We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Matteah Gingles. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Matteah below.

Matteah, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?

I have been my own boss/entrepreneur since I was 16? That’s when I took photography professionally. And I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to not need typical job that most people have. I know not everyone can just drop everything to become a business owner or have the funds + support to start one. It really is something I am so grateful for and won’t ever take for granted. Sometimes there are those little stumps in the road that can be frustrating and discouraging, but most days I am happy to be a business owner- I love connecting with people.

In the past two years, I have thought about getting a regular job. I actually applied to quite a few places and got a few offers. I ended up declining them for various reasons. 1 being I was getting sick every month, I was extremely immune-compromised after I got covid in august 2020. 2. Funny thing, every time I’d apply for a job, I would somehow always get booked out with my photography business. So I wouldn’t really take the job because I always chose my photography.

I definitely wonder what a typical job would be like, I find being a business owner can be difficult somedays because I don’t really have coworkers or socialize everyday.

The last time I thought about getting a regular job was a few months ago and I was going to do it to be around more people. I’m a bit of an introvert-extrovert, somedays I love being alone and others I struggle with not socializing everyday. It was hard trying to choose which route to go on. I know most photography business owners have a full time job on top of their photo business, but for me it was one or the other. Plus I was already picking up, again, self employed jobs like dog sitting and nannying. Between photography and dog sitting I would get booked out weeks in advance that would fall on the 9-5 job scheduling calendar. At the end of the day, I don’t regret choosing to be self employed, it has its ups and downs, just like any other job. What really keeps me going is being able to connect to amazing clients and how fulfilling it is to see your business grow.

Matteah, 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?

Hi, my name is Matteah! I’m 20 years old and based in Houston, Texas (but I love to travel and I will go wherever you want to go).

I love dogs, coffee, thrifting, mid-century era, vintage, film cameras and TRAVELING! I traveled a lot as a kid. Italy being my favorite, I have my red belt in Krav Maga, I am NOT a green thumb sadly. Oh and I have three tattoos( def getting more hehe).

I’ve always had interest in photography, and taking photos as a little kid. I started out on a Canon Rebel just taking photos for fun when I would travel! I didn’t get my entry level DSLR till I was 12. At 15-16 I took it professionally, and had already done branding shoots and events, PLUS 2 weddings at the time! Since then I’ve done so many sessions and weddings, in Texas + Iowa!

I mostly focus on Destination/Intimate weddings + elopements. Along with fun, genuine, editorial portraiture for anyone who loves to get creative. I believe and advocate for inclusivity and diversity. I believe all are welcomed and deserve to feel special.

I’m all about real life, I want the sweet and messy moments. I want the not so perfect and perfect moments. That’s what I photograph, that’s what I want my photos to show. Whether it’s your wedding, couples, or singles. My love for photography and why I believe it’s so important has never changed. I believe photographs help people remember feelings + different periods of time in their life. And I want to be able to tell your unique story through the photographs that can be treasured for a lifetime. My top priority is client experience, I want to make sure every person who inquires and the ones who are my clients feel welcomed, safe and comfortable to be their authentic self. Every idea my current and future clients want to explore are heard and in some way incorporated. If you like, fun, authentic, timeless, earthy, film style photographs- then I’m your girl.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

This may be controversial in the sense of how I approach it, but I cannot stress it enough.

Stop caring about what others think. Stop COMPARING yourself to others. I 100% support learning from other like minded people and I believe you should have a good supportive community. I believe you should network and get to know other people in your business field. And I believe getting advice is good too! But ONLY to an extent.

I struggled with caring too much about what others were doing + saying. I became stagnate in my business and work. I had imposter syndrome for a long time. I was worried about the wrong things. There were several times I’d just cry over it.
But turns out no body cared abut how many followers or views I had. I just thought they did. No body cared that my photography style was changing. No body cared that I didn’t wear all black to photograph weddings.

I had to learn followers/views does not equal clients. I had to clear my head and decide what really mattered to me and not what I thought mattered to others. Not what is being told on social media.

What mattered to me were my clients. I had realized everything that I thought mattered didn’t put my clients first. It only put myself first but in wrong way. I realized I didn’t need to be a photographer influencer to be successful. I can just be a fun photographer.

All I had to do was make sure my clients had good communication from me, and felt safe, heard, welcomed, loved, beautiful/handsome and valued. And the rest started to follow and come more naturally to me. People don’t remember much, but they’ll always remember how I made them feel. And that was the best lesson I learned.

Honestly, I’m not sure if I unlearned caring too much or if I really just learned where to put it. However you may see it, it has shaped my mindset + changed the way I do business now.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I’m not sure, I love all of it. It all feels so rewarding. I think maybe the most is probably hearing the feedback about a session and people saying they love the story the photograph tells. Whether the session was from a client or a random model call/freestyle.

Knowing people can see and feel the story, the emotion in the photograph is huge to me. Knowing the clients look back at their photographs and remember it like the palm of their hand- is so rewarding.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/matteahginglesphoto/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/matteahgphoto/
• Other: https://sessionl.ink/matteah.gingles

Image Credits
Matteah Gingles Photography