We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Stevie Dee a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Stevie , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you take vacations? Why or why not?
Taking time off to vacation can be difficult, especially in the early years of business. Many business owners feel guilty for taking time off or feel like things will fall apart if they’re not there working everyday. I think a lot of Americans feel this way as we’ve normalized over working as a society, almost like it’s a badge of honor with the thought: The busier we are, the more successful we are. I thought this was normal too until I traveled abroad and saw the benefits of a community who prioritized family time, rest and mental health over work.
In my Senior year of High School I had the opportunity to travel to Spain and live with a dear friend for a few weeks. I stayed in her home, lived with her family and lived an every day normal life as a Spaniard for the time I was there. I was blown away by their vastly different and healthy approach to work/life balance. The family and children would share breakfast together, come home from work and school mid day for lunch and an afternoon “siesta” (mid day nap) before returning to work and school and later sharing a dinner at home. It was very common to have a four week “holiday” twice a year, usually in Summer and Winter around the Holidays. As an American teenager with self employed parents, I had never heard of such a thing! Living in Spain that Summer was influential for me in many ways and changed my perspective on how I view the world and run my business today.
Growing up I always knew I would own a business one day but knew I wanted to do it differently. I didn’t want to live a life where I’m chained to my business, instead I wanted my business to give me the freedom to prioritize things that matter most to me in my life. Each year in business we started small with weekend trips here and there throughout the year which slowly increased to 1 week trips multiple times a year, which increased to 2 weeks, etc.. Each trip I took my computer to communicate with clients and work on album designs, photo editing, etc.. but I purposely take a pause from booking new jobs, give my body a break from holding gear and shooting a camera and reset my mind.
It took many years of growing my business to be able to take an extended vacation like the Spaniards do, but was finally able to make that dream of mine come true in 2022; 8 years after starting my business. We spent 4 weeks in Lake Havasu, Arizona that Summer and have since made that an annual tradition, extending our trip this Summer to 6 weeks! By taking a small pause in the everyday workload, we’re able to brainstorm new ways to grow, how to better serve our clients, reflect and make changes in workflows and programs; working ON the business instead of just IN the business. It’s become a crucial part of our business and a vacation we look forward to taking every year.
It isn’t always easy to step away from the business but it’s an extremely valuable tool and I encourage others to try to do the same! Business owners are the back bone of the operations and need to be the best version of themselves in order to continue serving their clients in the best way possible, taking a mental break and a vacation is one way to do that.
Stevie , 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?
I’m Stevie Dee, a Southern California native and self taught professional photographer. I picked up my very first camera in 2012 and learned the basics of photography by watching YouTube videos and practicing on willing friends and family. At the time I had a full time job as a banker and had no intentions of starting a photography business, but one thing led to the next and before I knew it, I had grown a pretty large client list. It became difficult to balance my growing photography business while still working full time for the bank. In 2014 I made a major career change and decided to take a leap of faith, quit my banking job and start Stevie Dee Photography.
Stevie Dee Photography is a premier wedding and portrait studio based in Temecula, Ca. We specialize in natural light, organic portraiture and are best known for our classic bright and warm editing style and effortless posing. I love to capture portraits near sunset and often chase the sun, finding the best lighting which you can often see glowing behind my subjects. We currently offer outdoor family, maternity, engagement, and high school senior sessions, indoor lifestyle newborn sessions, studio and lifestyle headshots in our Old Town Temecula Studio, branding sessions, and weddings! We’re currently in the process of obtaining our drone pilot license with the FAA and will add drone photography to our services in the very near future!
I think a big challenge for clients is the fear of being in front of the camera. Almost every single one of my clients have told me they are “awkward” and they don’t know how to pose like the clients in my portfolio, which makes me laugh because all the clients in my portfolio told me the same thing too! It all comes down to connecting with clients, making them feel comfortable and directing them into flattering posing. As a dancer of 25+ years with performing, teaching and choreography experience, I have a unique set of posing and directing skills I use on every single photo shoot. My posing style is a unique hybrid method of editorial and documentary photography, meaning I pose clients from head to toe and prompt them through motion to create naturally posed moments when needed, but I also like to sit back and document real moments as they happen organically. This hybrid method results in beautiful galleries with a variety of effortlessly posed images and candid photos.
I’m incredibly proud of the brand and business I’ve built over the last decade and the resilience it’s taught me. Having no formal photography training and being self taught has given me my fair share of challenges and failures along the way. We’ve survived several recessions, the COVID 19 pandemic, growing pains and so much more and have only come out better and stronger. I’m immensely grateful for this job to do what I love and serve my clients in this way.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
In the beginning years of my business I joined a local networking group and visited the Chamber events often. This allowed me to meet and network with other businesses, build relationships and opened the door for opportunities I wouldn’t have had otherwise. One of those opportunities was partnering with a local magazine to provide photography for their magazine covers and stories about the community, local businesses, etc., in exchange for advertising space in the magazine. Not only was the free advertising helpful for my new business, it gave me the opportunity to meet and work with a lot of different people in the community in a short period of time which helped build my reputation as a trusted local photographer. This resulted in returning paid jobs and long lasting relationships with business owners in the community.
Being genuine, consistent and ethical is another way I’ve built a reputation in my community. I’ve created workflows and systems to ensure we’re following through with promises and meeting deadlines. Always doing right by the client and being fair is always at the core of all decisions in my business. I genuinely love and care about all my clients and value their trust to document their most treasured memories.
It goes without saying, that building a reputation among clients is important, but I think some business owners forget how equally important building a relationship with vendors is too. On the wedding day we work as a team with other vendors for the collective goal of making it a seamless and enjoyable event for our mutual clients, the couple! A big pain point in our industry is vendors not receiving professional photos from the photographer on the jobs we collectively work together. Many photographers promise to deliver images and have every intention on doing so, but often times they never do for one reason or the other. I’ve built a reputation with vendors by consistently delivering professional images for them to use on their websites, social media platforms, etc.. It’s a joy to share my photos with other vendors to showcase everyone’s work in the best light possible. Plus, it’s bonus marketing and advertising when the vendors share my images and tag my business because we’re reaching different audiences. Often times I’m contacted by clients who say they saw my work on a vendor’s page or they were referred by a vendor.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
My mission is to help create a legacy for families by preserving memories future generations to come will look at and enjoy. In today’s day and age, downloading images electronically is the most common way couples choose to receive their images, but with the ever changing technology, tangible prints remain the best way to preserve memories. One of my favorite items we offer is our Signature Wedding Albums. They are custom designed heirloom quality albums, built to last 200 years with the intention of being passed down for multiple generations to come! There are already a couple hundred of my wedding albums floating around in clients’ homes and it gives me a great sense of pride to know these albums will continue to share the legacy of my clients’ memories long after I’m gone.
“The best thing about a picture is that it never changes, even when the people in it do.” – Andy Warhol
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.steviedeephotography.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/steviedeephotography/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StevieDeePhotography15/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/stevie-dee-photography-temecula
Image Credits
Stevie Dee Photography