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

Valentina, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with a fun one – what’s something you believe that most people in your industry (or in general) disagree with?

In my industry we see a lot of overly produced backgrounds and setups for the photos. I think most people believe that more means better or more professional. However, I personally believe the opposite. When I photograph newborns, babies and toddlers I love to show who they are, what they look like; my main focus is always them not the actual background. Of course, to grow and get noticed I have had to adjust my work to also create what the client needs, but step by step, slowly I’m focusing my work to be simple and clean, to focus mainly on their little faces and expressions and to leave aside all the decoration and extras that one day will become outdated. My goal is to create timeless memories that will last forever.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Valentina Perez, and I am a newborn, babies and toddler photographer. I also do family photoshoots but I mainly focus on babies’ first year! I’ve always been into photography as a hobby; my father taught me a lot about it since I was very young and I always had that inner love for it, but never felt confident enough to do is as a career. However, In 2020 when Covid hit I got laid off and I had to find new ways to stay afloat, that’s when I got the opportunity to overcome my fear, grab a camera and start shooting. I started working for a company as an event photographer, which is not really my favorite, but I was doing just good. Later, when I had my son in 2021 I discovered this whole world of newborn photography, sitter sessions and cake smash, and it clicked right away.

I started taking photos of my son, and started practicing with some friends’ kids, and quickly realized this is what I was meant to do. I have been educating myself along the way, assisted workshops, watched hundreds of tutorial and I’ve been building my in-home studio, so I can finally call myself a professional photographer. I feel extremely proud for all the hard work and sleepless nights I have put into this, which honestly started as a “we’ll see where it gets me”. I have put my whole heart into this career and into every single client I have had and it has been such a rewarding, yet, very short journey.

My style is very natural and simple; I love to focus on the babies, their little facial features, tiny hands and squishy cheeks. I believe the real beauty lays on the essence of the baby rather than many decorations and overly produced backgrounds. When I take these photos I try my best to provide parents with memories of who their little babies were at the time, so they can cherish those milestones forever.

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

Photography is an expensive career, but I have to admit I have been lucky when talking about funding my business. No, not because all the money I needed fell from the sky, but because I do have a full time job as a Graphic Designer which is 100% remote. Having this job and this kind of flexibility has allowed me to work on both jobs at the same time and fully use the income from photography to reinvest it into the business and be able to slowly put it all together. I’m extremely thankful for the opportunities I have been given, because I’m aware that getting a stable job with lots of flexibility is not an easy thing, however, working two jobs is not easy task and for that I feel proud of myself.

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

This is something I have been very careful about and taken so so seriously. I believe that no matter what you do, if you are going to do it, you have to do it right.

Caring for your clients and the people who choose you or your work is the most important element of any business. For my business I have decided to be as close as possible to my clients, I want them to feel like they are my friends, that I’m looking after them and I want the best for them. I stay in touch with the through messages, or instagram; I try to make it very personal and very friendly. Of course, there are always boundaries we have to set, because yes at the end of the day we are a business, but if you care about them and they can feel that, I guarantee they will also care about you.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.valenperezphotography.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/valenperez.photography/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100090809445724

Image Credits
Personal Photo Credit: Yarelis Rojas (Sunshine Memories Photos)