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

Sydney, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

I have always been someone who likes to be busy. I am currently a special education teacher as well as a photographer. I first started taking an interest in photography when I was in college. Christmas of 2018 I asked for a camera for Christmas. Thanks to my parents I got a Canon Rebel T6. I originally just wanted something I could take nice photos with. The Camera sat for a few months with me picking it up a few times to take pictures at family functions or my best friend and I would go out and take pictures of each other around Toledo to post on instagram. I really had no aspirations of making anything more of it. Fast forward a year, I was volunteering at non profit called I Dance. I Dance is a place where adults with disabilities were able to take adaptive preforming arts classes. They have everything from dance classes to drum lessons. One day the owner and I sat down and talked about what we were missing as a class. After bouncing around a few ideas we decided to create a photography class. I then went home, picked up my camera, and started to learn about photography so I could teach it to our students. As I dove deeper into it I discovered how much I enjoyed it. I started practicing taking photos for events that the non profit held. As I started to learn more the more I wanted to make something of this small hobby. I reached out to my wedding photographer (Bailey V. Photography) that shot my husbands and I’s wedding. I loved her work, I loved her, and I loved that she was still able to go to school and still shoot weddings at the time. This was the balance I wanted. She was absolutely amazing and allowed me to second shoot for her at some weddings. Every wedding I attended with her made me love this environment even more. I continued to practice shooting families and senior sessions. Eventually the next year my first couple took a chance on me to shoot their wedding. I started upgrading my equipment, taking classes and from there the rest was history. Now I am able to combine all the things I love now. I get to continue my passion of teaching and working with kids, but also feed my creative side and work with some absolutely amazing couples. I wouldn’t trade this balance for the world.

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?

I am a 26 year old from Wadsworth Ohio. I went to the University of Toledo to get my degree in Special Education. I have been married 2 amazing years, and we just welcomed our first child into the words 2 months ago. I am currently teaching as an elementary SPED teacher in a self contained unit. Working with children with significant disabilities is a true passion of mine. I love every child like they are one of my own. This being said, I work with students with intensive behaviors. This can at times be taxing. At first photography started off as a healthy outlet where I get to leave my brain in the classroom for a little bit. It gave me a balance in life where I got to do something completely different. My business officially started 3 years ago. My interest to start learning about photography started when I worked for a non-profit for adults with disabilities. We wanted to create a photography class for our students so I started to learn more about it. This is what sets me apart from other photographers. I never noticed how my teaching had affected my photography. It is why I have the style that I do. I love capturing candid moments over posed portraits. My students have always showed me to not take life too seriously. They have shown me to be unapologeticly your self. I believe my clients should feel the same way, I love to capture them being unapologetically themselves. I love capturing moments where they are being wild, goofy, sentimental, and emotional. Another thing I have transferred over from my teaching to my business is my ability to coordinate and multitask. At a wedding a photographer is there to not just take pictures, but to help the day run smoothly. A wedding can be a high stress environment with multiple people talking at you at once. During the day you need to remember the shots the bride and groom want, timeline, family members, among multiple other things. Being a teacher has help me perfect the skill to handle these long days.

I am proud when I think back at the time I decided to start this. I never would have thought I would be where I am today. I love looking back at the first photo session I did. The growth I made is significantly noticeable. Each year you can see growth in my work and that is what I strive for. I want my clients to see a progression of improvements in my work. I want my clients/future clients to know that my goal is to tell their story. Shooting weddings is a big responsibilities When my couples go through their album I want them to relive that day through the pictures. I want them to remember the emotions. I love the thought of my couples showing the pictures I took to their families 50 years from now.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I believe the time I take to develop a relationship with couples has helped me build a positive reputation in this market. This is more than profit to me. This is something fun that I look forward to doing. I always want to take the time to make sure I am the right fit. I never book a couple without talking to them first. This may be thought text, phone call, meeting up, or video call. I offer a free engagement session with every wedding package so I can get to know that couple and so they can begin to develop a relationship with me. Many people are uncomfortable in front of the camera. Part of my job is to make it easy and comfortable. That doesn’t happen if you feel like the person behind the camera is a stranger. Another thing that has made me build a positive reputation in this market is building relationships with other vendors. Vendors are all like pieces to a puzzle. We all need to work together to make sure the couples day runs smoothly. They are all amazing and incredibly talented I am very lucky to work with them.

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

A photographer hears many discouraging things in their day to day. You hear “your camera takes amazing photos”
“anyone can be a photographer in todays world”
“Photoshop is so easy! You can just use AI now!”
Sometimes you start to believe them. I have often gotten down on myself thinking “am I actually succeeding at this, or has technology just made it easy” This is when I need to step back and think about all I have to do to create a wedding gallery for my clients. I have taken classes and educated myself on manual mode, lighting, photoshop, Lightroom, flash, ect. Editing in Lightroom is way more than applying a preset. AI in photoshop works maybe 15% of the time. These are things I constantly have to remind myself. When people say things you start to believe them sometimes, and eventually you need to teach yourself to unlearn these opinions.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sydneyshadboltphotography.mypixieset.com
• Instagram: @sydneyshadboltphotography
• Facebook: Sydney Shadbolt Photography
• Other: email.- [email protected]

Image Credits
Sydney Shadbolt Photography