We were lucky to catch up with Lynsie Ochoa recently and have shared our conversation below.

Lynsie , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I have had an interest in and have been continually learning photography since I was a teenager but I did not take it seriously until 2018 when my son was born. My spouse gave me a professional quality camera for Christmas in 2017 and I started tinkering around with it immediately. In 2020 I started taking classes online with the Nikon School and a few YouTube tutorials to learn the basics. With a ton of practice with my son I started feeling more and more confident ad started taking paid clients for Christmas that year. In many ways that was baptism by fire as I had no idea how to properly edit photos and I was learning composition and posing still, but I was super busy that year with clients as I was on the lower end of the payment scale and I was offering Christmas photos with a 1954 Chevy pickup. Although I knew I needed to learn a lot, I did not get discouraged and instead dove deep into educating myself further and continuing to practice taking model calls. I took classes from Kelly Brown and Ana Brandt on CreativeLive throughout 2021 learning as much as I could about Newborn and Maternity Photography as I found I loved that niche. I also took classes from Sue Bryce.
In January 2022 I joined the MilkyWay online retreats for both Newborn and Family Photography. I joined the Appleseed Photography education group and I took a mentorship in the fall that year with Ana Brandt which was amazing getting some hands on experience with one of the bests in the business. After I finished the mentorship I immediately signed up for the Education Group with Hello Little which was one of the best investments I’ve made to this day. Whenever I have a newborn session come in I watch and rewatch many of their tutorial videos and it has made my life so much better and helps immensely.
I still have a lot to learn and my art is constantly evolving and improving. My hope is to soon take another mentorship with Ana Brandt and also a maternity mentorship with Kelsey Freeman.
I feel the most essential skills I learned was proper light placement for newborns and safe posing.
My only obstacle is the price of many of these mentorships make it hard for me to afford to do the ones I really want to do. I continue to save what I can and hope to soon be able to join one.

Lynsie , 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 Lynsie and I am the gal behind the lens at WillowTree Photo in Isanti, MN. I got into the photography industry in 2020 starting as a family and mini session photographer and have since evolved into a Maternity and Newborn photographer. I still offer family and mini sessions along with milestone sessions, cake smash sessions, and senior photography. What sets me apart from other photographers is I use many props in my sessions and offer more themed style sessions.
I am very proud of how far I have come over the past 3 years in the industry and how much I’ve learned and grown. Education and safety is important to me, I will keep learning and gowning as long as I stay in the industry. I know I can always do better and strive to do so. I strive to someday be a master at what I do and hope to someday educate others.
With WillowTree Photo you get more than just photos, you receive an experience with precious images to cherish hopefully for the rest of your life.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

There are a few things I find rewarding about being an artist. One of the biggest reward is knowing that people are decorating their homes with my images and cherish them. Another wonderful reward is that my clients love my art enough to keep coming back for more. I absolutely love getting to watch the little ones grow and be able to document that for families. Lastly, I find it rewarding when I receive new clients that were referred to me from previous clients, knowing that they loved my work so much they sent friends and family to me ho also loved my work. Referrals is one of my boggest lead source.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I really wish I would have known about mentorships and the Hello Little Education Group when I started out. I feel like when I started out I was so blind to many things which made the journey harder than it needed to be. I am a hands on learner so I learn best by doing and being guided hands on by experts. It would have taken a while for me to afford a mentorship from the beginning but I would have had a goal to save for and in the end learned so much faster.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://willowtreephotos.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/willowtree.photo/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/willowtree2020