We were lucky to catch up with Mackenzie Cornwall recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Mackenzie, thanks for joining us today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

My journey in the visual arts started in middle school in Los Angeles, California. Being so close to such a large, creative scene I spent a lot of my time being an extra in film and television. This strengthened my passion for the visual arts and it was then I realize that I wanted to work in a creative field such as this. In high school and college, I studied video production and wanted to be a Director or Cinematographer. However, during my senior year of college, I started to lose my passion for videography and changed my major to something that I thought was safer for the real world. I moved to Nashville, Tennessee after graduating from UC Berkeley and started a job in customer experience at a corporate company. A year into that job COVID-19 hit and about 50% of my company was laid off including me. I realize that there is no safe option and I should just do what I love. I didn’t want to go back into videography, but my friends had been telling me that my photography was something worthwhile and I decided to take a chance on that. I started interning for a senior portrait photographer in Nashville, and she taught me so much about lighting and studio work. I wanted to work for more commercial clients and being in Nashville mostly meant musicians so I left that internship and started another internship with a music photographer in Nashville. This internship taught me so much about connecting with people and the business side of things. I was still working a day job as a customer service representative but my photography was my main priority. Finally, in May 2021, it got to a point where I was making enough money to leave my day job and become a photographer full-time. I have been doing that ever since and absolutely love everything about it. There have been major milestones since making the decision to become a photographer, such as getting published in Rolling Stone, going on tour with country musicians, and seeing my photos become album covers! I think that my process was perfectly timed, and if I could go back and redo it, I would take the same amount of time if not longer. So no, I don’t think that this process could have been sped up as there’s so much to learn and experience to feel confident in working a creative job. I’m still learning and growing my business today, and I’m so excited to see what will happen in the years to come!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Mackenzie Cornwall, Mackenzie, Ryan Photography is my business name, and I am a full-time portrait photographer in Nashville Tennessee. I am originally from Los Angeles California and moved to Nashville about four years ago. Growing up in such a creative city surrounded by so many different types of people I feel as though my perspective on life is vast and I think that shows in my work. At this point in my career, I am shooting anything and everything that I can. I focus heavily on creative portraits for musicians and Nashville however, I also thoroughly enjoy shooting engagements, weddings, and maternity! I love colors and bluer hues in my editing and when I shoot I tend to capture candid and raw experiences than posed. I shoot with a Sony a7iii with mainly a Canon 24-70mm lens! I started with a Canon camera and switched over to Sony about a year and a half ago and have been absolutely loving it! I’m such a people person and love hearing about others’ life stories. We are all so special and interconnected and I love feeling the goodness that humanity can offer. I also love making people feel good about themselves and showing them a photo that I know they’re going to absolutely love and/or appreciate for years on end.

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

There are a couple of resources that I use in my everyday business that I wish I had known about when I was first starting out! The first one would have to be Honeybook. Honeybook is such an amazing way to organize my photography clients, send contracts, get paid, and make everything look super professional when talking to new clients. It has been such a game changer for me and really helps organize everything in my life. Another one that has been huge for me is Thumbtack! Thumbtack is a huge reason why I was even able to become a full-time photographer. I recognized that a lot of people didn’t know where to find photographers and if they didn’t use Instagram and/or Facebook then where will they look? Thumbtack is the perfect place for people to search for photographers and such an easy way for me to build a business. I can send review requests and communicate with people directly on Thumbtack. It has been so amazing! Talking about Instagram I definitely wish that I had known to use Instagram for networking when I was first starting out. Instagram is such an incredible place to reach out to other photographers and connect with them. I’ve met so many friends through Instagram just by reaching out because I liked their photography. I also found my music photographer internship through Instagram, so I definitely recommend it!

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.

I think there are a lot of things people don’t know about the creative field if they’ve never worked in it. One thing is that the work never stops. It can be emotionally and physically taxing, but it is so rewarding. It may look like I am going on a photo shoot once every couple of days and that’s it, but there’s so much work that goes into that. I have to be my own customer service representative, my own HR, my own marketing, my own editor, my own business manager, just really everything. It’s like when people say that they wanted to stop working a 9 to 5, and now they work 24/7 running their own business. When people are off of the normal work hours, that is when they are most likely to search for a photographer, so I have to work the off-hours and be on the clock more often. But another thing I think non-creatives should know is that it is just as important as any other job. I think we need creatives and artists as much as we need lawyers and doctors. I love making people feel good about themselves, boosting their confidence, and giving them something to look forward to or look back on. We capture the special milestones like birthdays and weddings but we also capture the art that you look at in a magazine or on an album cover. All in all, this job and this field of work is worthy of respect.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mackenzieryanphotography.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mackenzieryanphoto/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mackenzieryanphoto
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mackenzie-cornwall/
• Twitter: https://x.com/mackenzierphoto?s=21