We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Melissa Bell a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Melissa, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?
Everybody deserves to feel good in their own skin. Personally, I’ve struggled with my body image for a majority of my life – and I think I’m not alone in that sentiment.
The irony is, that I’ve looked back at old photos of times I felt really awful or hated how I looked – and realized I wasn’t ugly, or overweight, or anything to that kin. I was beautiful – and I think this occurrence happens so often in life.
We allow the words or opinions of others to weigh us down so badly, it paints the image we see in the mirror.
What I love about professional photography, is that it is objective to selfie photography. A client trusts and allows you to shoot their photos, and capture their beauty from your perspective.
I love providing that to my clients – creating an environment and capturing a moment that they feel truly beautiful.
Melissa, 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?
My name is Melissa Bell, and I own and operate Check Meowt Productions – photography & videography services. For photography, I focus on boudoir, portraits, and live events; for videography, I film and edit events, concerts, commercials, and weddings. I am a one-stop shop for media creation!
What sets me apart from others, is my drive and devotion to exploring creative ideas, and collaborating with my clients to make their ideas come to life!
The work I find I am the most proud of, is when I see how much my client enjoys their images or videos! I love hearing their feedback, how it emotionally impacts them, and how it helps them feel beautiful or confident.
I also understand that not many can afford high-end photography services – so I try to keep my rates low, and even offer payment-plan options for those who may need to pay incrementally. I want my work to be accessible for all budgets, and I’m happy to help wherever I can to ease that stress.
In order to book your shoot, I only require a $50 deposit for most 1-2 hour photoshoots – then the rest of the payment can be paid incrementally for up to 4 weeks following the shoot.
In that time, I edit your photos and release them partially until the whole shoot is paid.
I also offer FREE 1 hour photoshoots to any transpeople who have not had a proper photoshoot since their transition. I want to help them with their true identity journey, and contribute with images that reflect who they are!
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
One of the rewarding aspects of my work, is feeling trusted by my clients. Most of my clients are not “trained models”, they are often people with little-to-no experience in front of cameras, and that can make a lot of them nervous. I’m happy to guide my subjects to make sure they not only look good but also feel good during our shoots. I can see them relax as the shoot continues, and I give them the encouragement they need to know that we’re making magical work!
I want them to go home afterwards knowing that we created something amazing, and knowing that they are beautiful.
We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.
I have always been a very creative person, and I took to photography in my high school years like a duck does to water! Although I was in love with the art-form, I was worried about it being a lucrative source of income – so I attended college with a focus on film and television production. I wanted to grow as a creator, but felt that my love for photography never went too far away.
In recent years, I took to other hobbies – but always found myself back with photography.
As I entered the career field, I would slowly introduce my photography skills as a side-hustle. I’d offer to make flyers for friends’ events, I’d do headshots for local performers, I’d film a show or concert here and there.
From there, word spread about some of my works – I’d get referred to other people wanting my services. It eventually got to a heavy workload for me, that I was taking side-hustle work to my 9-5 job to work on it during slow periods.
Recently, I was let go from my last 9-5 job and I find myself wanting to never return to that environment ever again – the culture of corporate America is stifling to most creatives, and doesn’t allow growth in the places we want to grow.
When that ended, I made Check Meowt Productions an LLC, and now I’m getting work with weddings, bigger venues, and more clients than ever!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.checkmeowtproductions.com
- Instagram: @checkmeowtproductions
- Facebook: facebook.com/checkmeowtproductions
Image Credits
Images owned by Check Meowt Productions