We recently connected with Shemara “Kandyy” Pittman and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Shemara “Kandyy”, thanks for joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
I came up with the idea of starting my freelance photography business in 2016 because I’ve always loved taking photos of almost everything, I have an eye for beauty and art I see art in so many things. When I was younger before camera phones were popular I’d take my grandmothers camera and take so many pictures, when I’d visit family in New York for the summer I take pictures of everything and they always came out beautiful so as I got older I of course got an iPhone and I started taking more pictures of nature, animals, plants, the sky, family etc so I thought hey I should be a photographer and started doing mini photoshoots when I turned 16 and the older I got the more serious I took it, it was like an outlet for me also like I was relaxed and free. I knew if I started a photography business it would work and be great because I have a great eye for photography and people love having their photos taken wether it’s products, headshots, birthdays etc. In 2016 I started my business called Gifted Lenses, I chose that name because my eyes are gifted and we see life through a different lens everything is art and I help others see the same.
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 live in Charlotte NC I was born and raised in Rocky Mount NC. Art and photography has been my life forever. I decided to turn my passion into a business in 2016 which is when Gifted Lenses was created. What sets me apart from other photographers is I’ve almost always taken my photos with an iPhone so when I started my business I was known as the girl with the iPhone. That’s special to me because everyone loves my photos and book me to do their photoshoots and capture special moments even though I’m not using a big camera my work speaks for itself just through the lens of my iPhone and I’m so grateful for those that support that. Believing in my vision by booking me supports my slogan seeing life through a different lens and shows how gifted I am because I don’t have to use a big camera (even though I’m working towards getting one now to take my work to new heights) and my photos are just as beautiful you would never know if was taken with a phone.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
I built my audience on social media by basically staying consistent with posting. People love to see art, they love beautiful things when I started posting I was mainly posting nature and animals, beach photos the ocean the pier and people loved those pictures. The more I posted the more they interacted with it and shared my post. My advice to others is stay consistent and people will notice you, use location tags also. I had a few celebrities follow which led to some of their followers checking out my page and liking my photos as well.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
In life I’ve been through a lot of hard times to where trying to find the beauty in situations was all I could do so my photography has always helped me because that’s what I do when I see things I take photos of things some don’t see as art but once I capture it you can see the beauty and you’re left in awe like wow I would’ve never looked at it that way
Contact Info:
- Website: Giftedlensesphotography.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/giftedlenses?igshid=Y2IzZGU1MTFhOQ==
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@Officialkandy
Image Credits
All photos were taken by me Gifted Lenses Photography