Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Marcia Williams. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Marcia, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Alright – so having the idea is one thing, but going from idea to execution is where countless people drop the ball. Can you talk to us about your journey from idea to execution?
In high school, I joined the yearbook club as a photographer. I was responsible for attending sports games and events for students to look back at during the end of the school year. I continued to do yearbook club for two years- junior and senior year of high school. By my senior year of highschool, I started to venture off and do my own photography on the side as well as take photos for my own pleasure. My mom mentioned to me that I could be making money from taking photos, so I gave it a shot and started with taking photos of graduating seniors from my highschool, shortly after many students in my town started to come to me for other inquiries regarding photos they needed for an event and other people in my local community in Edwardsville, Illinois and many people started to learned that I did photography and produced amazing photographs! After my senior year of high school and graduating virtually, I decided to leave home and go to school to study Business Management while concentrating in Entrepreneurship. During this time, my photography business became a seasonal activity, my time dedicated to most of education took my away from the art so bringing out my camera became difficult sometimes with no one to capture, this required me to network with new artists in Boston, Ma and meet new people to create artwork with, I ended up meeting two photographers my first week of college! It was inspiring to meet students who went to an art school and learn from them about photography as well as teach them about running a business as an artist. From building my clientele in my hometown Edwardsville, Illinois to moving all the way to the East Coast to rebuild my clientele, connect with others and participate in an Accelerate Co-op for Entrepreneurs in my third year of college, I have been able to figure out what I truly want to do by bridging the gap between art and business learn to adapt to the life of entrepreneurship from what I have been thankfully able to gain knowledge from while running a photography businesses.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Marcia Williams, I was first introduced to digital photography while in high school as a member of the yearbook club, early in life I had always liked being in photos as well as taking them on toy cameras as a kid and growing up I learned to be in love with photography a pursue a business through it. Going to college and studying business and entrepreneurship gave me more motivation to represent who I am and work hard to achieve my goals. One thing that has made me most excited about learning about business is having the opportunity to share my knowledge with others. I created a motto for my brand “Expressive Art” that describes my message from photography, as well as describes the type of photos that I take for clients. Expressive Art is a feeling through my photos that changes how one sees an image, the emotion you gain from the image itself. I set myself apart from other portrait photographers by being myself and making clients feel comfortable when they were shooting with me by telling them to “relax” and not tense up in a headshot photo or sometimes I tell a joke to capture their natural smile while laughing. I like to make my photos look as natural as possible, with no over-editing or blemishing photos or even making the photos look like they are not real, I always ensure that you can still recognize who and what is getting captured. As a portrait photographer and looking back at the photos I like to think of them as a conversation between the subject (aka model) and the artist (photographer), there is always a message being portrayed through the art, Expressive Art is that message.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
The goal that is driving my creative journey is building a community for a safe space for artists to pursue their own businesses and understanding that there is always someone to help. Allowing myself to be that resource for others to create their artwork, especially photography, and educate those who do not have the resources to manage their business is what is driving me to eventually open my own studio space. Having the ability to help others while making a change in their lives to guide their creative journey inspires me to continue to do what I am doing as a photographer.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
Building my audience took some following, liking, and being activity on social media on my own. I make sure that I am always producing work and showing the behind-the-scenes of what I am doing and what will be shown sooner or later, one thing that has helped me build a social media presence is working with other photographers, connecting with them and collaborating on projects to expand my network. Although I just hit 1k followers on my Instagram in December of 2022 it is a blessing to have people following me and who actively support seeing my work, especially seeing them share my posts with others helps more than my own following see my photos.
Contact Info:
- Website: photosbymarcia.com
- Instagram: photosbymarcia
- Facebook: photosbymarcia
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/marcia-williams1
Image Credits
Photos Edited by: Marcia Williams Photo shot by: Tory Lamb