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

Mike, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We love heartwarming stories – do you have a heartwarming story from your career to share?

When I got into shooting boudoir photography, I had no idea why women chose to do these kinds of sessions. So I did some research, and once I found out the kind of impact we could make with an experience like this I shifted the entire focus of my business to serve those women. For me, it’s not about taking sexy photos. Some photographers do that, and that’s great. It’s not what we do though.

Last week I photographed a woman who has breast cancer and is going in for a double mastectomy. This photo shoot was to celebrate her body and to help her remember the way her body was before cancer. I also have clients who have come in after reconstructive surgery, post breast cancer, so they can start to develop a better relationship with the new version of their body.

We work with women who have been able to escape long abusive marriages, and they are learning to create a new identity outside of the role their abuser put them in. A huge part of the experience we put together is identifying how my clients want to see themselves, and then telling that story in the photos. This is an opportunity to help create a visual reminder for these women that they can be strong, confident, independent women, and that they are no longer tied to their previous relationship.

I’m truly grateful every time we are invited to be a part of these women’s journeys.

Mike, 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 graduated from college in 2009 during the recession and I had no idea what I wanted to do for work. I knew that I didn’t want to do what I went to school for so I figured grad school would be a good plan until the job market stabilized and I’d be able to get hired somewhere. After several professors talked me out of going to grad school because of how terrible the job market was and how expensive a graduate degree was, I did the only logical thing, and I moved to France to teach English. I stayed until I ran out of money and came home with no job or any idea of what to do. I had always liked photography as a hobby, but never thought about making it into a career. I had no idea what I was doing. I just had an eye for it. So I found a gig on craigslist that was similar to Groupon. I drove around the San Francisco Bay area, photographing businesses so they could have photos to use for their promotions. That was the first time I ever got paid to take pictures. I explored different options for making money with a camera and I found that photographing people was the most lucrative path, so in 2010 I registered a business for the first time and decided to teach myself how to photograph people.

I was inspired by fashion photography and dramatic story telling, so I had to figure out how to take that same approach to photographing families and couples. My style set me apart because I never learned traditional portrait lighting and posing. But after five years of photographing familes, I wasn’t feeling fulfilled. To stay creative, I had been photographing performers from burlesque shows, cabaret shows, and circus shows for their marketing campaigns. That’s when I got approached to do my first boudoir session.

I never wanted to take sexy photos. That had no appeal to me as an artist. So, just like before, I approached boudoir sessions from a storyteller perspective, and I shot the scenes like we were selling Chanel perfume. No one else shoots like I do, and that set me apart from day one. Since I wasn’t offering traditional boudoir photography, I had to figure out a new way to market my business, and I had no idea if anyone even wanted to do a shoot like what I was offering. Things ended up taking off so much faster than I expected, and I have been able to brand myself as a photographer who who offers transformational therapeutic experiences rather than someone who just takes sexy photos. I focus on helping my clients, feel strong, confident, elegant, and worthy of love, especially from themselves.

I also teach photographers around the world how to do what I do, from my online courses to speak in at conferences, I’ve shown photographers that there can be another way to approach our genre.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

My reputation was built on being genuine, and by really listening to what my clients needed. It sounds so simple, but so few people actually do it. I wanted to offer a style of photography that satisfied me as an artist and that also allowed me to run a profitable business. As long as I could achieve those two things, it could be a sustainable career. If I was just doing something I had no interest in, for the sake of earning money, I might as well have just gotten a job. As far as listening to my clients’ real needs, a lot of that information comes from learning how to create an environment where a complete stranger quickly feels comfortable being vulnerable in front of you. I truly believe that is one of my super powers. I can’t tell you how many consultations I’ve done where my client is crying five minutes into our talk and telling me all about her traumatic journey because she feels safe enough to be open with me. Once I started hearing my clients’ stories, I shifted all of the messaging in my marketing to speak directly to those needs. I attract a different kind of client than a traditional boudoir photographer would, and I’m grateful that I have been able to build a business around serving those people.

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

The number one thing I tell all of my photography students to remember is that everything we do in business is a constant science experiment. We are always testing variables and we are always guessing, trying to figure out what works. That applies to marketing, sales, creating our art, and engineering the ideal customer experience. And just because something worked once doesn’t mean it will work again. It also means that just because it didn’t work the first time doesn’t mean it won’t work the second time. The more often we repeat these experiments, and really reflect on every step of the process, the easier it gets to find success in the future. But nothing is ever guaranteed, we have to keep adapting to new situations, and if that’s not something that someone enjoys, they probably will not be successful business owners.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://mikelloydstudios.com
• Instagram: @mikelloydstudios
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mikelloydstudios
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@boudoirguild