We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Shoccara Marcus a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Shoccara, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

Growing up it was challenging when it came time to go to college or audition because we had to submit photographs. Finding a dance photographer was very important because you wanted someone to photograph you with the eye of a dancer. It was rare to find one, so you usually would have your dance teacher to come to the shoot with you or if you didn’t have that you had to try your best to correct your poses the best way possible. This became the driving force behind me becoming a dance photographer. It was a need I needed at a young age and I know its something still needed. If you goggle black female dance what comes up? Nothing. Well, I am changing that.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Shoccara Marcus and I am a creative that specialize in dance photography. Now, dance photography wasn’t always a dream, it came along later in my life. I started off as a dancer. I was in dance classes since the age of 4 years old. I went to college at Howard University in Washington,DC for dance and thats where photography discovered me. I say discovered me because it was a beautiful accident that God was waiting to reveal to me. See… I overslept for a finale exam, which caused me to fail the class. The following semester I need one more class to complete my full-time credits and out of all the classes I could have selected I chose Photography. Why, because growing up I enjoyed documenting life with the old-school camera that we had to drop off at CVS and Walgreens. I created collages on my wall and for Christmas in the 12th grade my parents got me a camcorder. Did I know at the time this was something I was created to do, oh no. So fast forward, I am selecting this Intro to Photography class that I fell in love with. One class went to the next and then the next and then I added it as my minor. I continue to dance but kept photography in my back pocket. I did headshots on the side after college for extra money and then I relocated back home to Atlanta,Ga. It was moving back home because my Father was sick that brought me to really get back to photography. A month home, I learned about Savannah College of Art & Design and then I submit my application. The journey started.

We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.

I created my first product in 2021 that I am very proud of. Its a deck of posing cards that assist dancers and photographer with photoshoots, its called POINTE NOW FLEX posing cards. These cards is the best tool for dancers and photographers that has little to no experience with photographing dancers. Dancers have a million of things to think about when getting ready for a photoshoot. One of the most challenging things is posing. They have to think about what works for their body, which poses to select, where to find these poses, and remember which ones they are really going to try to execute. Well with this product you have a total of 52 poses to select from. Poses that will assist you from the beginning of the shoot to the end. What does mean, well we categorized them in the way I photograph my dancers, starting on two feet, to one foot, to them getting warm to the grand finale of extensions, leaps and jumps. The benefit it has for the average photographer is that on one side it has the picture and on the other side it has a description of the pose in the most simplest terms rather than dance terms that can get challenging when trying to pronounce them. The deck of cards can fit in any dance bag or camera bag. I had no idea about manufacturing this product. It took alot of research, gathering all the poses , and getting sample cards before I was satisfied with the product. One of the most important lessons is that you get more than enough samples of the product and dont pay for the product until you are completely satisfied. I learned that lesson the hard way after receiving the product and not being happy with it and then I had to do it again. Luckily I found another company that I really liked.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I remember when I was in Highschool and my friends and I would always say when I make it Im going to book you for this gig and that gig. We constantly said we were going to work for eachother or with eachother because of our work ethic, creativity, and skill. When I relocated back here to Atlanta I remember calling up some of those friends. Were we excited to book eachother? Oh yes! We knew we could trust eachother to produce the type of work we were looking for. Because I had so many friends in the art field that I grew up with I feel that really helped build my reputation and it continues to do so this day. They knew me from years ago as a dancer and now to see me as a dance photographer enhanced what I contribute to my craft.     

Contact Info:

• Website: www.shocphoto.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/shocphoto
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/shocphoto
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/shoccara-marcus
• Twitter: www.twitter,com/shocphoto

Image Credits
Headshot by Keith Anthony. All the other images by Shoccara S. Marcus