We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Loren Haar. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Loren below.

Loren, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard.

I am pretty niche in that I use a documentary style with all my client work whether it be families, weddings, events, newborns. My intent is always to capture real moments and interactions instead of posed or stylized shots. That’s why I especially love photographing births — they are so raw and true. I consider all family and newborn sessions and weddings unique so a cookie-cutter approach is just not of interest to me. I try to remain true to each individual, so I never go in with a plan about what I will be photographing; instead, I look for organic, honest moments and I do not interfere with the environment at all. Whether I call it documentary style or family photojournalism or storytelling photography, I differ from most in the industry because so much of what photographers do is pose or position or direct or control the narrative. In addition, many photographers fill their portfolios with stylized shots that they take with models on location. I have never done a styled shoot and never will. I think this makes me unlike most in the industry so I have to really market well to the clients who appreciate my approach.

Loren, 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?

I have been photographing for clients for 10 years now as Lore Photography. I started after learning how to shoot in manual mode on a DSLR — the infinite possibilities for creativity with all the different settings thoroughly intrigued me. We adopted our third child at that time, a baby boy, and he got photographed daily, in every possible way! Starting my business was something I never would have done–never dreamed of doing–but I had gone through cancer treatment with three young children at home and it took me a long time to bounce back so I spent those quite hours learning and studying and growing as a photographer. When I finally started feeling better, friends and family were encouraging me, telling me I had talent, and I felt like I wanted to do something completely adventurous and new with my life after all I had been through. So I started with family mini sessions for friends, but soon moved to weddings, events and births because I have a photojournalistic eye and I didn’t enjoy the lifestyle family sessions after a few years. Then I discovered I could do Day-in-the-Life sessions for families using a documentary approach and I was off and running.
I appeal to unconventional clients who don’t want their photos to look like everyone else’s. Families who work with me are interested in documenting the real deal moments of their lives with young children, even the messy, crazy, chaos of their lives. And my wedding clients are usually DIYers or they are having their wedding at the summer camp they grew up going to or on Halloween at night. Most of my weddings are not at traditional venues and often do not involve a white dress or a big cake. I encourage clients to be themselves, make it their own, and enjoy their time together with their guests instead of posing and being styled all day long.
I have a second business for birth photography which is my absolute favorite type of work — there is nothing more thrilling for me than to capture those once-in-a-lifetime moments when parents first see their new baby. Birth photography is very niche and not for everyone for sure, so it can be tricky booking clients and it’s very demanding because I have to be on call so I’m available to make it to the birth. I have a partner, Emily Storz, in my birth business so we can back each other up when on call so we are sure to provide the best service to our clients. I’m proud of all the work I do because I think it is unique and true and I don’t compromise on my style to book clients. I’m always up for new experiences so I love doing events and concerts. I also do stage and press photography for a few local theaters and arts organizations, so that keeps my calendar full as well.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I spent the early years of my business photographing anything and everything that came my way. I used to do preschool portraits, school sport teams, mini sessions, headshots, lifestyle family sessions at parks, etc. My weddings were standard 8 hour venue-specific events with set schedules and shot lists. Doing so made my business solid and successful in the first 3-4 years — I had made it over the hump, had established a name for myself, but I wasn’t enjoying the work anymore. I needed to pivot my business away from lifestyle and editorial style photography to the more raw, real, honest work I am doing now, which wasn’t easy! I stopped trying to create a soft bokeh look and soften everything. I stopped trying to book every job I could and revamped my website and marketing materials to reflect a documentary approach. I was much more interested in creatively and strategically capturing the essence of moments and of the people in front of my camera, so following my instincts and letting the situation dictate what I photographed, became my intent. The most difficult part was rethinking my responses to client inquiries so that I was making it clear to them my approach and my unwillingness to compromise on that philosophy — in other words, I’m not for everybody. If you like my style and you aren’t looking for ultra stylized, posed, perfect photos but instead are hoping for authentic, emotion-filled, honest imagery, I’m your girl. My goal is always to be open to what is happening in front of me, follow my interest, and work hard to share the essence with my clients. I made that transition successfully and then opened my second business strictly for birth and newborn photography, so my pivot paid off.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

My business partner, Emily Storz, is not only a long time family friend but also a former client. I photographed the birth of her first child in hospital and then they hired me to photograph the birth of their second baby boy at a local birth center with a midwife. In the process of having two boys in rapid succession, and being the amazing mom and person she is, Emily did a ton of research about pregnancy and childbirth and after experiencing her two births she has found a new calling in the birth industry. She has been a family photographer for about 7 years so when my former parter needed to move on, she was a natural choice to partner with. We both are now certified as doulas as well so we offer birth photography + doula support packages.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.venturabirthphotography.com and www.lorephotography.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/venturabirthphotography and www.instagram.com/lorephotographyventura
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/venturabirthphotography and www.facebook.com/lorephotographyventura