Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Nicole Esposito. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Nicole, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How has Covid changed your business model?

I am a self-taught photographer and began my professional photography business in 2018. Ever since I was a child, I had an interest in photography. I often wonder what trajectory my life would have taken had I come up with the $1,000 for development chemicals needed to take a photography course in college. Instead, my early career was in editing fancy art and architecture books and then web design before focusing on raising my two children.

The kids quickly became my tortured subjects and my love for photography resurfaced with a vengeance. I did a few “jobs” for friends and family who recognized that I had patience and an eye for casual, candid child photography. It took some years, countless Youtube video tutorials on lighting, some local workshops and classes and the support of those around me to give me the confidence I needed to begin doing this for real and as a career.

For a number of years, I stayed in my comfort zone — child and family portraits and family parties. I still do these from time to time, although I’ve backed off the portraits considerably since COVID so kindly brought the world to a screeching halt. I continued with portraits here and there for a bit. I did a bunch of graduation photos for kids who lost their senior years which was extremely fulfilling. But social distancing and rules about gathering made things difficult. I’d worked so hard to learn everything I could about family and children’s portraits that at first it was hard for me to even consider abandoning it, but the world wasn’t giving me a ton of options. Today, I still have my loyal customers who return to me year after year for portraits of their growing families and children and I am grateful for their trust in me to capture their milestones. Getting back to portraits here and there is super refreshing and reminds me of my beginnings.

As awful and scary as those years were, the pause in life, as well as the desire to get out of the house and into nature, led me to a new found passion—landscape photography.
I spent the next 2 or 3 years working feverishly to capture whatever I could, whenever we could find time to get outside and explore. I’ve lived on Long Island nearly my whole life and we explored brand new places each week—to the East End of Long Island, Airbnbs upstate or in the Hamptons—hiking and getting lost and forgetting the craziness of the world around us. Trips to the beach each night for a walk and to catch sunset became something we built into our day. Camera in hand always, I began photographing everything other than people. And somewhat to my surprise, I loved it. I’d always been photographing sunsets and our travels, but it hadn’t occurred to me that anyone might want to purchase one of those for display. Around this same time I began displaying some of my photos with a local gallery and entering their calls for works. To my surprise, I received an honorable mention in my first show and that piece later sold around the Holidays. What I had been dabbling in quickly and very very clearly became what I knew I should be doing. I couldn’t get enough and the isolation of a closed down world gave me so many more opportunities to just get out and focus on perfecting my photos. If not for COVID I’m not sure I would have ever made this pivot. I would have been super busy as always with kids, family, and other portrait jobs that I never would have considered diving in feet first and with such gusto. And I might have missed what really makes me happy. So, a pivot, yes. But I choose to look at it more as the world giving me a sign that I wasn’t in the right place and laying a red carpet at my feet leading me to what I should be doing.

As the world began coming out of its cocoon, so too did my family, catching up on travels that we were forced to put on the back burner. More travel meant tons of travel photos. And more travel photos and experiences ignited a need to travel and explore more of the world, just like I’d done with Long Island. We are now traveling more than ever, catching up on all those years at home. Thoughts of photos are constantly in the back of my head as we choose our next adventure. And my travel portfolio has grown substantially including Iceland, Hawaii (twice), Italy (twice), Belgium, Amsterdam, and a river cruise through France and Germany as well as some local favorites like Cape Cod and our beautiful Long Island. And we can’t forget all the trips to upstate New York following one kid’s lacrosse team around and San Diego which has almost become a second home, visiting the other kid in grad school.

Nicole, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

It’s very clear from my portfolio that I’m slightly obsessed with water, the beach, and anything having to do with coastal life. I love that every single sunrise and sunset is its own work of art, never the same and for me evokes a sense of renewal and sometimes, finality. I love sunlight and reflections of light on water. I love finding my own view of the world through my work and as I watch my own kids taking their own photos, I find it amazing how many people can look at the same exact scene yet see it so differently.

Travel photography is also a large part of my portfolio and I’ve definitely got the travel bug. Not only is it fun to roam a city or a beach town scoping out my favorite shots, but back at home editing is like an exercise in time travel and often brings me back to the exact place…the feeling of an Italian square or the smells and feel of sea spray on my skin while photographing a Hawaiian sunset.

I’m rarely without my camera in hand and I’m constantly adding to my portfolio. And I’m learning. Learning new techniques, lighting, indoor lighting which is my nemesis, nighttime photography and so much more. I was very lucky to discover photography as a true passion and then as a career a bit later in life than most. I used to think I was much less prepared for this life than many others. But what is so amazing about grabbing my camera and heading out to yet another sunset is not only that I know the experience will be therapeutic and beautiful but I will also learn something. Every single time I pick up that camera I uncover something new—a new angle, a new method of catching a beautiful reflection, or a new coveted sunset location. Or even a new little suggestion from a fellow photographer I meet and chat with down on the sand.

I love that when I sell a piece, somehow my work has evoked an emotional response from the buyer. Enough for them to purchase and display in their home or place of work. Enough for them to reach out and ask for help choosing the perfect size and medium. Many buyers are also former Long Island residents who have since relocated. A beach scene or a photo of the Fire Island Lighthouse makes them feel at home, if only for a moment. And when they hang it on a wall, it’s like hanging a piece of their childhood in their living room. I can’t think of very many things that can do that.

Perhaps most importantly, photography has provided me with the creative outlet I never really knew I needed. My formal undergrad training began as pre-med and ended as an English major. Writing has always been a part of my life, but it wasn’t until I discovered that I could marry the photos with some writing that it all really began to make sense to me. There is a story behind each photo—a feeling, a smell, a temperature, a beautiful memory of a trip. It took a while for me to see it, but those things are important to clients. While a visual medium, photography can also tell stories. You can see wind as rough water and blowing sand. You can see storms rolling in as the sky darkens. Or you can see the tranquility of a still summer sunset in the perfect reflections of the bridge on the bay. And folks want to know the stories. They want to know exactly where I was standing to capture that photo, or whether the sand bar is where they used to clam as a kid. It’s all connected.

I’m branching out and hopefully 2025 will be the year. The one where all the hard work begins to really pay off. As a creative brain, I’ve found it difficult to delve into the business world and grasp concrete things that simply aren’t my defaults. I’ve been working with a good friend and business coach and learning the ins and outs of marketing, advertising and just how to approach what for me was a creative outlet also as a sales tool. And that hasn’t been without its struggles—but its beginning to stick here and there and I’m nearing a place where my creative process also includes sales—as a part of the process, rather than an afterthought.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Social media is a tricky thing. On one hand, its a form of connection and inspiration especially for photographers, and on the other, it can be stressful, ever changing and sometimes downright confusing. It’s a necessary evil though, and I often wish it was as second nature to me as it is to younger generations.

I began using Instagram and Facebook for my company shortly before I completed my website so for some time it was my primary means of getting my work out there and “marketing.” And I put that in quotations because for some time I wasn’t marketing at all. I was posting consistently which I had read everywhere was extremely important, attaching a simple location to each photo—no copy, no thoughts and hashtags were still pretty foreign to me. I was getting likes and follows and even some random sales but selling myself and my photography wasn’t something I was at all comfortable with. I’m much, much more comfortable behind the camera and out of sight.

Through work with a local online gallery and a college friend who is a transformation and leadership coach, I’m beginning to build my social media presence a lot more. I’m learning that simply showing photos isn’t enough. People and buyers want to know not only about the photo, but also about me, something that I’m still not incredibly comfortable with—it took me 6 years to get a head shot! They want to know what I was thinking when capturing the image, the emotion behind it and even suggestions on what size and mediums would work best for each image. Buyers who find me on social media want a complete and quick purchasing experience—visual, story attached and very simple purchasing with a click or two. Anymore than that and I’ve lost them. I hadn’t thought about any of this in the beginning. And some days, I still don’t, forgetting to add a purchasing link to my website to a post. Selling simply isn’t second nature to me yet. I’m beginning to get the hang of allowing the world a glimpse inside my head, but it’s a work in progress. I’m still way more comfortable behind the scenes, but I’m getting there. And my social media following is following suit—building slowly and steadily as I learn more and more about marketing, sales and branding—things that were basically foreign to me a few years ago.

Any fun sales or marketing stories?

Just as the world was beginning to open again in 2021 I received an email from a library on the North Shore of Long Island. They had seen my work on Instagram and wanted to see if I’d be interested in doing a solo show of 20-30 pieces. Usually, their shows would incorporate the work of 2 or 3 artists to keep the pieces needed to a manageable number but they still had COVID regulations in place—one artist at a time, no artist reception and much more limited foot traffic. It was going to require a significant investment, but I saw it as an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.

Up until this time, every dollar I was making was going right back into my company. Upgrades to equipment, lighting, props for portraits, etc. Printing and professionally framing 20-30 pieces wasn’t going to be cheap but I made the decision to make the investment with the hopes that some of the pieces would sell and passersby would grab the little promotional cards I was allowed to leave for sales information. The show was amazing. My whole family was still doing school from home and they all helped and it was a really neat experience.

My pieces were displayed for a month and I didn’t make one sale. Not even an inquiry. Slightly crushed and questioning my pivot to landscape photography, I licked my wounds and kept at it. I have one of those pieces left today. One. I marketed every last one of them on social media and to friends and family during that Holiday season and made my investment back with a profit. It took time and I quickly learned that my impatience really had no place in the ups and downs of starting a new business. Things would happen in their own time and I would learn a ton in that process.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Www.nicoleespositophotography.com
• Instagram: @nicole_esposito_photo
• Facebook: http://facebook.com/nicoleespositophotography
• Linkedin: Nicole Esposito Photography
• Other: Pinterest: Nicole Esposito Photography