We recently connected with Sadie Murbarger and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Sadie, thanks for joining us today. Can you share an important lesson you learned in a prior job that’s helped you in your career afterwards?

After being burnt out from working at a church back in Illinois, my first salaried full-time job was a social worker. It was a job that I had no real prior experience in before. I worked this job for over a year and a half before moving to St Louis to help plant a church and continue my photography business. I was shocked but also inspired to find so many similarities in my social work job that carry over to helping pastor an extremely unique church as well as booking and working with photography clients.

So many jobs involve people; interacting with them, leading them, creating art and documenting memories. My intuition and empathy grew so so much as a social worker. So many of my clients at my social work job had been seen as statistics their whole lives. So for me, as their caseworker, to form a relationship with parents and children to help address risk factors in their family dynamic isn’t a simple, black and white experience. No one wants to be treated like a project, and *that* is what I carry into as a worship leader and a photographer.

People have an incredible BS radar, so if you’re not genuine, or if you’re interacting with them just because it’s your job, they can tell. I really try to put myself in my photography clients’ shoes. They have hired me to capture their wedding, and while it is one of my many weddings I capture in a year, this is the single best day of their lives, so I want to be intentional as I capture these memories through my camera lens.

Sadie, 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?

Hi! I’m Sadie! I’ve been charging for photo sessions & video for over two years now. My photography business is my COVID-baby. I bought a camera off of Facebook Marketplace in May 2020, but I’ve truly been learning photography skills much earlier than that. I’ve always been the person taking photos for every occasion, every huge wall mural in a new city, every homecoming dance. I was editing iPhone photos in Lightroom since I was 18 or so; so when I bought my camera, it felt like the artistry was already there, I was just learning this new medium and how to accomplish the photo ideas that were already swirling around in my brain.

I primarily shoot weddings, couples, and seniors, but I have dabbled in many other types of photo sessions as well. I think one of the big reasons why my clients love working with me is the collaborative aspect of shooting with me. I work hard to really gain my clients’ trust, so it feels like we have both worked hard to make our photo dreams a reality. Feeling comfortable with your photographer and getting excited about the photos is the most important thing in my opinion. People are not only hiring me for my work, but for the experience of working with me as well.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

Oh absolutely. I’m a huge podcast nerd, so finding podcasts that not only talked about camera settings, editing, etc., but focus on topics like client experience, finding your dream client, and other topics of the like is SO important. There is way more back end work as a photographer than most people realize. Facebook groups for your area of business is so helpful too; it’s a great way to give advice to people who are newer to your field, but also to get advice from veterans who have done and seen it all!

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I’m not sure if this is the right move for everyone, but my personal Instagram account and photography Instagram account are one in the same. I already had this platform on Instagram where people were enjoying my work, whether it was photos of me or photos of others. I originally had a separate Instagram account only for photography, but the more I started to work with clients, the more important it became to me that my clients are not only hiring me for my portfolio, but they can follow along and really feel like they know me since I post about my life daily.

Social media is the new handshake for so many areas of business nowadays. My photography clients are not hiring a robot to take their photos. My personality is so deeply intertwined with my work, and I believe that it shows.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sadiemurbarger.mypixieset.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sadiemurbarger/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sadie-murbarger-34b73b139/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMTrqwUxhK3lzy0cKJmX91w

Image Credits
Sadie Murbarger