We recently connected with Sydney Barrett and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Sydney, thanks for joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

My name is Sydney Barrett and I am the commercial photographer behind Four Lane Photo. Since I started working at the age of 14, I have always worked for small businesses. I also come from a family of entrepreneurs, and have always been inspired by their dedication. That being said, I do my best to support all small businesses as frequently as I can. When I was in college, I really started paying attention to all of the small businesses that were in my home town, and noticed how many of them were truly struggling with their online presence due to the lack of marketing and professional photography. Some of these businesses had the best products, or the most inspiring stories behind their brands, but were having difficulties sharing them with the rest of the world. I helped out where I could, but once COVID hit, and I saw how many small businesses were struggling (not just in my home town) with shifting to selling strictly online (due to the lack of content and images) I knew it was time to take the leap. Four Lane Photo’s mission is to help small businesses elevate their brand’s story through impactful imagery of their goods and services.

Sydney, 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?

My name is Sydney Barrett and I am an established Commercial Photographer who has a love for small, local businesses. I combined my formal training in commercial photography with my professional experience in studio & lifestyle photography and launched Four Lane Photo in 2020. Four Lane Photo’s mission is to help small businesses elevate their brand’s story through impactful imagery of their products or services.

Since a young age, I have always been obsessed with photography. I grew up with a family that took images at every occasion. My grandfather and my uncle were both very talented photographers, and I always loved looking at all of their images. My grandfather had albums of film images from his time serving in Vietnam, which still to this day are some of my favorite images. I got my first automatic film camera in an elementary school fundraiser. I wanted that camera so bad! I knocked on all of my neighbor’s doors and sold those baked goods like my life depended on it. After I finally got the camera in my possession, I spent all of my birthday money for years on kodak film, and set up areas to photograph my sister, pets, and friends. It wasn’t until high school that I got really interested in the industry. I signed up for college level photography courses at my local career center, where I learned to process my own film, and print my images in the dark room. My Uncle Scott was a documentary and fine art photographer, and he got me really interested into making this hobby of mine a career. He gifted me my first manual film camera, a Minolta X-700, that I still use to this day. After spending 2 years at the career center, learning more about the art of photography, and slowly stepped into digital photography my senior year of high school. I was completely hooked. I started assisting my career center teacher Mr. Wiard on his professional sessions like weddings and family portraits, and soaked up as much experience as I could. At this time, I started thinking I could seriously do this as a career and began looking into colleges with a photography major. My parents were not quite on board with the idea at first, but with a lot of convincing, and a promise to take all of my electives in the business department, I enrolled at Columbia College Chicago for my freshman year in fall of 2012.

I spent my college years learning everything about the industry, from studio lighting set ups to how to send a professional email (thanks to all of those business classes I promised to take). My college campus was in the heart of downtown Chicago. I threw myself into every community event, and fully enjoyed all that the city had to offer.

While I was in college, I spent my summers teaching Film Photography Workshops on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, with a group called Cameras 4 Kids. This gave me the opportunity to share my love for film photography and community, by teaching kids ages 6-18 how to shoot, process, and develop film images. Additionally, we taught them all how to use this platform as a form of therapy and communication.

I graduated in May of 2016, with a Bachelors Degree in Commercial Photography and started my photographic career immediately at a studio, A Little Photo Studio, where I continued to learn from some of the best in the industry. I continued to work at the studio until I got married in 2017, and moved with my husband (who is active duty in the US Navy) to Norfolk, Virginia. We lived here for 3 years where I worked as an in-house photographer and event coordinator for a small party boutique. This is where my product photography journey began, and my love for small businesses grew. I worked alongside a large group of talented creatives at this business, and when collaborating with other local small businesses. There were graphic designers, stylists, social media experts, florists, product developers, and so many more. I was inspired every day by all of the hard work and motivation I witnessed, by each individual that played a roll in making these businesses run on a daily basis. It was at this time that I fully decided to take the leap into entrepreneurship and support all of these small business, by offering affordable product and lifestyle photography that is curated solely for them. So in May of 2020, one week before COVID-19 shut down the world, I started Four Lane Photo – Curated imagery for small businesses. The last two years have been wild to say the least! I have operated the first two years as a business owner through a pandemic, and a move across the country to sunny San Diego.

I offer a wide variety of services, for small businesses with every type of budget. I only work with small businesses, and take pride in this. The beauty of this concept, is that I can be flexible with each business’ individual needs, all while keeping their specific budget in mind. The main goal of my services, weather it be with a flat lay product session, e-commerce images, or a lifestyle session with models, is to help small businesses elevate their brand’s story through impactful imagery. I help small businesses from anywhere. While my home base is in San Diego right now, I have clients in San Diego, Indiana, Chicago, Virginia Beach, Utah, and several other places. I have a home studio where I photograph most of the products, and also often work on location for lifestyle sessions.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I am somewhat new here in San Diego, and I moved here from Virginia in the middle of the pandemic. I worked really hard to build my online following on social media, and to drive more attention to my website before moving here. I started using industry specific hashtags on social posts, following small local businesses on all platforms, engaging with them in the comments section and direct messaging. I even offered free photoshoots to a few of them to help build my portfolio. Additionally, I customized the SEO on my website. However, I quickly learned that due to the pandemic so many other photographers were doing the same thing. So I came up with a somewhat old fashioned game plan to build my reputation locally, by meeting face to face with potential clients.

This was a bit more difficult due to the pandemic putting restrictions on in person gatherings, but I slowly figured it out. I started out by going into small businesses when they started opening again, and introducing myself all masked up with business cards in hand. Next, I signed up for virtual courses for small businesses and entrepreneurs. These courses were free and hosted by the local Small Business Association, and Boots to Business. Attending these virtual courses inspired me to start attending in person (and out door only, covid safety still in mind) networking events. I learned quickly that making connections with other creatives and potential clients in person worked best for me.

That being said, I decided to host my own free creative meet up at a local outdoor coffee shop. Only 2 people showed, but the connections I made with those individuals were 100% worth it. One of the attendees, Katie, is now one of my closest friends, and we have actually established our own little community that supports small businesses local to San Diego. Katie and I founded Pop-Up for Startups in January 2021. Over the course of the last year, we have hosted pop-up makers markets, networking events, and coffee meet ups. This community has truly helped me establish myself within the local small business community, as well as the photo industry here in San Diego.

Most of my clients have met me at these events we have hosted, or have been introduced to me by a different vendor/business owner. Additionally, I photograph these events, and provide all of the images from the event to each vendor/business. Being introduced to potential clients this way is so much more personal, and leaves a lasting impression. Social media definitely has it’s perks, but for me, building my brand’s reputation has thrived by making these in person connections, and by good old fashioned “word of mouth” referrals.

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

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist or creative to me is being able to tell another brand’s story. One of the many reasons so many small businesses get started is because one person had a great idea for a new product or service. Perfecting this new product or service probably took that one person months or even years to perfect. Along with the years of perfecting this product/service there were countless sleepless nights, blood, sweat, tears, failures, successes, and ultimately a million sacrifices all made by that one person as they slowly started to build a team of other creatives to help them achieve their goal.

When a small business hires me to photograph their perfected product/service, it’s also my job to capture their story. It’s my job to capture their “why.” I try to focus on all of the small details that I know they worked really hard on, such as hand stitched labels, custom dyed fabrics, or personalized branded gift wrapping. Sometimes this means I capture their beautiful messy workspace, or the new mom breast feeding her baby while she’s scheduling her social media posts for the week. All of their perfect, imperfections. Every small business owner and their story is one of a kind, and completely unique. I strive to capture the essence of each story, for them to share with the world.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.fourlanephoto.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fourlanephoto/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fourlanephoto
• Other: @popupforstartups