We recently connected with Lily Fischer and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Lily, thanks for joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
I started to work on my business in May of 2020. I was fresh out of high school, the pandemic was in full effect, and I had no idea where to start when it came to building my portfolio. I had watched so many videos about how to work with a camera and how to pose people, but I needed to test everything I learned on real people.
It was slow at first, and I was taking every session opportunity that came my way, but I wanted to do something more. I wanted to be able to practice with my camera and build my portfolio without the pressure of everything being perfect. I was also pretty shy and quiet, so I wanted to branch out, meet new people, and gain that social aspect that I needed. After a few months of figuring out what I should do, Model Crew was born.
Model Crew is a representative team that I started, and it was the perfect solution for me wanting to grow. It helped me meet new people, build my portfolio, get my name out there, build my self-confidence, and practice my photography without feeling so pressured to be perfect. I had six girls on Model Crew my first year, and I just did singular portrait sessions with each of them. It was so much fun, and I loved it! It was laid back, I could try new things, and I met some wonderful girls through it. I was building my portfolio and business, and I felt like I was on the right track!
Since then, Model Crew has been something I continue to do each year. However, Model Crew has grown into so much more than it was when I first started it. I still do it to get my name out there, meet new people, and add to my portfolio, but I do it now to let my creative side flow more. I plan a list of different fun, creative sessions I want to do for the year, pick ten girls who I believe are a good fit to represent me, and have the best year ever! I incorporate fun group and individual sessions where I can try out new posing and put my creative twist on it, while still capturing some beautiful portraits. I still feel as though there’s a lot less pressure and allows me to try out anything and everything!
More importantly, I love to meet my Model Crew representatives each year! I love to build new relationships with each of them, watch them interact, and watch them create friendships with each other. I also love watching their confidence grow, their smiles grow, and their beauty shine throughout the year. I make it a point to make sure to show them throughout the year just how beautiful and amazing they are and they deserve to be shown off to the world. They have hearts of gold, and I will never have the words to express how grateful I am for each group, every year. Their continuous support, kindness, and love are some of the many reasons why it’s one of my favorite things to look forward to throughout the year, and why I continue to do it each year!
Model Crew has helped me grow tremendously in all aspects. It has helped my business grow, my skills strengthen, and become more confident in my art. It has helped me grow as a person, helped me become more outgoing so I can better serve my clients, and become proud of the fact that I created something so uplifting and beautiful!
Lily, 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 name is Lily Fischer, and I am the owner of Lily Marie Photography LLC! I am a Northeast Nebraska-based photographer who loves to travel, and I specialize in senior, wedding, couple, and family photography! I’m a lover of all things fall, will always stop to take a picture of the sunset, and I’m always laughing at my jokes. When I’m not behind the camera or editing, you can often find me sipping on some sort of caffeinated drink, planning my next vacation or trip, or spending time with my dog, boyfriend, and friends!
Growing up, I never really knew what I wanted to be when I got older. I thought about so many different things I could do, but none of them ever really felt right. However, one thing that always piqued my interest, was art. Throughout my years of growing up, I tried everything available to me through my schools or on my own time: Drawing, painting, and pottery. I loved doing those activities, but none of them felt like me. They didn’t feel like something I could pursue as my career. Then one year in high school, I took a yearbook class and that’s where it all started! After capturing many school events for our high school’s yearbook, I realized that photography is just as much considered an art as painting, drawing, pottery, and many other mediums of art. It felt like me and it was something I could see myself doing for a long time!
Upon graduating high school in 2020, I received my very own camera, a Nikon D3500, as a graduation gift from my grandparents and got straight to work. I watched countless videos on YouTube learning about my camera and researched how to get started with photography. When I felt comfortable enough, I started to practice with real people, build my portfolio, and continue to learn more about my camera. I made my friends model for me so I could get a feel for everything and post my photos on Instagram. Then, I slowly had people reach out to me about sessions and eventually started my own promotion team, Model Crew! I captured anything and everything I could to get a feel for what areas in photography I loved most, practice in different lighting scenarios, and niche down what I wanted to capture!
Fast forward almost four years later and a move to a new town, I have learned, grown, and achieved so much more than I ever thought I would when I started my photography journey. I have captured some of the most precious memories in people’s lives, had opportunities to work with photographers I’ve looked up to, met other amazing, talented photographers, and had some of the most fun I’ve ever had! I’ve been able to travel to some beautiful places across Nebraska and capture the most down-to-earth people. 2023 was also my first year of taking on multiple weddings of my own, which is something I’ve wanted to do since I started my photography business, and it’s been a dream! Destination weddings are next on my list to get into because I would love to travel to the beautiful places this world has to offer and capture someone’s love story!
I often get asked out of everything I capture, seniors, couples, weddings, and families, which is my favorite. My answer is that I love each of them for different reasons, and it’s true! I love capturing senior portraits because I love to learn about each one, what activities they’re involved in, what their goals and plans are for the future, and capturing such a huge milestone in their life. I love capturing couples because there’s just something so heartwarming about watching two humans interact and seeing their love for each other radiate in person and through images. I love capturing weddings because each one is unique, beautiful, and special to each couple in its own way. I love capturing families because it’s beautiful to see the generations and how much love surrounds and is poured into each family. Each category I capture is special and beautiful in its own way, but I love capturing them all!
When it comes to serving my clients, it’s my goal to serve them the way that I would want a photographer to serve me. I know that it can be nerve-wracking or feel awkward stepping in front of any camera, so I do everything I can to make everyone feel comfortable and have fun! I let everyone who I capture know that if they keep an open mind and just be themselves, it will show in their photos! I find that incorporating movement and prompts into my posing helps to get people to feel more relaxed and not look stiff. Something else I do is talk to them and hype them up! I talk to them like we’re long-lost best friends, get to know them, make them laugh, and let them know that they are doing an amazing job. I even show them the back of my camera so they can see how wonderful they look! I do all of this with every session I do, and these things help my clients relax and be themselves. When my clients are comfortable and trust me, their finished gallery is full of a mix of beautifully posed and fun candid images!
My goal for each gallery is for it to feel fun, candid, unique, and luxurious. I want to be able to feel all of the emotions through the photos! I pay attention to everything, whether it be what makes my senior giggle, a sweet exchange between a mother and bride on her wedding day, or the ways that my couples interact with each other while we’re walking to a location. Those are the moments that I love to capture and include in galleries, because of the emotions that flow through those images. Little things like that are what make each client gallery unique! Moments like those happen when my clients are comfortable, and fully themselves, and it’s what makes the gallery of their dreams, or Pinterest board, come to life!
Truthfully, I am always my clients’ biggest fan and cheerleader from day one. I’m there to help them with anything and everything when it comes to planning their session or wedding day. I help prepare them for their day by sending them a guide with what to expect, outfit and location inspiration, and the entire process of what it’s like working with me. I make sure to set up phone calls, so we can get to know each other, talk about what their vision is and what their ideas are, and answer any questions they have! Behind the scenes, I’m planning how I’m going to make their ideas come to life! I always go into each session with an open mind, ready to create some beautiful art, and make sure that my clients have a memorable, fun experience! Then, I make sure that each image is perfect, and I deliver a beautiful gallery for them to have forever.
At the end of the day, my clients aren’t just clients to me; they are my newest friends and biggest supporters. Photography isn’t just a job for me either; it’s everything, and it’s art. My slogan is “Making Moments Last Forever” and that’s what I do. I take a lot of pride in what I do and ensure that I can provide the best service in every way that I can. It has its challenges for sure, as many careers do, but every challenge is worth overcoming. I’m always open-minded, eager to try new things, and proud of everything that I do and accomplish. There are so many goals I have set for myself that I know I can achieve, and so many goals that I had set that I did achieve. I like to be able to look at galleries or leave a session and think “I did that!”. I’m so grateful for every opportunity and person that has come my way due to photography. Photography has helped shape me into the person I am today, and I will be forever grateful for it.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The most rewarding aspect of being a photographer is hands down the people who support me. It’s my family, boyfriend, friends, returning clients, new clients, someone who follows my social media pages, other creatives, someone who offers to let me use their property as a location, or anyone between and beyond! Those are the people who keep me going. It’s the continuous support and outpouring of love that helps me keep my head high and allows me to continue to do what I love!
It’s so rewarding to capture such precious moments for other people. It’s a loving feeling to get texts from clients about how much they love their gallery or write a review raving about their experience with me. It’s heartwarming to get texts or get told by someone in person how much they love what I do and are cheering me on every step of the way. It’s an amazing feeling having someone reach out to me about capturing them or telling me I was referred to them by a past client.
There are not enough words to describe how grateful I am to have such an amazing support system behind me. They push me to always do my best and work hard. Without them, I wouldn’t be able to do what I do and it’s the most rewarding feeling knowing that I have the best support system!
Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
When I started my business, I had barely a clue what I was doing. I watched tons of videos and Googled a lot of things to educate myself, but there are so many things I know now that I wish I had known back then. Two big resources that I wish I had known about when I first started are the creative community and Facebook Groups relating to photography.
I never really knew how supportive and helpful the photography community is, especially in my area. At first, I was scared to reach out to other photographers, for fear of being shut down or ignored. I thought that the photography community would be very competitive, but I eventually realized that it’s just one big, supportive community! I’ve been so fortunate to meet, work with, and learn from photographers I’ve admired over the years. They’ve been so uplifting and encouraging, and I’m never afraid to ask them for help. That’s something that I love and also try to give back to the photography community by helping others in any way that I can!
Facebook Groups are another resource I wish I had known about when I first started my creative journey. I wasn’t a huge Facebook user until about a year ago, but I have found so many photography groups on there that I love! These groups are full of photographers from all over the country, even the world, giving tips and advice, showing off their work, and so much more. These groups can be so helpful when it comes to pretty much everything and anything you may have a question about or want opinions on. These groups are also a great way to connect and possibly work with other photographers either in your area or if you want to travel! They can be so supportive and cheer you on from all corners of the globe!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://lilymariephotographyne.mypixieset.com/
- Instagram: @lilymariephotographyne
- Facebook: Lily Marie Photography LLC.