We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Rachel Dampolo. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Rachel below.
Rachel, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.
I took a film photography class back in high school, so I learned a bit about composition and camera settings back then (a million years ago). It wasn’t until years later that I picked up a digital camera and began messing around with it. I always felt like a had an eye for it… but relied on “auto settings” for a long time. With the help of my husband, who went to film school, and practical hands on learning (shooting with friends and family), I eventually learned how to use my camera’s manual settings. Since then, I’ve become a part of an amazing community of peers and am always learning from them. I’ve also used websites like YouTube and social media like IG & TikTok to continue my education… I am ALWAYS learning new techniques.
Knowing what I know now… I wish I had sought out a mentor when I decided to take this hobby to the next level. I wish I had become part of a photography community a lot sooner. I could have really used a lot of these friends & peers when I was first starting out. Within this group of people, comes various levels of experience, knowledge, and sage advice.
I think the most essential thing that should be the top of any aspiring photographer’s to do list is: Master Manual Mode! Learning the “exposure triangle” (Aperture, Shutter Speed, & ISO) is a MUST! This was something that I had a hard time grasping in the beginning, for whatever reason. Once it clicked for me, it’s like a lightbulb went off.
As far as obstacles go, I think the cost of equipment and time management were two of my hurdles. I had (and still have) a full time job in addition to this photography business… so finding the time to focus on what I love was tough. That’s a balance that I now find very easy… thank goodness!
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 Rachel… I’m a Photographer who is also a full time bank branch assistant manager by day. I’ve been dabbling in photography for years but my business really took off after Covid (I’ll talk more about that in a bit). My husband Jesse is a Videographer, both for Dampolo Photography and on a freelance basis. We have 2 kids who are 5 and 7… one of which has even tagged along for a couple family sessions to take his own photos.
I specialize in portrait photography which includes: Couples/Engagements, Families, Maternity, Newborn, Branding / Headshots, solo portraits, kids, and we take on a handful of weddings a year. My editing style would be “true to color”.
We have a tiny studio in North Andover called The Little Loft, which we just opened in May of this year. When I’m not shooting there, I rent the space out to other photographers. We’ve started doing creative installments in there which was a fun idea I brought to this photography community. Our first one is called “Pages” and it’s a book themed concept designed by Sydney Manuele Photography. It consists of a stunning backdrop of books & florals… as well as floating book pages hanging from the ceiling. It’s really breathtaking and it’s given lots of photographers a chance to get creative in the space. We have a few more concepts in the works for the coming months,
For my clients, my main job is to make them feel comfortable in front of the camera and to have fun. Our sessions are natural and candid and of course we’ll get a handful of posed photos as well. I offer styling advice, a client closet, and have developed a service guide so they know exactly what to expect… all the way from initial inquiry to gallery delivery. I offer all inclusive pricing and do not set a limit on the number of images I deliver. I have a very fast turn around time but without compromising on quality.
I think what I’m most proud of is the sense of community I’ve developed. Within the past couple years I’ve met and become close with so many amazing, talented photographers. It’s not only beneficial to those of us in the community, but great for clients as well. When we get inquiries and are unavailable or it’s outside of our area, we have this amazing network built so we can refer clients to one another.
How did you build your audience on social media?
My social media journeys kind of a funny one. I started a very slow crawl of trying to build a following. I spent time “digging” each day. Digging involves finding things that are within my niche, aka other photographers then I would visit their page, add some genuine feedback on a few posts, and repeat… for maybe 10-20 accounts per day. I would find these pages by searching relevant hashtags, or location tags. I would also seek out potential clients via the same method, and interact with their posts whenever possible (public accounts). This got me a very slow but steady following on IG.
When reels became big, I made a reel with instructions for Canon users about how to create a double exposure image in camera. I used trending audio, BTS video, photos, and instructions in the caption. With this one reel, I skyrocketed from 2500 to over 10,000 followers in a matter of weeks. Months later I made another educational reel about what settings I used to create a fun motion blur image at a wedding… and boom: another 1500 followers in a week. My educational posts are the ones that help my page excel!
I always make sure I’m showing my face on socials, the good / the bad / and the ugly. I don’t hide who I am, I’m transparent with a lot of myself… and I think people appreciate that.
Now as far as potential clients go… I don’t get most from IG, despite my following.
I’ve gotten more clients on social media from Facebook actually. I’m a member of many community groups in the areas I like to shoot in (Danvers, Beverly, Newburyport, Stoneham, Wakefield). I keep an eye out when people are looking for recommendations for a photographer and throw my name into the mix. I post when I have mini sessions and share to all of these community pages.
Social media is a job unto itself sometimes, but if you can carve out even 30 minutes a day to it… it can pay off!
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
In 2020 when Covid struck and no one knew what to do with themselves… is actually the year my business really took off. When everyone was stuck in their homes, people were out of work… venues and parks were shut down and we couldn’t even be within 6 feet of people… how are people supposed to get their photos? People are having babies, families are growing, people are pregnant…. but they don’t get to have the photoshoot they envisioned because the world is ending!
I took this opportunity to put a little light into the lives of over 100 people, and raise some money in the process. I heard of a photographer in Needham or Natick doing something called the Front Steps Project. She was going to people’s homes during lockdown and taking family portraits from a safe distance of people in front of their homes.
I decided to participate! I put myself out there on social media, even had my son’s school send out an e-mail to all of the preschool families. I decided I’d let the families choose how much they wanted to pay, with a $40 minimum, and I would swing by for 5-10 images, then donate 100% of the proceeds to a Covid related charity. I ended up raising over $8,400 in the few months that we were on lockdown.
It not only gave me some purpose during this insane time, but gave 100+ families something good to remember from this lockdown, and raised money for so many people in need.
It helped my business so much because it introduced me to so many people! It also gave me a chance to get more comfortable with my camera in all sorts of different lights & settings.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.dampolophotography.com
- Instagram: @dampolophotography
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/dampolophoto
- Other: Dampolo Photography on Google! studio IG: @the_little.loft dress rental IG: @the.community_closet
Image Credits
Dampolo Photography