We were lucky to catch up with Taylor Richards recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Taylor, thanks for joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I first knew I wanted to pursue a creative path professionally from a young age. My grandmother and favorite person in the whole world was an artist and photographer. I would spend hours with her in her studio growing up. I enjoyed painting with her, but my true passion was when I was behind the camera. However, society and family did not encourage a creative profession when I was younger. The second time I was in my mid-20’s, there were a few family tragedies, and I was very unhappy with the corporate life I was lead to choose. I decided to get creative again to just heal, but after it brought me so much joy, I started my business, North Light Photography LLC.

Taylor, 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 Taylor, a creative jokester with a photography style inspired by fantasy novels and nature. Born and still based in Lansing, Michigan, but no distance is too far for my adventurous soul! My business name, North Light Photography, comes from my grandmother’s art and photography studio, the North Light Studio. She had her studio built facing north with skylights for perfect lighting at all times of the day. After my grandmother passed away in 2021, I decided to heal by getting creative in the North Light Studio which has turned into my full-time gig.

I specialize in Boudoir, Creative Portrait, Elopement, and Intimate Wedding photography. It is my belief that a photography session should reflect the client’s personality and vision. Therefore, I offer a personal experience from beginning to end for all of my clients, because no individual is the same.

In addition, to being a photographer, I will be offering Boudoir photography mentorships very soon! I have a special place in my heart for mentoring others. When I was working in the corporate world, I was always being asked to mentor/train new associates. That was actually my favorite part of my old job, because for some reason helping others learn brings me a lot of joy. After hosting a Boudoir Workshop I had a couple attending photographers ask me if I ever offered boudoir photography mentorships. So, why not add another one of my passions to my photography business.

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

Building my audience on social media has been a constant learning experience for me. I started with focusing on Instagram first, because I found that most people were saying that was their preferred social media platform. Once my following on Instagram was growing, I started trying out TikTok and Facebook. If I am being honest I’m still best at posting on Instagram, but my following is slowly growing still on the other two platforms.

Post every day if possible, but make sure what you are posting is relevant to your business, brand, or specialty. When people try to post everything it does make it harder to grow and maintain followers. For example, I would not want to post my Boudoir photos on the same page as a kid’s Birthday photos.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

I have found that when it comes to photography, many non-creatives are not aware of the amount of work that goes on behind the scenes. For a 1 hour photography session, I can spend a total of 12 hours from beginning to end for that client. In addition to the creative side, there is a business side too. Marketing, content creation, bookkeeping, taxes, etc. Please keep all of this in mind when you are looking to book a creative service and reviewing the pricing.      

Contact Info:

• Website: https://north-light-photography-llc-1.showit.site//
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/northlightphotographyllc/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100086284849681

Image Credits
All of the photos provided are mine – North Light Photography LLC