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

Wesley, 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?

I think a lot of photographers (or artists in any industry) work hard to gatekeep our industry from younger, newer artists. When I was starting out in photography as a profession, I would regularly encounter other, more seasoned photographers who always seemed to have a reason that THEY were a professional and I was not. Whether it was education or equipment or time spent in the industry or even just pricing, I was constantly being informed about what I didn’t have to be considered a professional. I was always chasing some unknown milestone that would signify my title as a professional. I never found it.

Now, as I’ve reached a season in my life where new or less experienced photographers approach me for advice or mentorship, I’ve see in them the same unsureness that I had in their position and I see that it was placed there by other photographers in our field. They are so quick to offer their services for free or to ask to assist me without pay because they’ve been taught to believe that they aren’t experienced enough or talented enough or enough of an artist to be valuable. It’s heartbreaking and absolutely untrue.

I firmly believe that everybody can be a photographer and I’m excited to share whatever knowledge I have with those who want it but also to learn from young artists who bring new ideas and creativity to the industry. The moment I believe that I hold a position more established than new minds in my field is the moment that I stop growing and my art stagnates. I’ve come to the realization that established photographers who seek to discourage new photographers do so out of a lack of self confidence in their craft. Confident artists who believe in their work will not be threatened by new art, but welcome the influx of new creativity and find excitement in the way their own work will be affected.

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

My name is Wesley Moguel and I’m a photographer in Southwest Michigan. I got into photography as a side gig while I was in school for graphic design. When I began a career in marketing, I held onto it as a means of creative expression and a useful skill to use in my job. Just before the pandemic, the small company I worked for sold to a national company and, while they offered me a position, I took that opportunity to make photography my full time job. Two months into that, we were isolating and, while it was not great for business and my now sole source of income, I had an entire nation of suffering business owners to relate to. COVID also served as a catalyst for a whole nation of people to engage in intentional self-reflection and everything associated with that.

While I refer to myself as a wedding and portrait photographer, I also do branding, food, beverage, and real estate photography as need arises. From a business standpoint, I haven’t firmly attached myself to a specific niche, but I’ve found a reignited passion for portraiture and human beauty in my photography. The wave of people in the wake of COVID who have found opportunities for growth and self-love profoundly impacted me as a photographer and shifted the way in which I approach photographing the human experience.

For a long time my approach to photographing people was how to make them look their absolute best. How could I manipulate light and color and focus and my subjects themselves to force the final product to look a certain way? In my own struggles with my self-image, that’s what I wanted, surely my clients wanted that too.

I wasn’t wrong, but I certainly wasn’t right. Perhaps that’s what they thought they wanted, but I found that in working with clients who were hiring me as an act of self-love, there was a greater need that went beyond the technical. Every single person who sat in front of my lens was already beautiful. Intensely so. I found myself so honored to have an opportunity to show these people the beauty they already had. I wanted them to see themselves for the beauty they carried with them and not as some unrecognizable twisted or hidden version of themselves. They came to me as a stunning, unique human that could not be replicated.

Suddenly, my job got so easy. I knew I was a technically talented photographer but that became secondary. Now my job was just to love people and, god, people are so easy to love. I don’t have to trick people into smiling or think of prompts to catch them off guard. I don’t have to manipulate their bodies. When people feel loved and appreciated and fawned over, they stop trying to look beautiful and just ARE beautiful. Then, all I have to do is point my camera in the right direction and let ethereal humans be ethereal.

I think that’s what makes the difference in my photography. I don’t know that I’d say it makes me better or it’s something I’m proud of because I’m just so honored that I get to hold that position for people. I fall in love with all of my clients and it serves me just as much as it does them.

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

So many of my clients become friends. I think it’s impossible to avoid in my business. Photography is such an intimate experience whether it’s one on one time with someone who just needs headshots for work or it’s months of planning and excitement together with someone planning their wedding. It’s not uncommon for me to photograph a proposal for someone and have that turn into an engagement session, a wedding, a maternity shoot, a newborn shoot, and then yearly family photos.

My clients come back because who else would they go to? Not because I’m the best, but because I already know them and I’ve been there through such big moments. I get to share in their excitement and milestones and sometimes their sadness and I’m so honored to get to be a part of that and I think that that translates into being invited back into those moments again and again.

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

I am SO emotional. My instagram bio is “hire me to cry at your wedding” and my clients learn so fast that it’s not a joke. I adore my clients and I love love. Romantic love, platonic love, family love, SELF LOVE. I just can’t handle it and it turns me to goop and people notice. People like to have a photographer that is obsessed with them and they talk about it. Would I rather be known as the most organized photographer or the most creative? Maybe. But people know me as the photographer who is tearing up behind the lens and screaming at you how cute you are. It could be worse.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.moguelphotography.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/moguelphoto