We were lucky to catch up with Nadine Sherman recently and have shared our conversation below.
Nadine, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?
It took a lot of trial and error to get to where I am today. It’s crazy to look back at my photos from over the years and to see the progress I made! It’s all about fine-tuning my eye to the details and knowing how to best judge lighting situations immediately when I’m put in new environments to photograph in. It’s only through years of experience that I now have a successful portfolio that I’m proud to share with potential clients.
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?
Greetings! I am Nadine, a small business owner and photographer of weddings, engagements, portraits and events. My main focus is wedding and engagement photography in the Pittsburgh area. I originally picked up photography as a hobby in grade school and then started doing it professionally in college. When I attended the Eastman School of Music, the communications department started hiring me to photograph performances by the orchestras, jazz bands, and vocalists. These opportunities fine-tuned my perception and ability to capture the most expressive moments in performance. This translated beautifully to my wedding photography business – now I get to photograph the most expressive and sentimental days of people’s lives! I take pride in my ability to highlight timeless moments where you can see the twinkle in people’s eyes, gazing at the people they love most. My favorite moments are when my clients don’t know anyone is looking or photographing – a true candid of a moment that is spontaneous and. full of life and love.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
Resilience is such an important characteristic for me to maintain. Every wedding that I photograph is a test of resilience! Because the days are long and hard, and I frequently have to take charge to run the show. My clients count on me to help guide them through the wedding day timeline, help facilitate group photos so no-one is missing, and to bring out the best side of them for lifelong memories. This is one of the most important days of their lives and I feel the pressure to perform to my highest ability! So it’s important for me to show up confident but also casual, so I can adapt to whatever twists and turns the day brings. It truly is a performance. And I do struggle with self doubt – I am hyper critical of myself and how well I provide my service. Not only is it about a beautifully finished product, but also the support and energy I give off the day of. But it’s really all about one foot in front of the other – always learning from my trials and then showing up the next day better prepared. Then when I get those five star reviews from clients, it’s a serious boost! And I know I’m on the right path.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
I had to pivot my photography career years ago when moved from Rochester, NY to Pittsburgh, PA. In Rochester, I had a market in performing arts photography. Then when I got to Pittsburgh, I had to start ground-up in wedding/engagement photography. I connected with George Street photography, a national company that outsourced independent photographers and connected us to weddings. This was helpful for income as I steadily built my own photography business. I also used Thumbtack.com to find leads, and signed up for WeddingWire to list my photo services. Slowly but surely I built my portfolio and online presence, and was hired by more and more clients. Now people are able to find my social media accounts and website more easily and see me as a competitor in the industry.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://nadinephotography.net
- Instagram: @NadinePhotographyPA
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/NadinePhotographyPA
Image Credits
Photo 1 & 2 – Sarah V; Photo 3 & 4 – Tori Stipcak