We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ludwig Alberty a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Ludwig, thanks for joining us today. Going back to the beginning – how did you come up with the idea in the first place?
After seeing that my photographs were mentioned and credited with awards and honors, I decided to make my hobby something that anyone who wanted the opportunity to be photographed would have access to my services, that’s when I started to organize and come up with my photography business. I didn’t really know what branch of photography I was going to dedicate and focus on, I was playing around with a couple different ideas until portraits found me; giving people a memory of a special moment in a physical sense really spoke to me. I began to look for how to give it my own personal touch, I wanted them to look dramatic as if it were a painting rather than just a photograph by altering them to fit my sought-after look. After mastering and achieving the desired aspect of my craft, I then began to prepare everything pertaining to the business; contracts, model releases, client – photographer authorizations, etc. One thing I decided to do was all the marketing and advertising myself, leading to me having total creative control of what I wanted, how I wanted it and also reduce costs in the long run. Success or failure is marked and directed by what you think and do, so my focus has always been on success which is why I always knew there was no doubt about my own personal and professional triumph. Photography is a very emotional profession since emotions increase from the moment you have the idea, capture the image, and prepare the final product. To have control of a camera and what you choose to do with it, can be full of expression and emotion.
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
Ludwig Alberty Photography is a business dedicated to portray the people beauty into a photograph. We dedicate our creativity and professionalism to satisfy our customer’s needs. Our business is to make you feel part of the family and feeling comfortable while we guide you through the process of a photography session or when we are selling you a piece of art. My business is proud to be a bilingual business where we speak both English and Spanish, making it an opportunity to reach a larger audience.
Our business brand is committed to make you feel like family, making our interaction more of a family meeting rather than a business meeting. We dedicate our experience to fit your budget into the piece of art or service that you deserve. We look for a long relationship rather than just a sale.
Our services are: Painterly Portraits, Family Portraits, Headshots. In our first meeting, we will discuss everything you need to know before you make your decision, price, products, process, contract, etc. We don’t charge anything for our meeting and everything will get written on the contract.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
In my branch of photography, you have the opportunity to play God. As a photographer, you can handle all the variables and distort them to your liking, put and create your own point of view into the final design-there are no limits. Due to this logic, it can be used to make a person’s dream come true; that little girl who has always dreamed of being a princess, that young man who wants to be a rock star, that lady who has always wanted to fix something regarding their vanity. There are no limits, it can be as real as you want or as imaginative as you want, the most rewarding thing is that you can deliver a product equal to or much better than what the customer expects. Each client brings a different experience which brings different lessons, this gives you the potential to add something new to your work: a win-win situation. Even when things don’t always turn out the way you imagine them to, you learn from it by improving or eliminating something from your work. I think that’s the most rewarding of all creativity, having the freedom to make yours or the clients imagination become reality even if it’s just for a small fraction of time while also gaining new opportunities which will continue to come, that’s what it’s all about.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
* People who don’t thrive in the creative world tend to look down on work. They see the final product, they like it, it excites them but they don’t see the value of investing money. They don’t see the costs associated with this end product, they don’t understand the hours it took to get to said product, and they don’t recognize the monetary investment in it. For example, non-photographers see this as something that can be achieved with an iPhone camera; they see the photo as such but they don’t see the resources used to get there, the amount of time invested in each photo, the creative stagnation that occurs after spending a certain amount of time taking the photo, editing, and creating the product. Photography, like other professions, takes a process of education, practice, investment, etc. Everything takes time and money. Just because they see the final product as something that is captured on a computer, paper, or chart doesn’t mean that it appeared out of nowhere or without any effort. I believe that the creative profession must be taken into account like any other profession, it must be understood and valued. The creative must educate the clients so that they understand the process and fall in love with the product as a set of facts, emotions and necessary investments just as the creative perceives it. If they see what we see and we are on the same page, then it is very possible that the client will enjoy the product in the same sense as the creative.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ludwigalberty.com
- Instagram: @ludwigalbertyphotography
Image Credits
Ludwig Alberty Photography