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

William, appreciate you joining us today. Going back to the beginning – how did you come up with the idea in the first place?

In high school, I wanted to be different from the stereotypical high school student who worked at fast food restaurants. The main thing that helped me come up with the idea was that I wanted to be unique. Like what would make me stand out from others? The high school that I went to was one of the early colleges. A lot of the students would graduate with an associate degree in either art or science. I chose art, which is probably the main reason why I wanted to do something in the art field. I actually started with art commissions way before I started doing photography. Based on the submissions I would receive, I would make an art piece inspired by that, but over time, I realized that this wasn’t what I really wanted to do.

William, 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?

Hello! My name is William Bourret. I am a freelance photographer currently based in Provo, UT, but I also do a lot of work in Northern CO. I specialize in digital photography and can do a variety of different genres within portraiture (senior, graduation, family, weddings, maternity). I am currently a pre-major for the Photo and Lens-Based Design program at BYU where the dream is to have a full-time photography business.

Growing up, I always had a passion for photography, but it didn’t start until I was a freshmen in high school. I would use my phone camera to take pictures of anything and everything that looked interesting. With that camera, I was able to produce good quality photos out of them, but I quickly moved on to a more serious camera. Now, as a recent high school graduate and a current college student, I am focusing more on honing my craft and opening my horizons to different parts of photography.

My style is very genre fluid. I am certified in Adobe Photoshop, which makes things easier to edit in some cases. I like to keep the essence of the raw photo and only edit it to have emphasis on certain areas. However, the more I learn in Photoshop and Lightroom, the more detailed my edits become. The equipment and software that I use is Canon Camera and Adobe Lightroom Classic. As an aspiring photographer, I’m on the cheaper side of photographers regarding prices. My business is targeted towards high schoolers/college students, but I will always branch out to other audiences. My price range is $50-300. I edit the photos whenever I have time and would usually release them via Zonerama, a free gallery where the gallery itself won’t be deleted. When it comes to finishing photos and delivering them, I’m very prompt. I will communicate through multiple messaging methods to ensure that if a client misses it in one spot, they will have it in another spot.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

There are a lot of resources I wish I had known about when I first started, especially in photography. If you look at any of my early work and compare it to now, you’d see a lot of growth as an artist. For those who are just starting, please! TAKE ADVANTAGE OF YOUR RESOURCES!!!! It will help you SO much!

Lightroom Community is such a good place to find your creative editing style. When I didn’t have any photos of my own to edit, I would spend hours just remixing other people’s work. I would choose a photograph and ask myself, “Would that work on it?” Questions like that helped me become a better editor.

YouTube and Instagram are both amazing resources because there are so many artists who have their own channels dedicated to helping others learn photography. I highly recommend just scrolling, looking at other photographers, and seeing who speaks out to you and what you can learn from them. This is similar to YouTube and Instagram, but googling other photographers is really helpful. You can learn so much from the photographers you see online.

I wish I had really used all of these resources when I started out because there is so much to learn!

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

There are many rewarding aspects, but I think the main one is seeing the joy of your client when you deliver precious memories. I’ve had so many clients text me back saying how they love the photos and everything. Capturing memories is something truly special, and it’s something that I always want to do. Photography is just something I think everyone should be interested in because you can get so much from doing this craft.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://meowartphotography.myportfolio.com/work
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meowartphotography.commissions/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100095668835618
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-bourret-5b0152320/

Image Credits

All by me!