We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Querriel Madarang a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Querriel, appreciate you joining us today. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?
Being an artist or a creative is a very challenging career but if you love what you do, and with the right mind setting, every challenges that you may encounter along the way will be fun to solve. I am always been a creative, that’s my default, it is fun and very fulfilling. So yes! I am very happy being a creative.
Having a nine to five job might be okay but it depends. If I were to get a regular job, that would be as a creative or as an artist. After college I started working on a creative studio in the Philippines and been to other studios doing graphics, photography to video production. I can say it is fun and learned so many things along the way that helped me grow as an artist, Yes! sometimes it can be stressful but that’s minimal. As a creative, you get the best of both worlds, you got paid while you play.
Getting a regular job out of your field is a different story, When I come in the US four years ago, I cannot find a creative studio to work with, most of the studios here (in my area) needs someone who has at least a year of experience being a creative here in the US, I don’t have that, and I need to start somewhere, so I decided to have a regular job that is not related to my filed of work. At first it was okay, meeting new people, learning new skills, stable income and benefits, but that’s it! It’s no fun getting tiered doing the same routine everyday, plus the politics and the bad bosses you get to deal with everyday. But don’t get me wrong about this, I’m not lazy or against on having a regular job, I’m just not happy doing it. Having a regular job is good, it will bring food on your family’s table and pay the bills but it’s not for me, My home is in the creative industry and that’s where I want to be.
Querriel, 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?
Before anything else, I want to introduce myself to our beloved readers, My name is Querriel Madarang, an artist and portrait photographer from the Philippines. I am a full time portrait photographer here in in downtown Los Angeles, specializing in custom portraits and fine art heirloom prints.
My love for visual arts started at an early age, I was a very curios kid, and always fascinated about colors and human faces, capturing the essence of a person through painting and drawing is where my interest lies, Knowing this, I was able to tailor my education around what I wanted to become.
I have a bachelors degree in Fine Arts and worked on different creative studios for years before migrating in the US. I learned a lot from theses studios, specially from my collogues and art directors which helped me grow as an artist.
I came in the US in 2018 and decided to started a portrait photography business with my wife in San Diego in 2019. Since everyone is doing the usual trend that you see on social media, lifestyle, bikinis etc. we thought that it would be hard for us to compete on those genres because there’s ton of great photographers already doing it. So we decided to go on a different direction, and create something unique, that is not typical on social media or the photos you see inside some ones home, something that everybody is not doing.
So we created a plan and really think about it. Since I have a background in fine arts and doing classical painting styles all my life and my experience of being a photographer for a magazine company, why won’t we combine those two genres and create an image that is a work of art for our clients? something that they can be proud of and treasure for the rest of their life! That day we knew that we have a niche!
A week after we start building our portfolio like crazy, What we did are custom photo sessions with a mix of beauty and fine art. We create works of art, images from classic to contemporary style portraits like no other in our area. First we showed it to our family and friends to see if it will be appealing for them or not, and they were amazed and telling us that they’ve never seen anything like it. We were glad about the feedback that we had, I spoke to my wife that night and I told her, since you have a passion doing makeup, why wont you be my makeup artist instead? with no second thought she said yes! so I sent her to school to study makeup,
After finishing her makeup class, we start reaching out to people in social media promoting our business, it took some time before people started noticing us, it was okay, we got paid clients once a week but that’s not enough to make a living. So I talked to my wife and discuss what might be the problem, she told me what if we give them a VIP treatment? I said how? then she replied we need to change the booking process and the experience! at this point I have no idea what she’s talking about so I replied okay go on… She continued, instead of just booking a photoshoot we need to have a consultation with them on what to wear, what style and look that they want etc. and we need to prepare something for them on the day of the session like food and champagne, we need to give them the full service, no one is doing that! I liked the idea!, so we started promoting our unique services in social media, we gave three free sessions to start with and after a week, the news spread like brushfire and we knew we’re in business.
The pandemic hit the US a few months after we launched our portrait business and we are greatly been affected by it like everybody else. We did have several bookings after the lockdown was lifted but it’s not as many as before because of the restrictions. October 2021 we need to move from San Diego to Los Angeles because my wife had a job offer in a hospital. And that’s exactly what we needed, a fresh start, from a city that has better opportunities for us to grow and be successful.
Now, we are operating in a home studio here in downtown LA providing custom signature portrait session styles from classic to contemporary. Every single portrait in this session is destined to become a beautiful heirloom piece that’s why we take pride in designing it to ensure that it perfectly fits in your home, so your family will treasure it for generations to come.
We also offer regular portrait sessions on our website and for the full details of our museum grade quality Legacy Print products kindly visit www.qmphotography.com
What we do is so much more than just snapping a picture. It’s the technique and experience to consistently capture the highest quality photograph, regardless of the situation. It’s the artistry and vision to get that one shot—that one look—that is so uniquely your portrait. And we are here to guide you through the process of creating works of art for you and your family.
Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
Yes! I wish I knew earlier, great communities like PPA who has a huge library of tutorials, webinars about my craft and the business side of it, they also have great community of photographers that you can ask anytime for advice and if you need help. Mentorship programs provided by masters in the industry like Jerry Ghionis, Sue Bryce and Chris Knight. These people are great! they’ll help you to advance to your craft and will not hesitate to teach you what they know,
Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?
Getting your bachelor’s degree is not enough to be successful, it’s just the tip of the iceberg. You need to be hungry about knowledge and your personal advancement, there is more things to learn after school, so my advice is, if you are a creative like me, invest on your education by joining communities like PPA (Professional Photographers of America) and POROEDU, go out there and network, reach out to other creatives especially great mentors and learn their craft and the business side of it! What you’ll learn from these great people is the once you’ll not gonna learn from school.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.qmphotography.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/qmphotoart/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/qmphotoart
Image Credits
Martha White Jacob Anderson Brescille Albayalde Ann Marie Madarang Christopher Badillo Ashot Dumanyan Kathlyn Mae Pavon Charlotte Abad Christiana Marie Cunanan