We recently connected with Miranda Lopez and have shared our conversation below.

Miranda, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

When I started college, I had a little bit of trouble figuring out what I was going to do for the rest of my life, as any 18 year old does, I feel. It took a few years to decide, but ultimately I realized that photography was it for me and ended up graduating with a Bachelor’s Degree in Digital Photography. I learned most of what I know from my amazing professors at the Art Institute of Colorado. Their insight and their real world experience in what they do helped give us students the best education we could receive as aspiring photographers. Looking back, I don’t think I would change a whole lot about my learning process, except for potentially getting my Master’s in Business/Marketing immediately after graduating from undergrad, or at least taking a few extra classes in business. I feel as if I didn’t learn enough of the business side before I graduated. It was so photography focused that I felt a little clueless coming out of school on how to actually start a business. I believe the skill that was most essential in getting to where I’m at now, is learning how to accept constructive criticism. My goodness, the way you really had to sit and listen to people critique your work was tough, and I still do it now. My business partner keeps me on my toes and we still talk about ways we can improve after a wedding or an engagement session. It is 100% the hardest part, but it has helped grow my photography and my skill significantly.
I think the one thing that has stood in the way of learning more is myself. I sometimes look back and think “oh, if I had applied myself more here, I would be further along in my career”. I still think that way some days but I am finding ways to push myself on learning more. It isn’t always easy. I do eventually want to take a couple of classes in business or marketing, just to feel a little bit more confident on that side of my photography. I’m also trying to keep up with the way marketing is constantly changing.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Miranda Lopez and I am the lead photographer at Wild Sage Creative Photography! My business partner, Jaylyn, and I started Wild Sage back in the Spring of 2018 after graduating with our Bachelor’s Degrees in Digital Photography. We both attended the Art Institute of Colorado, and we had noticed that our styles in photography were very similar, so we began this crazy journey that we’re on today. We focus on weddings, elopements, and engagements and we absolutely love what we do.

For me, personally, I moved out to Colorado to attend CU Boulder and for the life of me could not figure out what I wanted to study. It was a huge dilemma and anxiety inducing and I felt like I was being left behind. I did end up taking a semester off to really think about what was important to me and I kept coming back to photography. Honestly, when I brought up going to school for it to my father, I definitely did not expect what I experienced. My professors and my peers were all incredible and I certainly wouldn’t be the photographer I am today without them.

I believe our work at Wild Sage Creative is timeless. Our style of photography is realistic, always evolving, and warm. We not only are good at what we do, we enjoy it. I feel that enjoying your work as a photographer, always translates to the outcome of your photos. As a company, being inclusive is incredibly important to us and we hope to display that in our work. We pride ourselves on making every kind of human feel comfortable in their own skin and I think that is what sets us apart. We stay true to who we are and our brand, and we want each and every one of our couples to feel that and trust that we are going to give them our best work, every time. Our clients invest in us, and we fully invest in them. I am so proud of how our photography has grown and how many couples have trusted us with capturing their biggest moments. It’s an awesome feeling.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

As a photographer, there’s always mixed reactions when you tell people what you do. There will always be the people who question why you charge so much for your services, who don’t understand all the work you do behind the scenes, and people who don’t see the value in what you do. Those are the people you don’t want to be apart of your clientele. That was a tough thing to learn in the first few years of having the photography business, because you want to say yes to everybody who comes along, you want to take the pay-cut in order to grow your portfolio. Saying yes to people who question what you do in the first place and not understanding what goes into the final product, almost always isn’t beneficial to the business. I think the hardest part of being a photographer sometimes is having to explain that there is more than just picking up a fancy camera and snapping the most important moments of someone’s life. The expense of gear that we use, the software for post-production, our time in culling photos and turning those photos into your final product, all goes in to the final price of what you pay for our services. We give our couples an estimated 4-6 weeks after a wedding to receive their photos back, and it indeed takes that long to perfect their album. There is so much back work after the wedding day is over. I think my biggest pet peeve of a question when people see my work is “what kind of camera do you use?”. Don’t get me wrong, I will rave about my Sony a7iii until I turn blue, but I like to believe that my work is not solely because I have a nice fancy camera. I have invested money into my education as a photographer, I have invested in some pretty great lenses that help, but overall I know I’m a good photographer because of my eye and my ability to see things in different ways than other people do. I do have imposter syndrome some days, as I feel a lot of creatives probably do, but every time I do a shoot or a wedding, I get to look at my work and tell myself “wow, I’m actually pretty good at what I do”.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I am currently not full-time as a photographer. I do have a second job. I have not made that leap yet, and that is something that I have struggled with. The decision to go full-time as a photographer has been weighing on me, but I will know when the time is right and I’ll get to be able to jump all-in. That is what drives me every day to do what I do. Regardless of being part-time, I am fully committed to every couple I work with. I am striving to get to the point where I do get to jump in full-time and I am so excited for when that day comes.

Contact Info:

• Website: wildsagecreative.photo
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wildsage.creative/
• Facebook: facebook.com/wildsagecreative.photo
• Youtube: @wildsagecreativefilms9422

Image Credits
Miranda Lopez, Wild Sage Creative Photography (myself)