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

Hi Stephanie, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about how you got your first non-friend, non-family client. Paint the picture for us so we can feel the same excitement you felt on that day.

It’s actually funny how I got my first client. So I use dating apps to promote myself on there and in my bio it says “I’m a photographer, book a shoot with me @theatlphotographer.” The guy messaged me wanting dating profile pictures like lifestyle kind of photos and he was the first client that booked me.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Hi everyone, I’m Stephanie @theatlphotographer ! I’m a photographer and a content creator. I shoot mostly engagements, families, lifestyle and dating profile pictures. When clients book me I make sure they are prepared by sending them ideas for poses and going over their outfit selections for the shoot. I make sure my clients are comfortable and happy with the results.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

As a creator, my journey that I struggled with that most non-creatives won’t understand is knowing how to market myself. I’ll find creative ways to sell myself and pitch my services with everyone that I come in contact with. It’s like a 24/7 job to put myself out there. Creators want to get known and booked. When you first start out in the creative field, you find yourself doing free work for people to make connections. From there, people can recommend you for a job. It can be a struggle when people are not wanting to pay for your services, because they think it’s about clicking a button to take a photo. They don’t know the behind the scenes of the editing process, the idea, or concept/planning that went into the shoot. So if you’re a non-creator, please don’t ask a photographer to “collab”, “time for print” or “I can shout you out”. Unless you have something to offer where both parties benefit mutually, avoid this. Those things don’t pay the bills, money does.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Posting a lot of content on all social media platforms have helped me build my audience and got my name out there. The platforms I would recommend would be Instagram Reels, Tiktok, and Youtube Shorts. By using trending audios with the videos, it gives me lots of exposure and business. Bottom line is just keep posting consistently relating to your niche and use relevant hashtags.

Contact Info:

• Website: theatlphotographer.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theatlphotographer/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theatlphotographer
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@stephpuppychan/featured