We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Marissa Solini a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Marissa, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Going back to the beginning – how did you come up with the idea in the first place?
I’ve always been an artist and felt both drawn to and fueled by creativity my entire life. I got my Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 2015 from Oregon State University. During my college years I dabbled in a lot of different art mediums and was “that weird art girl” for sure! I felt a strong pull to focus conceptually on issues surrounding social justice and gender issues (I tackled basically every hot topic I could think of – gender stereotypes, racism, police brutality, pornography, religion, politics, abortion debate, sexual objectification, bodily autonomy, homophobia etc). Ironically, when I DID do photography in college I had convinced myself I was BAD at it, and I really couldn’t get myself past this very basic cheesy senior-portrait vibe – a fact I still openly admit and laugh about to this day!
I graduated in 2015 – kept up my art and balanced it around my office job but it had a lot less spark than my college years and was pretty focused on a single project. I kept that going for several years but felt that balancing my art around my full-time office job was never truly fulfilling. Around that time my best friend got engaged and I ended up being very hands-on in co-planning her wedding, and then I got engaged too (!) so I was very much in the *wedding wedding wedding* mindset. I started noticing beautiful photos of couples on my social media (taken by other photographers) and felt very captivated and drawn to how much emotion and connection I could feel from these photos, even though I had never met the people in these photos. At the time I was still convinced I had tried and failed from my photography experiences back in college and thought, “No way could I photograph like that.” But the photos and curiosity kept pulling me back in, and after 6 months of thinking “I love that, but could never do that” I finally decided to reach out to an engaged couple I was friends with and just *try* couples photography so I could stop waffling about it and get the idea out of my system. My first couples photo shoot was with my cheap camera and a $50 lens I bought online. It was 34 degrees in December and the wind chill was AWFUL. Despite that I had a blast being creative in this new way – it was like a lightbulb went off for me, it really clicked!
The next 6 months I focused all my free time and weekends off on doing free sessions for people I knew and just building up my portfolio and experience as much as I could. I had such a thirst and passion that fueled me in absorbing every bit of knowledge and education I could to grow and get better at my photography. I ended up quitting my office job that same year (2018) and moved in with my parents to see if I could put my all into building a photography business from the ground up. I gave myself another 6 months to try to make it full-time, and wildly, it worked! My first full wedding season of 2019 I photographed 25 weddings! I realized pretty early on that not only was this a career that I could really build around my strengths and find creative fulfillment in, but one that could re-ignite that spark I had in my college days for using my art to help talk about social justice issues. I’ve been building off that momentum ever since – slowly investing more in upgrading my business, refining my craft, and learning everything I can on how to navigate running a business to continue to be successful and fulfilling.
Marissa, 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’m a wedding and elopement photographer based in the Pacific Northwest. I’m drawn to photographing love stories and people in nature, whether that be a “just us” elopement with a couple eloping on an Oregon Coast cliffside with just the ocean as their witness, or a big colorful celebration in the woods with 150+ people! For me what matters most is connecting with people, learning about their love story, and striving to be the best advocate I can be to help them have the wedding experience they’ve been dreaming of.
I’m pretty hands-on with my clients – I help them with:
– Finding their venue
– Unique lodging options for them and their loved ones
– Connecting them with inclusive local vendors (BIPOC & LGBTQIA+ owned businesses highlighted!)
– Brainstorming creative ways they can incorporate their story into their day
– Timeline building for the best lighting and a relaxed pace to soak up their day
All with the ultimate goal of making sure my clients feel cared for and safe to be themselves to the fullest – because if they are having a meaningful experience, the photos will follow naturally.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
As a white cisgender queer woman, I’ve noticed how the wedding industry continues to lack so much representation of LGBTQIA+ love, BIPOC couples, different body shapes & sizes, older couples, polyamorous relationships, disabled people, and so many other communities. I would really like to change that.
That desire for change is why I sometimes refer to myself as a “wedding industry disruptor” as I’ve explored different avenues over the years to challenge industry norms and push for a more inclusivity-minded wedding industry.
One of the best solutions I’ve found is to simply create the work and celebrate the relationships I want to see better represented in the industry. It can be tempting to point out what is wrong while waiting and hoping others will fix it. But the ripple effect of actually putting that desire into action can be so incredible and even inspire action in others too. I’ve seen how validating it can be for people I’ve worked with to be able to see themselves celebrated and photographed in that way, and also for others to be able to see a body, identity, or relationship that looks like theirs.
Another way I have worked this mission into my business is by donating 5% of every booking (since 2019) to a select group of non-profits that align with my values on a personal level and as a business. With everything going on in our world it can feel overwhelming at times on where to direct your time, money, energy or support. I was running into the same dilemma too. For me, it gave me a little bit of hope to realize that every time I received a booking – I could take a little bit of that love I felt and send it back into the world to organizations that were serving vulnerable communities, people, environments, and wildlife. I’m at $16,244 donated since 2019 by my latest count, and it’s been an incredible point of connection to my clients to see which cause they gravitate to.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
Being emotionally invested in your business can lead to so much heartbreak and burnout if you don’t set boundaries! As a naturally empathetic person I easily find myself caring deeply about the people I work with as I learn about their relationship, their journeys, and how to hold space for them during such an important chapter in their lives. I believe that is a strength when it comes to photographing the emotions and feeling of a wedding day. However, there are many times over the years when I’ve felt the negative side of being this emotionally invested in my work.
The amount of consult calls I’ve had with potential clients where I felt a connection and dreamed with them about their day (as if they had already signed a contract with me) – only to feel devastated when I got the email that they “decided to go with someone else”. The guilt I’ve felt strike when I’m trying to enjoy a hike in the forest with friends, only to be thinking about how I still need to respond to an email in my inbox. The inner conflict I’ve wrestled with over how to handle a cancellation, feeling pressure to deviate from my lawyer-drafted contract and policies because I want to be nice.
This and many more scenarios have plagued me through the years as I’ve become so emotionally wrapped into my business and the people I’ve worked with. It’s taken time – but I’ve learned that it IS possible to stay dedicated to connection, while also taking steps to protect my heart in the process. Sometimes this looks like communicating boundaries in advance, like setting office hours that dictate when I will be answering emails and when I’ll be spending my time as I please. Other times this looks like recognizing why I have policies in my business to begin with, and how they protect not only my clients but my own peace as well.
Having boundaries in place (where there once were none) has allowed me so much more work-life balance, to be more present for my clients when it matters most, and to ultimately have a more fulfilling business.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.marissasolini.com
- Instagram: Instagram.com/marissasoliniphoto
Image Credits
All photos by Marissa Solini Photography