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

Taliferro, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

I have been a full-time photographer and videographer for almost five years now. In 2018 I closed down my computer repair shop I ran for 10 years and decided to follow my creative passion. There was no transition period for me. I closed my shop on a Friday, and was considering myself full time that Monday. I had been shooting Family portraits as time allowed, but now I was able to take on more work even during the week. This opened up a multitude of opportunities since I was available even on the weekdays. I started booking more head shots for small businesses almost immediately. Most small businesses want you to operate during their business hours which are usually during the day. Now that I was whole time, I was able to do so! Being available gave me an advantage over part time photographers who are only available on the weekends.
I was able to speed up my full time growth by adding videography services. This was crucial to my success as it allowed me to stay busy with one or the other. For the first 6 months, I invested very heavily back into the business. I bought camera gear that was top of the line and even took classes and mentorship classes with artists I respected. This allowed me to bypass a lot of the trial and error stage. I almost took a lot of what I learned from running a computer repair business for 10 years, and applied what I could to my photography business.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I started off taking pictures at a very young age. My grandparents had an instant Polaroid camera that I would use anytime I could. I loved being able to take pictures and have them print out almost immediately. I would shake the Polaroid in anticipation of seeing what I just captured. On family trips I was the designated photographer and would often have the Polaroid camera hanging from my neck. Today I offer high quality photography and videography services for private and commercial clients. I love to take ideas from my client and turn them into great images or captivating video. I am proud of my quick growth if such a relatively short amount of time. I have been able to support my family doing what I love… I can’t ask for much more than that.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

I started my photography journey with a canon T3I I bought from the pawnshop. I paid $200 and thought to myself “this camera was so expensive!” If I knew then what I knew now, I would have kept my mouth shut! Lol Photography can be very expensive. You can definitely have a successful career with one camera body and a nifty 50 lens… However, There are certain jobs that will require better gear. I was determined to shoot high end corporate jobs… this required gear that was substantially more expensive than my canon T3I. As my photography business grew would often upgrade my equipment by selling my gear to upgrade to better equipment. Truth be told, I probably bought way more than I needed… but at this point, And there really isn’t anything that I’m not equipped to shoot. I am pretty much able to take on any job that comes my way without having to rent gear. This allows me to keep more of my profits and stay competitive with pricing.
It doesn’t take much money to get started on your photography journey, but that can quickly change as you progress. Just like any other occupation… be sure to invest back into yourself and your craft.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I am by no means an influencer on social media… lol! But I do enjoy making reels on Instagram. My reels are generally photography and videography related. I just have fun and making content that I think is funny. At first I was a little nervous about posting content outside of my actual work… I didn’t know if it was the “professional” thing to do… But now it’s actually getting me more business. I’ve had many clients tell me that they love to see my personality and they feel like they know me even before they meet me! I still have fun with it, but it is turning into more of a business strategy. I can account for 15% of new business that comes specifically from reel views. My most successful reel to date has 640k views.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ferrovisuals.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/ferrovisuals
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/ferrovisuals