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

Stephanie, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So, let’s imagine that you were advising someone who wanted to start something similar to you and they asked you what you would do differently in the startup-process knowing what you know now. How would you respond?

If I had it to do over, I’d have sooner surrounded myself with other photographers. Initially, my journey felt lonely. I wasn’t sure where to start as a low budget beginner. I was lost and nervous, just taking on random shoots for friends and family but not growing much. This went on for years. Gaining experience slowly. I didn’t even know what questions to ask, let alone who to direct them to.

I wanted a community and wasn’t sure how to go about it. The internet 15 years ago isn’t what is it today but at some point I found it to be the most valuable resource. Everything began to change when I started a photography group on Facebook about 6 years ago. I wanted to cultivate a welcoming environment for local photographers to network and it has transformed into so much more over the years. Many of our members are clients looking to hire. It’s a place to share your work, sell, network, hire assistants, offer mentorships, host classes, etc. Now my group offers all the things I wish were available to me when I started. I believe we are now the most prominent Nashville Photography (Nashville Photographers) group with 5.6k members.

Surrounding myself with other photographers was exactly the medicine I needed. I have learned so much from the people in that group and in other groups I have joined. I will always continue to learn by studying the work of others in my field… the more I do that, the more I find that others start to ask me how I do it too.

Stephanie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Being a photographer has been such a part of my identity for so long that I can’t imagine doing anything else. I protect that by doing my very best for every single client. It’s so very important to me to deliver images that wow them and leave them feeling happy they chose me.

As I mentioned, I don’t advertise. So the work I’m doing most at any given time is determined by the clients who seek me out. That changes from time to time and I just take whatever comes my way, generally. A couple of months ago, I shot a divorce party, a proposal, and two weddings in the period of a week. It was an emotional roller coaster, let me tell you. Lately, I seem to be getting referred a lot for head shots, marriage proposals, and random events.

I currently specialize in event, portrait, and headshot photography. I have ample experience with covering conventions, corporate events, private parties, and weddings. I also offer photo booths which are a blast. I do a lot of corporate headshots with my mobile studio and am set up for large groups. I offer lifestyle portraits and family portraits as well.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Just like so many others, I had pivot my photography business in 2020. Prior to the pandemic, I was almost exclusively an event photographer. With the lack of events happening (and the lack of desire to go to them), I moved into the portraits realm. This requires an entirely different set of skills and I had to ramp up my lighting and editing game. Now I do both and am a better photographer for it!

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Believe it or not, aside from word of mouth, other photographers! There is so much work to go around and we can’t take everything that comes our way, so we refer it out. Having a solid group of trusted photographer friends to pass jobs back and forth to is a huge part of what keeps me booked up. The steady stream of referrals keep me from having to spend any money on advertising.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.Stephaniehudsonphoto.Com
• Instagram: Www.Instagram.com/stephaniehudsonphotography/
• Facebook: Facebook.com/StephanieHudsonPhotography

Image Credits
Leah Epling Photography