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

Alright, Stephanie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We love asking folks what they would do differently if they were starting today – how they would speed up the process, etc. We’d love to hear how you would set everything up if you were to start from step 1 today.

This is a question I thin about all the time, so it’s humorous that I would find it in the list of possible questions for this article! Everyone starts somewhere, and once everyone starts their business, whatever that may be, we often feel locked into doing exactly what we market ourselves as.

I started out in the wedding photography industry in 2016 after what felt like a very quick thought of “I just got married, I love weddings, and I love photography, so why not combine them all into a business?”. After I started my business, I knew I needed to “niche down” and weddings seemed to be where the money was, so that’s where I settled. I spent years not fully enjoying the hustle and bustle of weddings, but didn’t know what else was out there for a photographer. It wasn’t until recently that I began exploring other options for photography income, and branching out into trying different niches to figure out what I enjoy the most.

If I was completely starting over, I would give myself the time and freedom to explore lots of niches and work with or shadow fellow photographers to gain industry experience before setting out on my own. I feel that we ofter get an idea in our heads for what kind of business or service we want to extend to the world, and then instead of actually gaining experience, we just jump right in. And don’t get me wrong, I have many business ideas swirling around in my head at any given moment, but as for the business that I have been running for a solid eight years, I do wish I had taken the time to truly invest in educating myself before jumping in. I shadowed a fellow wedding photographer for a few short months, but if I could go back, I would 100% tell myself to slow down, learn as much as I could, and truly feel like I had a plan in place to start my own business. But you know, maybe that’s just the 30 year old mom in me talking, and maybe there is something to be said about the 21 year old with a grand dream and just enough hutzpah to go after it.

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.

For those of you, let’s be real – literally all of you, who don’t know who I am, I’m Stephanie. Owner and operator of Stephanie Batten Photography. I have owned and run this business since 2016 and am still going strong, even after taking a step back to part-time in 2023 after having my first child.

In 2016 when I started this photography business, I was a full-time teacher, newly married, and was desperately looking for a way to earn a little extra cash while my husband was finishing his Master’s Degree. We were living off a teacher salary in one of the lowest paying states, my husband’s very part-time salary from working at a children’s museum, and I knew that I had just enough entrepreneurial spirit to start some kind of business that could help make ends meet. Little did I know that within the first year of opening “my door” so to say, I would be booking enough weddings to almost match what I was bringing home teaching full time. I never viewed this as a “success” necessarily, but I knew that I wanted to continue to get better and hone my craft even more, so I started really looking at the services I was offering and trying to figure ways out to expand them and make my own mark in the photography world.

After years solely working with wedding clients, in 2023 I took a step back in my business and really started thinking about who my ideal clients were and what they needed from me. Time and time again I was picturing small business owners and fellow service providers, not potential wedding clients. I dawned on me then that I had been living the last seven to eight years not actually being happy with my business because I didn’t feel called to only offer wedding photography. I took a huge leap in late 2023/early 2024 and started reaching out to small businesses about offering branding photography. It was slow going at first because the people I was reaching out either didn’t see the value in a professional branding session, or just already had someone they were working with to provide similar services.

It wasn’t until late 2024 when I finally felt that I was honing in on my ideal clients and figuring out exactly what they wanted from a session with me. At that point I switched over totally to offering branding and content sessions for small businesses and service industry professionals. A large portion of my portfolio is made up of hairstylists and fellow photographers, and I absolutely have found that those fit with the overall theme of who I want to be able to serve. My business is all about empowering small business owners to feel like they can make their own mark in their industry, and providing high-quality photographs and content that can be shared to further that goal for each and every person that hops in front of my lens.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

This is going to be a very touchy subject for a lot of people, but a lesson or idea that I have been really struggling with recently is that as a small business owner we have to put all of our hope and energy into social media because that’s where we get clients from. Maybe this is true for some businesses or professionals, but for my business it is completely false. I got so wrapped up in this idea that I was just pushing continual content without a plan or any kind of actual strategy, just in the hopes that I would find new branding clients. I got so discouraged when I didn’t find overnight success, and still struggle with this even today.

I want people to know that yes, social media is a great tool for putting your work out to the world, but it is not the end-all-be-all for your business. Focus on providing a great client experience, and trust me, you will see growth in your business! Most of my clients now come from referrals, and then the potential client will check out my website and social media to see if I match their style and ideals for their business.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding thing about being a branding and content photographer is seeing my clients using their images and content that I created for them to further their own personal business goals. I truly want to support the businesses that book with me, and seeing the things I helped create in use is the best feeling! I get such a sense of pride when I see past clients not only using my images for their social media icons or profile pictures, but using them in strategic ways to boost their marketing and showcase their unique brand.

I use a fairly in depth brand questionnaire with each client once the book with me, and it allows me to really get to know their personality, business goals, and overall vibe they want for their session. Since using this, I have found that my clients are so much happier with the outcome of their sessions, and they have strategic ways to put their images and content to use for their own business.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.stephaniebattenphotography.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stephaniebattenphotography
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stephaniebattenphotography

Image Credits

Stephanie Batten Photography