We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Reilly Tartre. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Reilly below.

Reilly, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. One of the most important things small businesses can do, in our view, is to serve underserved communities that are ignored by giant corporations who often are just creating mass-market, one-size-fits-all solutions. Talk to us about how you serve an underserved community.

Right now, besides working full-time in weddings, I’m beginning to market the non-profit side of my business, where I tell the stories of the work that non-profits and organizations are doing around the world. I was in my high school photography class when we had a guest speaker come in. He was a full-time wedding photographer who also spent his time overseas documenting some of humanity’s most moving and raw moments through various nonprofits and mission organizations. I remember it was the first time I saw and understood the weight of photography beyond beautiful photos.

That summer, I went to Kolkata, India with my dance team, and the nonprofit Momentum Global, to serve in the city slums and some remote villages. I took the school’s camera and was deemed the team’s photographer (it was less official than it seemed) and it was my job to document the work we were doing, in hopes of using these photos to encourage more students to attend trips in the future, and for website + marketing materials. There was one day my team went to a slum school in a village called Pradapur (need to double-check spelling). We were an hour or so into our project there when the leader of our team asked me to walk around the surrounding area with some other local team members to take some establishing shots. I happily agreed.

I can’t exactly describe the feeling of peace and assurance I felt during this next hour. As I was walking in silence, I felt in that peace that God was telling me this is what he wanted me to do with my life. At that point, photography was barely a hobby. I owned a dinky DSLR camera and had only a few months of experience, but those photos I took walking around the village showed me a new layer that photo brought to the world: An ability to make people feel seen and known as Christ would want them to, AND a way for people to understand the weight and reality of what is going on in our world.

In the next couple of years, photos took a back seat as I pursued other things, but there was a time in 2022 when I felt a strong desire to pursue it again. The Lord truly guided a clear path back to photo, this time in the wedding industry. I spent a summer being mentored by and shadowing Jenna Chrisitan, with the DFW company @jennamarie.co, and that summer was transformative in growing my craft, creativity, and business. She poured so much into me and taught me everything I needed to know to launch the business I have today and it was a true gift from God that that path was made so clear.

After that summer, I didn’t really “decide” to go full-time, it was kind of something I slowly stepped into after graduating. But the more that my business grew, the clearer it became that this was what God wanted me to spend my time doing.

A couple of months into full-time, I had a bit of a breakdown. I felt a huge amount of imposter syndrome and was anxious about the weddings and clients I’d booked, and it led to a huge lack of creativity and confidence in the place God had led me to. As I started praying for clarity, an opportunity came up to go back to India with Momentum Global, to get more marketing storytelling content for them.

I just returned from that trip in late August, and it was a crucial turning point for my mindset and how I run my business. My creativity and storytelling process became less about taking incredible photos, and more about service.

One of my favorite quotes I heard during my freshman year of college, was “Vocation is the place where our deep gladness meets the world’s deep need.” by Frederick Buechner. During this trip I was asking the Lord to show me where this intersection was practical; how could I use photography to meet the world’s deepest needs, while returning to a delight in the gift he had given?

After returning from India, the shock about the reality of life over there was still the same. And the lack of understanding of how a large part of the world lives was also the same. It’s one thing to hear stories about extreme poverty and a lack of the gospel in other places. It’s entirely another to see and experience it visually. Photography is a way to showcase that to people, in hopes that it wakes people up from the stagnant comfort of our lives. I learned I can serve through photography, by empowering others to look outside themselves long enough, to want to change something in the world. It’s my hope and prayer I continue to do this and tell the stories that aren’t being told of the work that still needs laborers.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Reilly Tartre, with Reilly Erin Photography LLC. I am a wedding photographer based in Fort Worth, Texas who cherishes authentic and holy moments. After spending most of high school in photo classes, I had a desire to break into the wedding industry. I spent a summer shadowing and interning for established DFW photographer, Jenna Christian, @jennamarie.co. I learned so much from her about how to manage a business, grow in creativity, and get familiar with the wedding industry as a whole.

As I was studying under Jenna, I was shooting as much as I could for my portfolio and growing my business. I started to take graduation clients, which led to engagements and proposals, and eventually… weddings! I’ll be celebrating two years of Reilly Erin Photography this January, and I’m excited to keep serving clients by capturing the most sacred moments of their special days. I believe no moment is too small on a wedding day, and each minute is worthy of being cherished and documented.

For more info, you can visit my Instagram @reillyerinphoto, or my website: www.reillyerinphoto.com

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

A big lesson I’m still in the process of learning is the need for margin in your life and business. In the beginning phases of my business, it was easy to be in a scarcity mindset of taking any and every client or opportunity that comes your way. Now that I’m beginning to book clients with more consistency, I’ve had to learn that saying yes to everyone and everything cannot coexist with a thriving business. Rather, saying no to a good thing increases your capacity to say yes to really amazing things. I’ve had to learn that without margin, you will quickly burn out, run yourself into the ground as you try to please everyone, and deviate from a clear brand image and strategy you’re trying to convey. In our industry, a fully booked calendar often means success. I’ve had to shift that narrative and understand that a fully booked calendar of things that *align* with your brand, vision, and mission is a success. Just because you can say yes, doesn’t mean you should. Rather, with margin, you can best serve your business and your clients better.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Speaking from this last question, a couple of months into going full-time with my business, I hit a breaking point mentally. I realized my mission and vision behind my photography may have claimed to be something deeper, but in reality, all I was focused on was taking “good” photos. I had to dig deeper into each wedding and find a way to pivot my mindset, otherwise, I knew my business and creative approach would crumble. As I began to shoot more weddings and grow closer with clients on their wedding day, the Lord revealed to me how incredible it was that these days were occurring, and how rare it was to be a witness to so many people joining their lives together. I began to see wedding days not as a photoshoot, but as a time of gathering. Probably the only time in this couple’s entire life that these exact people will be brought together under the same roof. How those interactions between guests, moments of everyone witnessing a once-in-a-lifetime covenant being made before God, were not things I was on the outskirts of. They were moments I was IN, joyfully documenting as something eternal was being done. And how my being there to capture those moments, led to my couple and the guests being able to be present and truly cherish those moments. That is how I serve them, love them, and care for them not just as a photographer, but from one soul to another.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.reillyerinphoto.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reillyerinphoto/ (@reillyerinphoto)
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reillytartre/

Image Credits

headshots: Odette Garza @odettepatriciaco