We recently connected with Rachel Mercer and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Rachel thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I walked into my first classroom as a nervous 22 year old, freshly graduated from Michigan State University and ready to jump into my next adventure teaching English, Newspaper, Yearbook, and Video Broadcasting at a small rural high school near Lansing. My principal showed me drawers and drawers full of DSLR cameras and lenses for my student journalists to use, and I had a small panic moment of, “Oh! I don’t know how to use these! How do I teach them?” before taking one home to practice.

Through Google and trial and error, I taught myself how to use a Nikon. My corgi Bowie served as the perfect model for me as I learned my way around my first DSLR camera. I spent nearly every free moment I had taking pictures of Bowie, trying to get the perfect shot. I made him an Instagram account (@bowiethecorgi), and soon he (and later, his sister Nova) had over 13,000 followers. Bowie was featured on Buzzfeed and published in Women’s Day Magazine. I’ve since stopped photographing him constantly and keeping up with his Instagram account, but Bowie was very much my muse while I taught myself photography.

About a year after I first started learning how to shoot photos manually, I began to photograph my friends and family members. I remember feeling frustrated that some photos turned out beautifully and others not so great — it wasn’t until I took the Lighting & Locations online course by Katelyn James that things really clicked for me and I started producing really consistent work. Suddenly, I understood light and how to work with it. That was the biggest game changer in my learning process.

I’ve been teaching a friend photography, and it wasn’t until I broke everything down for her that I really realized how much I’ve learned over the years. There’s so much knowledge required to create a beautiful photo: camera settings, lighting, location, composition, posing, editing. And that’s just the creative side of things; running a business requires an entirely different skill set: accounting, marketing, web design, organizational systems, and on and on and on. Wedding photography, specifically, demands additional skills. I think I’ve learned bits and pieces every day since I first picked up that DSLR camera 8 years ago. And of course, as an artist and a business owner, there is always more to learn. I like to invest in education constantly, and I’m always trying to do better.

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 primarily a wedding photographer, but I photograph high school senior and family portrait sessions as well. There are a LOT of incredibly talented photographers in every city in every corner of the world, but what I believe sets me apart from the others is ME and my personality. I’ve always been a “people person,” and my couples are at the heart of everything I do. At every wedding I photograph, I think, “Wow, what an honor to be here.” You can bet that I’ll be smiling ear to ear during toasts and laughing at the best man’s funny stories about the groom. I’m invested in my couples’ wedding day, and I’ll do whatever it takes to ensure they have a magical day and even more magical photos. I want to give my clients the best experience possible from start to finish, which includes prompt communication, helpful resources, and super fast sneak peeks. I take the time to get to know my clients, and I run a very personal brand so that they can get to know me; that way, on wedding day, everybody feels like friends. I do everything with a smile on my face because I genuinely love my job. One of the best compliments I ever received from a wedding review is, “she is just such a kind and genuine and calming presence.” That’s always what I strive to be.

Of course, my photos set me apart from other photographers too. I’m known for my light and colorful editing style, and the images I love best are dreamy, sun-soaked, backlit portraits. I’m really proud of how consistent my work is, regardless of changing factors like light and weather. I can create light, true to color images in nearly any scenario. This is something that is so important on a wedding day, because no two days are the same. Some venues are large and darkly lit, and some are outside in full sun. Both present unique challenges, and I know how to handle both cases. I’m really good at adapting to changing timelines and lighting situations, and I’m always proud of each wedding gallery I deliver knowing that I did my best possible work that day under that day’s circumstances.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I think I’m always pivoting a bit in career and life. My most notable “pivot” was when I decided to leave my high school teaching job to stay home with my firstborn son and focus on photography “full time” (I put full time in quotations marks because the line between stay-at-home mom to two toddlers and full time wedding photographer always feels a little blurred, and both titles are always competing a bit.) When I returned to my teaching job after my maternity leave in 2019, I knew very quickly that I needed a more sustainable work/life balance. I finished out that semester and resigned. It was probably the hardest decision I ever had to make because a lot of my identity was wrapped up in being a teacher, but it was also an easy decision because I knew it was what was best for me. At the time, I had no idea that my photography business would grow into what it is now.

I’m still pivoting in my career here and there as I figure out what works best for me and my family. It’s hard to balance those two things sometimes with such young kids, so I’m always setting new boundaries for myself to protect my family and personal time. I’m still figuring things out, as I think everybody is. I’m grateful that I have the freedom and flexibility to set my own boundaries and change them whenever I need to. Right now, that looks like capping the number of weddings I take each month in 2023 so I don’t burn out like I have in the past when I took too many on.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

It’s a huge honor to take and deliver photographs that will become somebody’s precious memories. I love seeing my photos displayed in my clients’ homes. I love how my photos can bring people joy, both when they see their galleries for the first time and when they revisit them years later.

I love being a photojournalist and a historian. Life is so fleeting, and I’ve taken photographs of people who are no longer here with us. I walked into a funeral for a former student once, and a photo I had taken of him was the one they chose to display prominently. It stopped me in my tracks, and I still think of that photo as the most important one I’ve ever taken.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.rachelmercerphotography.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/rachelmercerphoto
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rachelmercerphotography