We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Marni Fara a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Marni, thanks for joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I started dabbling in film photography as a young child. I always loved exploring nature and capturing moments in time on my adventures. I learned to develop film and play with light in ways that met my aesthetic. I was late to the digital photography game, but after college when I was in the beginning of my first career as a climate scientist, I missed my passion for photography. I took a few photography classes in DC, and later took editing classes online.

One thing I find entrepreneurs in the arts often struggle with is the business side of things. We’re often comfortable with our skills and maybe even the people and marketing end of business, but things like bookkeeping and taxes terrify so many artists! Looking for resources in my community – through small business offices and other entrepreneurs – saved me a lot of time figuring out the best practices for business.

I’ve always been a jump in and do it person, but having a mentor certainly would have sped up this process for me! However, I’ve really enjoyed my meandering road to making my craft a career.

Marni, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

After a decade working in sustainability and climatology, I became jaded and kept finding myself turning to my passion projects for joy. My partner at the time decided to quit their job and hop on a sailboat for adventure, and I decided to join. My plan was to do some consulting and some photography along the way, which worked out really well and led to some amazing stories.

When we decided to have a baby and settle down, I started to focus more on the needs of young families – creating villages, mutual aid, and capturing their journeys with my camera. Despite being deeply introverted, I found meeting these families so refreshing. We were all facing the same challenges and delighted by the same joys. Through lots of chatting among that community, I was able to help folks network and connect people to resources they needed from parenting to careers to volunteering. I found this wildly rewarding.

Because I have a special needs toddler at home, I am very comfortable adapting to all sorts of situations with families. I never leave a photoshoot without some grass stains on my pants from playing with the kids, and find it natural to get on anyone’s level to make them feel comfortable.

I specialize in very efficient mini photoshoots. Many people aren’t comfortable in front of a camera, and anyone who has been around children knows their attention spans are limited. As such, I’ve gotten very good at making people feel quickly at ease, and get a ton of pictures captured quickly that are both posed and candid.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Nearly all of my new clients are referrals. Creating a positive experience for my subjects and forming real bonds along the way has always led to word of mouth spreading. I feel very lucky to have a bunch of former clients essentially acting as brand ambassadors for me – anytime they’re in a local parenting group and someone asks for a photographer, my name is tagged three times before I could have ever seen the post! It’s the most magical feeling.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

I have discovered that I really adore connecting people. Photography is a strangely intimate experience. I often act as a bit of a therapist. People tell me their stories of heartbreak and fresh starts. I often get clients calling me the night before a session crying about their self esteem. Getting to show people how others see them – through the way they look at their children or playing in a forest – is really a gift.

The added bonus of learning their talents and needs, and being able to connect them to others in the community, is the most fulfilling part of this chapter.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://marnifara.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marnifaraphotography/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarniFaraPhotography/