We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Morgan Ziegler a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Morgan, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about how you got your first non-friend, non-family client. Paint the picture for us so we can feel the same excitement you felt on that day.
My husband had just deployed for the first time in our marriage, I had a one month old baby and honestly I was bored. Photography had always been an outlet for me, especially if I needed to relax and not be so stressed out. I was in California, thousands of miles away from family, stationed on a military base. I decided that I wanted to try to start doing photography again, so I joined a few military spouse groups on Facebook, and stumbled across a wife looking for a homecoming photographer. I jumped at the chance, hoping she would pick me but, there were so many talented photographers that I didn’t think she would go with me, plus I had zero experience photographing a homecoming. When she picked me I did all of the research I could so I knew what I was doing when the day came which was about a week later. It was the biggest adrenaline rush I’ve ever had. I was beyond nervous when I showed up to the location, which I barely found in time because military installations are crazy confusing to drive on. I had her explain what he looked like and show me a few photos so I knew who to look out for. Once I started photographing that moment I fell in love with the thought of doing photography full time. That very day was the start of my business and I never looked back.
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?
I’m the mother of two absolutely crazy but beautiful souls, and a wife to a hardworking, loving man, Zach. Originally from Ohio, after being stationed in California for 4 years, I couldn’t go back to the cold winters of Ohio, so Zach and I chose Texas to be our home. My love for storytelling started young and grew quickly when I became a mother. I decided to initially start as a couples photographer but I wanted to honor my own motherhood journey and switched over to being a maternity and family photographer (or as I call it a motherhood photographer). After the birth of my second baby, I decided that I wanted to be a birth photographer so I’m currently striving towards that goal, but I still regularly photography maternity and families.
My entire goal as a photographer is to make their session with me as stress free as possible, once I have booked a client they have access to me nearly 24/7 until I deliver their images. I help find the perfect outfits for their session, even if that means going shopping with them. I have a great deal of locations I have scouted myself and if I don’t have a place that suits their needs I will find one. During the session, I embrace the chaos and spread that message to them also, especially if we have kiddos 6 and under. I photograph them as they are, I don’t pose them, I don’t force smiling photos, I just let them be in the moment and I document it. I tell their story during that chapter in their life.
I want my clients to feel welcome and appreciated, not just a number or a fleeting customer. I love creating connections with clients, becoming friends, their kids having playdates with mine, even reaching out to talk if they need someone to listen. Having those types of relationships are what my entire business is built on and I wouldn’t want it any other way.
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
Word of mouth. It’s been the backbone of my business since I started, cause I’m not good at marketing or social media. Giving my clients an experience they want to share is what helps me immensely. Hearing that a client gave a perspective client my name honestly gives me the greatest feeling I could ask for. I do try to market and use social media but it’s not the easiest thing to master and I give props to the photographers and other business owners who know how to make that work.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
Giving people, whether it be a family or soon to be parents, memories that can keep physically. We’re all in some part of a chapter in our lives, and life is the most fragile thing. For soon to be parents, it’s capturing that time right before the newest edition arrives, the emotions that you may not even see or realize are there happen during maternity sessions. They’re embarking on a brand new journey and giving them a glimpse of that is so important. I want to get into birth photography for the main purpose of documenting a new journey, the moments before baby arrives, and when baby finally joins the parents. It’s an exhilarating experience being able to give that to someone.
When it comes to my families though, it’s all about capturing the little ones, their personalities, their facial features, how they play, and everything else that comes with fleeting childhood. Time is a thief, as a mother of two I know that, kids grow way faster than we’re prepared for. Being able to give their parents a snippet of those days is the most rewarding feeling in the world.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.mzieglerimagery.mypixiset.com
- Instagram: @mzieglerimagery
- Facebook: @mzieglerimagery