We recently connected with Sophie Britton and have shared our conversation below.

Sophie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you share a customer success story with us?

The idea behind Sophie Crew Photography began with the birth of my eldest daughter, Ava, over sixteen years ago. I didn’t have a real camera or any knowledge of photography, but when she was just days old, I held a little ‘newborn photo shoot’ for her using only a point and shoot camera, my bedroom lamp and terrible composition. I didn’t know what I was doing, but I knew I wanted to capture her tiny features because soon, she would grow and change. By the time I downloaded the free trial of Photoshop, and figured out how to make those photos a beautiful selective color (the trend back then), a couple of weeks had gone by and this newborn of mine was a completely different girl – she had already grown and changed so much. I knew then that this is what I wanted to do. I wanted to capture these special moments for new parents, to freeze time for them so they could look back and marvel in the beauty of their ever growing babies.

I feel that capturing these special moments, freezing time for my clients that are just trying to survive those first few weeks of having a newborn, is the most special thing I can do for them. Some of my clients have a spouse who is deployed and can’t be with their newborn for some time. I get to be the one to chronicle this time in baby’s life for them. I have clients that have tried for years to have their baby, have gone through IVF, adoption, loss, etc, and now have their beautiful baby. I get to be the one to capture those moments for them.

Clients telling me days/weeks/months/years after their newborn session that they ‘can’t believe baby used to be so small, or look like this, or curl up that way’ when looking back at their newborn photos confirms that the reason I do this is still the same reason why I started my business – to freeze these fleeting moments for my little clients. There is no better feeling than to look back at the reason when I began my newborn photography business and have those reminders daily that I am providing my clients with one of the very best gifts of capturing these very special times in their lives before they change so quickly.

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 passion for newborn photography began over sixteen years ago with the birth of my eldest daughter, Ava. I didn’t have a camera or any idea of anything photography related. What I did know is that I wanted to capture her tiny, 6lb 2oz details before she grew and changed. So I picked up my point and shoot camera, took some really terribly composed, horribly lit and sloppily posed photos of my daughter. The photos turned out technically terrible but I was in love. I fell in love with the idea that I was able to freeze that time in our lives so show just how small she once was. So, I headed to BestBuy and bought myself my first entry-level DSLR. I began to learn to use my camera, learning all of the basic functions and practiced on my growing baby girl. Weeks, months and years went by, getting better at every stage.

Fast forward to almost three years later… I was a high school French teacher at the time and photography was just a little side hobby, mainly for me to chronicle my daughter’s life, but also for my friends and their growing kiddos. I had my second baby, Emma. By now, you’d think I had mastered newborn photography in time to get some awesome shots of my second newborn. Not really, I knew how to use my camera but still wanted to perfect my newborn posing. So that was my goal after Emma’s birth… to get better with newborn posing. After all, this is why I began photography! So I continued to practice on my daughters, friends’ babies, etc. I started a blog and even put together a Facebook business page to chronicle my adventures with my camera and progress in newborn photography. I kept thinking how cool it would be if that were my full time job – being a newborn photographer. But who was I kidding, that was just a dream… I was a French teacher.

Just weeks after Emma turned one, she suffered a massive brain injury that halted our lives. The aftermath of the injury left her needing our attention and care while we navigated our new normal. I had taken a leave of absence from teaching to care for my daughter in the months after her return home. I wasn’t ready to leave her and the care she needed during the day to go back to my teaching job. However, even with life altering curve balls that are thrown out there, the world around us keeps moving, and our mortgage, cars and other bills still needed to be paid. So, it was then that it was decided. I would take this newborn photography hobby of mine, get a business license and just cross my fingers that my new business would somehow cover our bills. The idea was that I would stay home to care for our brain injured child during the day, then take on photography sessions in the afternoons and weekends when the girls’ dad was off work.

It worked.

I was now living the dream of being a professional newborn photographer.

Who knew that it would take such a life altering, terrible event in our lives to push me to follow my career passion. I always think that had this not happened to Emma. would I still be teaching, still dreaming of how awesome it could be to make newborn photography my full time career?

So, Sophie Crew Photography officially began in 2009 thanks to the support of our family, friends and our beautiful community, willing to give me a shot at photographing their sweet little ones.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I believe that my reputation within my market is built based on my specialized expertise, knowledge and experience over time with posed newborn photography. Not only do I work with my clients to provide them with beautiful photographs of their precious newborns, but I also offer mentoring services with fellow photographers who want to perfect their newborn posing skills.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

My clients mainly find me through word of mouth from previous clients or Google. I have worked hard to get not only my SEO organically to the top, but also have fostered great relationships with my clients, providing them with a great experience to share with their friends and family.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.sophiecrewphotography.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/sophiecrewphotography
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/SophieCrewPhotography
• Youtube: https://youtu.be/_anPs-jcyPc

Image Credits
Sophie Crew Photography