Today we’d like to introduce you to Erin Long.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Erin. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
My story begins in Connecticut, where I was born to two parent’s who could not care for me and had to give me up for adoption. Around 9 weeks old, I was adopted, and was started my new life in Western Massachusetts. Growing up, I was one of those kids who was more creatively & intuitively inclined, but unfortunately, that wasn’t always fostered or appreciated by the grown-ups around me, as they wanted different things for me and simply couldn’t hear my “voice”. Those were very hard times, and I silently suffered through them alone.
Though, there was a moment when my dad (who was an amateur photographer) handed me my first camera, a teeny tiny film camera that almost immediately, I began to study to the world and the people around me. Through its tiny rectangle viewfinder, I began to speak and find creativity that I had been craving. It was a defining moment, and it gave me, a shy and introverted young girl a sense of freedom that my parents had no idea the magnitude of.
Years later, I attended Greenfield Community College, where I studied photography with Tom Young, the one Professor that even after going onto The School of The Art Institute of Chicago years later, his teachings (in the field & in the darkroom), artistic skill and his philosophies of photography and art still stay right at the forefront of what I do. He is the one professor that saw something in me, the way I photographed people, and maybe the way I photographed people the way I did and still do, and he challenged me to find my voice and to continue to grow as an artist photographer.
From there I attended The School of The Art Institute of Chicago, where I continued to pursue photography on a conceptual level, painted large-scale abstract pieces and began a passionate pursuit into the making of the experimental film(s), there was something deeply soul-satisfying about creating moving pictures. The work I created during that time was dark, moody and lush, and very reflective of who I was at that time. At the time, I had felt deeply inspired by Maya Deren’s experimental film work like, “At Land” and her dance film “Ritual in Transfigured Time”, as well as her ethnographic experimental film about Haitian Vodou called “Divine Horseman”.
The way she saw people, the way they moved and the spiritual nature of her work, I felt it in my bones and felt a creative kinship. Little did I know, at the time. The struggle’s that she had experienced in her lifetime and how her struggles informed her drive and passion to create from her most deepest well of creativity, her voice was strong, honest and raw and even though she was faced with adversity, she kept going and going and going. Over time, the more I read about her, the more I was drawn in by her bravery, and found my own drive to continue to create.
Fast forward to March 2007, this is when time stopped. My baby died. On March 3rd, 2007 I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl who was born still. Her name is, and always will be Birdie. For a moment during her labor, birth and death process, I will share, I felt her leave me and saw her leave my body in the form of a bright white light. And that is a feeling and image I to this day still can feel and see vividly when I close my eyes.
For nearly a year after Birdie’s death, the only times(s) I picked up a camera, was to document my scars and my weeping body and empty arms. It wasn’t until after my living child was born safely in October of 2008 that I felt the desire to create portraits of any kind again. The birth of my first living child left me high for over a year… and ever since his birth I have felt inspired to create again. In 2012 I gave birth to another little miracle, and years later divorced and became a single mama who had no choice but to take her creative energy and grow her art and portrait work into a thriving business to support her little family.
It’s been a REALLY hard road, full of lots and lots of very late nights after my children had gone to bed, staying up late to work on marketing, researching the markets, connecting with other photographers, anything I had to do to find work during those early years in business. There were so many times when it just was not working that I wanted to quit, but I couldn’t because I had two little children that I didn’t want to let down. I wanted to show them, to model for them, that if you have a dream you can make it happen. That you can ask for help along the way, and find the good people around you who also believe in you, and you can do it.
Of course, it wasn’t easy as I said. But it is because of my children that I am where I am today, things have really taken a wonderful and positive turn in the last two years, and I am 5+ years in. I have put a lot of sweat and tears, love and passion into this endeavor and I am so grateful to my children who inspire me every day, to all the friends, colleagues who have helped me. I absolutely love what I do, and feel so incredibly fortunate to do this work. Connecting with the people I photograph is very important, whether it’s a couple or an individual.
Taking the time to get to know the client allows me to learn about who they are, and how to visually tell their story(ies). For some, it is cliche to say, but life experience has shown me how precious and short life truly can be, and I have been given a gift to capture it.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
-Death of my first child
-Post-Partum Depression
-Divorce
-Single Motherhood
-Coming out as a Lesbian (it’s why I got divorced)
-Busting my ass to make my business a success/time away from my children
-Sadness/Depression/Loneliness
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Erin Long Photography – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
I work with couples, families, children. I take the time to connect with all my clients, I want to know who they are, I want to connect on a more personal level, so that I can create more meaningful portraits that reflect who my clients are.
I also work with a local pregnancy and infant loss support group called Empty Arms, as a companion and as a companion/photographer. We do work similar to Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep. Life experience and my approach is what sets me apart I suppose. The call to connect with clients, and maybe being an intuitive help as well.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
Hoping to do more work with non-profits, to grow as a pregnancy and birth photographer, as well as grow my wedding photography business to be even more specialized, and to work with wedding clients around the world. I really want to travel, and bring my children to worldwide assignments!
Pricing:
- Weddings Begin at $3275
Contact Info:
- Address: 123 Union Street Suite 202 Easthampton, MA 01027
- Website: www.erinlongphotography.com
- Phone: 413-262-7973
- Email: erin@erinlongphotography.com
- Instagram: @erinlongphotography
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/erinlongphotography
Image Credit:
Paul Specht
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