Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Tori Rose. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Tori, thanks for joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

YouTube is your best friend. Back in December 2020 I acquired the infamous COVID-19. I’d had my Canon T7i hanging around for a few years at this point but never got around to figuring out how to manually shoot a camera or how to properly edit. I took my 2 weeks of downtime to focus on educating myself to professionally shoot as well as how to edit in Adobe software. Anything you want to know or learn is really accessible this day in age. You just have to set the time and effort aside to learn a new craft.

After messing around a little on my own I started getting a few inquires about what I was doing and if I could be hired. I didn’t really have a portfolio of work or any experience in the field. I posted to my Facebook that I was looking to start my photography business and quickly filled up a few months with free sessions and I’ve been booking work nonstop sense then.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Hello I’m Tori I am a STL based lifestyle, family, brand and wedding photographer. I’ve owned my own business since 2020 working in the industry for 2 years. I have shot over 350 sessions within that time. I am extremely passionate about what I do, I am excited for every shoot and opportunity my business has provided me. I get even more excited when I dive into my editing world, often providing my client sneak peeks of their images same day. I am honored by all the families and couples who chose me to capture their memories for them. My clients love that they can usually expect a quicker than normal turn around time (I’m just as excited to send them their photos as they are to have them – I just cant help im passionate!)
I work a 9-5 job as a Quality Assurance Specialist for a Chemical and Pharmaceutical company in STL but hope that maybe someday down the line I can take on my Photography business full time…one day far in the future.

Fun Fact: I was voted by the public as STL’s Best Photographer this year 2022 hosted by @STLBucketList

How did you build your audience on social media?

A common issue I have seen in photographers is they never give you a face to the business or a personal brand to stand behind. I’m very open about who I am, I practice self portraits regularly so not only are my followers continuously seeing my work but they are also seeing me quite often. They are also seeing what all happens behind the scenes, I take videos on my phone to paint the back round of how we arrived at the final product.

I feel that a majority of my clients return time and time again not because I’m THE BEST photographer or I take the best photos, but because they know me. They like the personality I bring to my shoots and they feel comfortable with me in any situation.

People need to get behind you as an individual before they can get behind you as a business. The biggest advice I can give is just be yourself and share what you’re doing every day.

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

Building strong relationships with clients. Responsiveness and attentiveness are keys in gaining clientele and keeping them. I respond to my client’s emails, texts, DMs almost immediately but no later than within 24hrs of contact. If it takes a business owner 5 days to get back to someone you will miss jobs because they found someone else or your are wasting their time while they may need to find someone else if you are unavailable. Time is valuable on both sides of the transaction so I am always conscious as to not waste any of my client’s.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @helloimtoriiiphotographyllc
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/helloimtoriii/