Today we’d like to introduce you to Steph Stevens.
Steph, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I’ve been a photographer for over 13 years. I started shooting whitewater rafting trips. I got that job because I started with the company as a whitewater rafting guide. I was able to be great at capturing rafts coming through whitewater rapids because I knew their job, I knew how to convey the excitement of those moments through still images.
Two years photographing rafting trips, Photography school and moved to Boston in 2007. I started shooting corporate photography, headshots, events, sometimes with celebrities straight out of school. I started my own business in 2009 and went fully self-employed in 2010. Since then I’ve been lucky to create relationships with clients that have endured for years. I’ll shoot their wedding, their sister’s, then their friends, then they have babies, etc…. I get to work as hard as I want and pretty much always try to.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I’m a photographer. I shoot anything that involves people: weddings, family portraits, bar/bat mitzvahs, business headshots, corporate events, etc… I often will plan my year around booking weddings 6-12 months out and then take a variety of other work through the year. I really love the challenge of working with people that will tell me straight away “I’m uncomfortable in front of the camera”. Okay, I hear you and give me a chance to do my thing and make this experience different than you’d expect. So I use my years of technical photography experience to find good light, use the right gear, direct/pose people in flattering ways and the whole time they don’t know I’m making all these very thoughtful calculations. I’m trying to hold down a conversation, find out a couple’s honeymoon plans or listen to an 8 year old tell me about Harry Potter. My goal is to make experience effortless for them. Its way easier than they thought it would be, the results are way better than they could have expected and that starts a relationship where I’ll work with them again. A fun perk of my work is seeing my professional relationships bleed into personal ones. Several of my wedding clients have become parents and our kids our friends with each other. It’s fun to see that happen organically.
What do you think it takes to be successful as an artist?
Communication is everything. My client relationships start with an email, sometimes a phone call. So I’m quick to reply with a full price list and answer all the questions I can straight away. No one wants to jump through hoops when they’re searching for a professional. They emailed because they wanted to spend some money with someone 🙂 I’m grateful that they contacted me, let’s make the rest of the process easy.
And once they are clients I want to listen to their hopes for the shoot/wedding/event/etc… And their concerns too. People want to feel like they’re a part of the process and getting individualized advice from a professional.
Follow through is also important. Once you’ve shot the job you’ve got to deliver on promises. And because doing this for +13 years means that not everything has gone perfectly it’s laying out a plan to keep them happy. I’m sure that if someone wanted to leave me a bad review they would but I’ve worked hard to keep clients happy.
Contact Info:
- Address: 52 Everett Street
Boston, MA 02128 - Website: https://www.stephstevensphoto.com/
- Phone: 4138966039
- Email: steph@stephstevensphoto.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stephstevensphoto/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Steph-Stevens-Photo-182216356779/
Image Credit:
Photo of me and y two boys is by Danielle of Salty Raven Studio: https://www.saltyraven.com/
Other photos by me
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