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

Hi Zuri, thanks for joining us today. Looking back, do you think you started your business at the right time? Do you wish you had started sooner or later?

I honestly can say I have no regrets. I started my business in the 8th grade, and my brother was a senior in High school. I had always had a love for photography. I took pictures on family trips, asked my parents for a Polaroid for Christmas, and got my first digital camera. The day before my brother’s senior prom, his photographer canceled on him. When my mom explained what happened, I immediately said I could take his photos. My mom helped me decide on a spot, and Old 4th Ward Park was where it all began. I took pictures of him and his date using the beautiful scenery his date’s mom was so excited that she asked if I could take a few shots of her baby that had come along for the day. I told my mom I wanted to be a photographer at that time. We got home that night and uploaded their pictures to a USB drive, and at that point, I officially felt like a photographer. My business has grown so much since then. It was the perfect time to start because my clients were my schoolmates. My clients have kept me busy with graduations, birthdays, sweet 16s, weddings, gender reveals, and more. Since graduating high school, these people still support and refer me to their family and friends. I am who they book when they need their memories captured; it is such a great feeling! The community exposure has also led to celebrity shoots, concerts, sporting events, fashion shows, and bookings at my favorite studios, such as Cam Kirk Studios and Genesis Atlanta. I love every minute of my career!

Zuri, 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?

I am a 19-year-old photographer, and I specialize in Portrait photography, but I also lend my services to the areas of sports, entertainment, fashion, and real estate. As an established LLC, I am most proud of how versatile I’ve become; booking various shoots helped me grow as a photographer and enhance my technique more than I could have ever imagined.

If anything sets me apart from other photographers, it would have to be my affordable rates and the fact that I give raw digital images for all shoots. In my one-hour session, the client could leave with as many as 100-200 quality high-definition images I captured for their special moment.

The knowledge that has helped my business grow is understanding my client’s vision and implementing what it takes to ensure they have an enjoyable experience in front of my lens. My passion for photography and my love for my clients will help me build a brand where I can showcase what I love doing while enhancing the lives of others.

I aim to make it as an entrepreneur. I want to be a force in this industry, focusing on meaningful moments. Whether providing services for birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, family gatherings, sporting events, concerts, community projects, real estate investments, professional headshots, or peaceful protests, these events make us who we are. They tell stories of some of the most emotional moments of our lives, and I want to be the person to cement those crucial instances for generations to come. I offer a complete service for the city!

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

I stay active with my clients over social media. One way I plan to foster brand loyalty is to implement Throwback Thursday Posts. Thru this endeavor I can maintain contact with my clients and begin to establish brand loyalty by highlighting some of my best client photos in a Paparazzi Picz Throwback Thursday Segment.

It’s as simple as me posting and tagging My favorite photo of a Previous client, capturing that client’s attention with a quick message on my Instagram and Facebook story. It reminds them of how much fun they had in front of the camera. This way, when those special moments and events roll back around, and a photographer is needed, I hope that I’m the one they think of calling.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Before the pandemic, I designed the Fearfully and Wonderfully Made Campaign that I have been wanting to launch in my city. This campaign would allow children in community schools to be photographed by me in Atlanta’s most beautiful outdoor settings to promote self-love and appreciation. My desire was to launch this project during October, which is Anti-Bullying Awareness Month.

The children would select outfits that they felt showed their personalities and choose a personal affirmation to affix to their photos after the photoshoot. The words of affirmation were chosen based on what inspired them the most. The final product would be enlarged posters for them to keep with the printed affirmations. After hearing stories of how so many children are bullied and made to feel like they don’t belong this initiative seemed like it would help them see what truly makes them wonderfully made! No one should feel that they do not matter or are insufficient.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://instagram.com/paparazzi_picz?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaparazziPicz

Image Credits
All images are by Zuri Hill.