liked taking pictures. So a few months after graduation, I’d saved enough to gift myself a very basic DSLR camera with a kit lens (Nikon D3000 with a 18-55mm for the nerds).

Then in 2011, I married the love of my life and moved to Los Angeles.

In Los Angeles I got a job as a nanny for a high power family that had me working 50+ hour weeks where Sunday was my only day off. At the time, my husband was working overnight weekends. So he slept all day on Sunday and we had a 400 square foot apartment. Obviously I couldn’t be in our tiny apartment while he slept because I am a fundamentally loud person.

That led to trying to find reasons to not be in the apartment while being:
1.) New to a big city where I didn’t know anyone
2.) Broke as a joke

So I grabbed that camera I’d bought the year before and started taking photo hikes.

It was a fun reason to explore this place I didn’t know and entertain myself before I was able to build a real community there. As I started regularly using my camera, I realized that there was so much I could do, but I had no idea how. It heighten my curiosity. My camera, while basic, was powerful and I knew that. I just didn’t know what to do with that potential power.

So January 1, 2012 I committed to a 365 project to start learning how to harness that power.

The rules of a 365 project is simple: You must take a every day for 365 days.

I added the extra element of difficulty that I had to be featured in the photo in some way and I couldn’t just look at the camera and smile. I had to be in it in some creative way. On top of that, I added the rule that I had to only use the camera in manual mode so I could learn about exposure, light, shutter speed, ISO… all those nerdy camera settings that felt like Greek to me. I had no idea that committing to that project was going to give me my career.

By the end of the year I had learned that photography was so much more than just taking pictures. It was an art that told stories and healed and celebrated. So I started photographing everything and anything I could involving people, taking classes, investing all the money I made doing odd jobs into getting better gear… it became an obsession.

Then, over time, it went from being something I did for fun, to being my full time gig.

And at the end of the day, I think what sets me and my photography business apart is that tenacious creativity that pushed me to create unique self portraits every day for year.

I literally started with nothing but a camera and pure grit. I didn’t even have a tripod! On top of that, I had to face my own fear of being in front of the camera.

No part of me knew what to do or how to pose or where my hands should be. I’d take anywhere between 50-500 photos of myself praying something would be usable. That often looked like frantic running back and forth to hit the shutter on a timer or a remote release and praying it was in focus. As I did this day after day after day after day, I started to pick up on posing technique and what light was flattering. I figured out what angles were working and what weren’t.

Being both behind and in front of the camera really changed how I view photographing other people.

I learned how what you think looks good in front the camera can be so wrong.
I learned that being photogenic is an art. You can be the prettiest person in the world can still take crud photos. It’s so much more than that!

I learned that you really have to know your settings to make sure you get what you want.

On top of that, I learned how crazy it is to look at a hundred pictures of yourself, no matter the context.
Photography is intimate and nerve wracking.
This project helpful me understand just how crazy it can feel to be photographed and that is something I carry with me. I have looked at thousands of photos of myself, and through that I have learned how to show grace to how I show up in pictures. There were days where I set up my camera on a tripod somewhere in Los Angeles, wearing a prom dress, and ran back and forth like mad trying to get anything that might work. There was more than one day where I didn’t want to look at the pictures because I was so discouraged when things didn’t work out the way I wanted.

Through all that, I built a compassion for people who get in front of my camera.

It’s weird. It’s weird to have your picture taken. It isn’t normal. But because I’ve put myself in front of the camera again and again and again, I get it. And I try my best to bring that understanding to every photoshoot I have.

On top of that, I know how to run a business. My decade plus in a competitive industry shows that.

I have practices and systems in place that make shooting with me as simple as possible. I always say ‘life is difficult, getting your picture taken shouldn’t be’.

While I adore photographing live events like galas, birthday parties, and weddings, my main focus creating timeless portraits for women. This can be a small business owner who needs incredible branding and headshots or heirloom portraits they can pass on for generations, it is all about capturing that unique spark in each woman that steps in front of my camera.

Often I tell my subjects is that we are on the same team. They want photos that show off what makes them special, and I want that too. All I want is my client to feel heard, seen, accepted, and showcased in a way that makes them excited to share all about it!

My clients often become friends. They are truly taken care of and considered as singular individuals, not just another tic in the photographer’s tally sheet.

And that is because I genuinely care.
I get to know everyone before they step in front of my camera. We chat and joke around. There is efficiency, but more importantly there is fun!

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

I know this is cliche, but in a service based industry you have to be yourself. If you try to be like everyone else and chase every new trend, you will never build a loyal base.

Consistency and clarity are what build loyal clients. Part of a portrait experience is interacting with the photographer and if you don’t know anything about that photographer’s vibe before you book, you probably won’t book them.

Show up. Be real. Don’t stop.

And on the note of being real, if you don’t know what that looks like… start with therapy. Do some self exploration and figure out what your principles and ideals are. For me and my business that is: radical kindness, drama-free community, and genuine generosity.

If the moves I’m making in my space don’t jive with those tenets, then I know I’m not going to pursue them. But you have to know that about yourself before you can convey that message to your clientele.

So if you’re lacking clarity, take the steps to find it.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

So I have an unpopular opinion on this.

Genuinely, so many of the books out there are all the same. Especially the mindset books that are all like “I manifested this”. You know the ones… they typically have ‘tastefully’ camouflaged profanity in the title. They may be motivating, but they aren’t helpful in a practical sense.

Sure, have a positive outlook, but you need solid business practices behind them to bring them to reality. Like you can purchase a brand new car for $100,000 and say you can going to pay it off in a year from your profits, but you pull $500 a month in revenue positive thinking isn’t going to make those car payments.

So a big recommendation I have is DON’T read most of the mainstream ‘be successful’ books as they don’t actually teach you strategy. They grift you out of $29.99 and take up time you could be using to mater practical things like SEO, AI search optimization, client appreciation, your website messaging, creating canned emails so you can speed up your response time to inquiries… real things that actually change your business and give you REAL confidence.

My main suggestion is pay attention to where you procrastinate (e.g. bookkeeping, social media posting, google ads, etc.) and either figure out if you want to learn how to do it or if you want to outsource it so you can create revenue in the space you excel. Identify places you can invest in implementable strategies that make these things less intimidating or find people who are successful in your specific field that can lay out a roadmap you can learn from.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lgemerick.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lgemerick/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LGEmerickPhotography
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leah-gunn-emerick-b8586926b/

Image Credits

LGEmerick Photography (they are all mine)