We were lucky to catch up with Natalie Pugachevsky recently and have shared our conversation below.

Natalie, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

Success is an intangible opinion we all have our own definitions of. Success can be a little win or big achievement. To me the definition of being successful is finding a little win each and every day. As a photographer it could be anything ranging from delivering an elopement gallery to booking a dream couple. Taking pride in every single thing you do can lead to your success. Taking pride in your work keeps you genuinely passionate about it.

Our couples always comment on how passionate we are about our work, and that directly translates to our overall success as a business. That passion keeps our little husband and wife adventure elopement photography business thriving each and every year. For us, it isn’t about how many clients we can book, any experienced photographer can do that. It is about booking the right couples for the elopement experience we give. The right couples are people we truly vibe with on a personal level, and we can help take their dreams and visions, and make them a reality. When we’re booking the those couples, and making their individual elopements as special and unique as their love, we found our success.

Natalie, 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?

It all started when an adventure seeking storyteller and nature loving traveler met on online dating. If you are wondering who made the first move, it was Natalie. On December 29, 2017 we met in person for the first time and hiked the Hancock Loop Trail in the White Mountains together. By the end of the hike we were falling so in love that parting was no longer an option. From that day forth we started adventuring all over together. Fast forward to September 1, 2019 and we tied the knot in the very mountains we first fell for each other in.

Together we have traveled across North America and Europe all while photographically documenting our journey and love. We’re also part time van lifers who live on the road for a few months out of every year.

In the midst of planning our wedding we fell in love with couples photography and telling the stories of other couples who share our love for travel, the great outdoors, and pure adventure.

We firmly believe that weddings and elopements should be about the couple and the love they share. We encourage our couples to challenge tradition and do whatever they want on their wedding and elopement days!

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

Investing in a new photography business isn’t inexpensive. For the two of us who just got married and were starting our lives together, it was somewhat overwhelming. We eloped ourselves and kept our expenses for that low since neither of us wanted anything big. We had an amazing photographer and a few family/friends we love most around us. By doing that we were able to save money and start small by purchasing just a few pieces of essential equipment. We charged less due to experience and not having what others had for equipment. We focused on SEO optimization of our site in order to make ourselves seen by our ideal couples. Then over the course of the next year we were able to save enough to get the right equipment, gain tons of experience, and start truly valuing ourselves and raising our prices. By year two, I quit my full time job in order to go full time in photography while Anton remained in his full time job. We both now have much better work/life balances since we aren’t working two jobs each! That same year I doubled my salary from my former career. Since then we have invested so much more in our couples, our professional development as photographers, and the core of our business.

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

When we were getting married I thought we had two options. Have a wedding or go to city hall. We didn’t know about adventure elopements out of the gate. Anton and I didn’t book our dream day until 6 months after getting engaged simply because neither of those options were for us. We knew we didn’t want a wedding, but we wanted our day to be special. After several months of researching we finally figured out the third option. Adventure elopements. Even better, we figured out the fact that we could elope with a handful of special people there. I hear folks say how they had no idea that this option even existed all the time. Adventure elopements give couples the opportunity to truly honor their relationship on the day they get married. The goal of the adventure elopement is to actually have the best day of your life, and that’s what drives us.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://antonandnataliephoto.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/antonandnataliephoto/

Image Credits
These are our images. Anton & Natalie Photography