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

Yves, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

It takes a lot of hard work and dedication to be successful. Some people can look at other successful people and assume they had it easy because we sometimes judge what we see on the surface. However, a successful person would tell you how hard it was before they reached this level of success. Some people usually quit before seeing actual results, depending on the journey’s complexity.

To be successful you have to be willing to endure loss and failure because it is a part of the learning process. When learning how to ride a bicycle, we did not just hop on it and start riding. We needed assistance or we would fall many times before we could grasp the technique of keeping the bicycle balanced.

It is essential to pick something that you are passionate about. This way, when you get introduced to challenging times, it will be easier to fight through the pain, such as sacrificing sleep or missing family events and milestones. There will be days when you want to quit, but your love and vision for your business’ future won’t let you give up. I have learned that as a business owner that you will make many mistakes in your journey, and you can only be successful if you learn from those mistakes and avoid repeating those same missteps.

Success requires self-investment. I have spent thousands of dollars on my personal growth without knowing if I would ever get any returns. That money was invested in buying equipment, booking studios, and traveling to certain locations for different events. Honestly, it never crossed my mind that I was investing too much money and not seeing any actual returns from those events because I was happy doing something I loved and building my catalog. Today, I no longer take losses since I have been profitable. Everything I went through was a learning process, as I am still continuously learning and growing.

Yves, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Yves Vagery and I am the proud owner of GraViDipixels (Gravidipixels.com). From what I can remember, ever since I was a kid, I have always loved music instruments and cameras. Photography has always been fascinating to me. I remember going to a talent show in my younger years and there was a videographer there with a Canon T2i. Even though the venue was very dark, I was amazed at how bright his camera made the scenery look. That experience motivated me to invest in the DSLR Canon T3i, which was one of the best investments I have ever made.

That day, I decided to become a photographer. Years later I formulated a mindset around a business model that consistently delivers high-quality images to my clients and provides excellent service that ensures my clients feel at ease in my presence. One thing that sets me apart from others is my commitment to putting my client’s needs first.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

As a photographer, one lesson I had to unlearn is, it was not good a good idea to edit like other photographers or follow trends but to learn to create my own editing style. I quickly realized that those styles were not working for me as an event photographer. Whenever I tried following their editing style in Lightroom, my pictures came out looking worse than before. I had to learn the software and understand precisely what each and every slider does. I was able to come up with my own editing style and not have to follow others. My advice for any new photographers starting out is to learn the software, and create your own style. Don’t follow the trends because the trend dies out, and you don’t want your photos to look dated.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

In the beginning, the funding for my business came from my 9-5 job. Some of the equipment that I purchased was from money that I put aside weekly until I had enough to get what I wanted. However, things are much better today. The business is able to provide for itself. For example, for every event that I do, I pay myself 25%, and the rest usually goes into stocks as an investment. Best practice is to make your money work for you. I also reinvest in my business to help me get better equipment when needed.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.gravidipixels.com
• Instagram: @gravidipixels

Image Credits
Kitami Safaya Ash and Luisa Signh Kosi Tamar Taj Jolie