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

Hi Savanna, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

Growing up, I was always the friend with the tiny digital or disposable camera. I loved setting up shoots any chance I had. My earliest memory of taking my friends outside in the fall leaves for photos was around the age of 11.

Fast forward to year 20 and I had an elective to fill for my Associates of Arts degree. There was an intro to photography class available and I really had no idea what direction I wanted to go in when it came to a career. This sounded fun as I had always enjoyed taking photos as a hobby. I had zero formal training and showed up with a little Canon digital camera I received as a Christmas present. It took a little while to wrap my mind around how a camera actually works.. I learned all the settings and went through weekly constructive critiques, which was hard at times but necessary for growth. (Shout out to my teacher, Devin Miller for serving as an incredible mentor and educator!) After finishing the semester, I decided I was ready to get my bachelors degree in photography at Southern Illinois University. What was I going to do with that degree? Absolutely no idea, haha!
After 1.5 years in the photo program at SIU, I started to feel like it wasn’t the best fit. I never felt cool enough for the hipsters who developed film in the darkroom and I wasn’t into the intense Photoshop editing or commercial photography in a studio with artificial lighting. I felt like the program really only catered to those two paths. Being the social butterfly that I am, I decided to make the switch to Integrated Marketing and Advertising.
In the meantime, through social media and living in a small town, word got around that I was taking photos. While working as a server at our local Italian restaurant and a student job at school, I started taking some sessions as well. This path allowed me to build my business slowly and eventually I graduated from college! Wooh hoo!
Leading up to graduation, I had many people ask me if I was going to own a photo business and go full time. And for some reason I would always laugh and tell them ‘there is no way!’. It just didn’t seem possible to me. A 9-5 seemed to be the only choice… the norm. It’s what everyone was doing.
After I graduated in May, I continued to serve and take photos. I made great money in the fall, but I will never forget when January rolled around. The restaurant was slow, so were sessions and everyone was broke from Christmas. I was newly living on my own and received an electric bill for $300. I cried and panicked. I didn’t know how I was going to make ends meet without asking for help from my parents. At that moment, the anxiety was enough to make me want to quit it all. My mom sent me money to pay for groceries and I started applying for 9-5 jobs in my area.

A few months later I was hired as a social media manager for a local winery. It didn’t pay great but it was at least guaranteed income every two weeks. And oh my gosh, let me tell you… I was miserable. I went from being my own boss with my words and expertise valued and sleeping in to whenever I wanted and working in my yoga pants, to up early, on someone else’s schedule and at the bottom of the totem pole. It was not a peaceful workplace and there were many times I would find myself being interrupted and feeling disrespected. It took 3 months and a beautiful Instagram post by Jenna Kutcher about leaving the corporate world to work for herself. I took the risk! I faced the complete overwhelm of setting up my own business with the taxes and the bank accounts and website. I decided that I would rather take the risk of not knowing what’s to come over being told what to do everyday. I decided I would take the risk of slow photo season in the fall over a consistent paycheck.

Eleven years later, I am married and a mother to two little boys. I get to send them off to school and pick them up. I get to go be involved in class parties and stay home when they’re sick. That flexibility means the world to me. In my career, I have photographed close to 200 weddings and hundreds of families. I’ve been fortunate enough to photograph babies making their way into the world in the wee hours of the morning, travel to San Diego, St. Louis and Nashville for weddings and this past year, I broke 6 figures in my business! I also want to add that the area of Southern Illinois is close knit. I know I have been very fortunate and privileged in my business because word of mouth and in person networking is everything. As far as marketing goes, I pay only for my website. I know in other areas and in larger cities, it does not always work that way.

Don’t get me wrong, owning a business certainly has its struggles. I never clock out. I am the photographer, editor, secretary, social media manager and accountant. I weave photoshoots, emails and editing in and out of naps, bedtime and school schedules. Having boundaries is so hard when clients can reach out to you 24/7 through social media and I’ve had to work many weekends and nights. I don’t get maternity leave and every winter I worry that I won’t be able to pay our bills. However, the risk I took was 100x worth it.

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?

My answer to the previous question gave a ton of background and how I made my way into the photography industry! I currently photograph weddings (~20-25 a year), in-home newborn sessions, family and engagement sessions. Over the last several years I have also worked with a number of small/local businesses and blogs to create content for social media and marketing purposes.

I like to think what sets me apart from the others is how I make people feel before, during and after our session. I’m naturally a very friendly/social person and I know how awkward it can feel in front of a camera. I don’t want our time together to feel like a cold transaction, because it isn’t. I have been present for not only marriages, but births, adoptions, proposals and newly launched businesses. That’s a huge deal! I express excitement for newly engaged couples or a family who is expecting a baby. During sessions, I love to reassure young families (especially moms who worry) that the chaos that comes with toddlers and babies during our time together, is totally normal and nothing new to me (as a mother to two little boys, 5yrs old and 2yrs old, haha! Not much phases me these days)
I love to remind my wedding couples that the day is 100% about them and I encourage them to do what makes them most happy. I know that during the planning of a wedding, many brides and grooms can feel pressured to please families and follow tradition, even when it’t not the best fit. After their wedding day, I LOVE to cheer them on as they grow. Whether that be a new career, college degree, starting a family or moving to a new city. Although I may not be a close friend or family, they invited me to take part in one of the biggest days of their life and that is so special.

Over the last decade, I have had the joy of documenting so many families grow and change. I know that there are soooo many photographers out there, many who are less expensive than myself. But year after year my families and couples continue to choose me. I am forever grateful for their support.

Have you ever had to pivot?

When I first started photography, I would take any and every session that came my way. It wasn’t until I had my first son that I realized I had to protect my time and energy. Time has now become my currency. My work = time away from my family. It has been a journey of setting boundaries and learning outsource but here is how I made it happen:

1. Working from home can be a blessing and a curse at times. Most certainly blessing because I have the flexibility to make my own schedule. On the other hand, so, so hard because my kids need their mama and they often want to play. Many times I’ve had to turn them down because of work.. (My two-year old is sitting on my lap as I type this, asking for a hug and kiss, haha!). Mom guilt is real, and it made me so, so sad. I finally hit a breaking point and hired someone to help me edit. Releasing control has been the hardest part but it has given hours of my life back.

2. Repetitive tasks like answering emails and posting on social media can feel exhausting at times and after a full day, I struggle to find the mental capacity to sit down and think of something fun to post or explain A, B and C in an email. Several months ago I called my mom crying because I felt plum overwhelmed in my business. Once I sucked it up and got off the phone, I surprisingly had a message in my inbox from a girl named Michelle. She had helped other small businesses with behind the scenes tasks such as email and social media management and offered her services to me. A few weeks later we met to go over details and instantly clicked. She got me and we had the same sense of humor. Michelle has been the biggest blessing. She keeps me organized and on task. Bless her.

3. Lastly, I upped my pricing in 2022. I was SO nervous and worried about how my families would respond after paying a certain price for the last several years. Majority of them returned and didn’t even bat an eye. I even gained several new clients and had to eventually start turning people away because I was overbooked. I had raised my prices in order to continue outsourcing help and with the goal to decrease the amount of weddings and sessions I took. However, I was just as busy this fall as I was last fall, haha! Maybe one day I will learn to just flat out say no. I’m working on it.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

I was very fortunate to be starting my business around the time that I was graduating college. My sweet granny bought me my first full frame DSLR camera body, the Canon 5D Mark III. She said it counted as my Christmas, birthday and graduation gift that year, haha! This camera carried me for the next 6 years. Every year I would save up some of my money from sessions to invest in a new lens, flash, online workshops/courses or other gear.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.savannakthleenphotography.com
• Instagram: @Savannakathleenphotography
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/skphoto326

Image Credits
Photo of me: Raylyn Cameron Photography 8 Photos – Savanna Kathleen Photography