BP4U Guides is so excited to be featuring Stephanie Pana Photography this week! She is absolutely A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! We love her and her work. We have been working with on The Pro’s Guide to: Senior Girl Photography and are so excited to be announcing it today, make sure you check it out! Without further adieu, the amazing Stephanie Pana.
Stylized Lifestyle & Portrait Photographer focusing solely on High School Seniors & Teens. Stephanie is an up and coming natural light, on-location photographer for teens in the Chicagoland Area, bringing the utmost style and atmosphere to every photo she captures. It is a guarantee that you will experience life, confidence and vibrancy in a browse through her portfolio as a whole.
When did you first realize you wanted to be a photographer? I would say that I can probably pinpoint the desire to take this on as a career about 4 years ago! I was always dabbling around with photography for years prior to that, but finally decided it was something worth trying to accomplish when I began to find consistency in my images.
When and how did you start out in photography? It began as a simple hobby for me back when I was about 15 years old. It started off with an interest in Graphic Design. I was appreciating the images I was using to create these designs & wanted to try using my own photos.
How would you describe your style? My style is all about finding inner beauty within my client & assuring that comes through on camera. On a visual aspect, I just adore moody/rich tones that add a special depth to the image!
What’s in your gear bag?
Canon 5D Mark II
85mm 1.2L
50mm 1.2L
One lens you can’t live without? Ooooh! Do I really have to decide?! Well, I guess I really only have two choices (85mm or 50mm) so if I just HAD to choose, I would say the 50mm as it gives me a little bit more wiggle room as far as focal length goes. Other than that, I adore both!
How did know when the right time to start charging was? I suppose there really isn’t a perfect time to decide this, but if you feel that you have enough interest & potential clients, then you should definitely be charging for your services, no doubt!
If you’re just in the beginning stages and don’t have much of a base to work off of, then you can certainly take some time for yourself to portfolio build and gather a great variety of images to compile together into something you can present to future pending clients!
How much did you charge for your first session and how much are you charging for the same type of session now? When I first started, I didn’t really do too much research as to what really went into everything that I was doing. I just felt extremely lucky to even be getting paid at all. Now, looking back on things, I know for a fact I priced myself far too low, but it was a big lesson learned.
My initial prices were anywhere between $75-$150 per session. Throughout the last three years, I’ve progressively adjusted my prices which currently range anywhere between $400-$600 for an average clients’ investment. I feel much better about where I am right now, but still may make additional changes as time goes on.
How did you market yourself when you started out? In the beginning of my journey, just as many of us do, I thrived off of word of mouth & utilizing Social Media to acquire new clientele.
Initially, it was just people who I knew personally (friends/family/etc) but sooner than later, the “web” as I like to call it, grew bigger and people were finding me through friends of friends, and even through random Google searches. It’s still primarily my form of marketing to this day!
We are going to play a game… name the first person that comes to mind when you think of…
·Newborn photographer: Baby As Art
·Wedding photographer: Clayton Austin
·Lifestyle photographer: Shannon Lee Miller
·Most inspiration person: Michelle Moore
Did you go to school for photography or were you self- taught? I would say I am 80% self taught / 20% formally educated in Photography. Majority of my growth & learning has come with my own by just getting out there and literally trying anything I can. Trial and error! I am a very hands on person, who needs to just give things a try vs. reading something in a book.
Allowing yourself to be open to growth in all aspects of this art is a tremendous thing to do. You’ll constantly be allowing yourself to learn new things. Some will be big changes, while others will be small changes that slowly help you ease into finding your style.
What has been some of the hardest things to overcome in your business? I think the hardest thing I will ever have to overcome, and I sometimes still find myself in this position, is time management. I don’t give myself set hours of when I need to do things.
Being that my business is based out of my home, I am constantly in a state of mind that I can work whenever. Even if that means it’s 3:00am 😉 It seems that once I overcome the random working hours, I’ll be able to force myself to accommodate a more realistic time schedule of when I should work & when I shouldn’t.
Do you have any tips for photographers just starting out? My biggest tip I can ever give anyone may seem rather simplistic, but in the long run, it offers you to truly shine for who you are. I am a believer in embracing “YOU”. What will make YOU stand out amongst the crowd. Allow yourself to constantly stay true to yourself & who you want to be in your business.
This is the best part about what we do. We get to bring ourselves into our work, not only with our images, but with anything else we do on a day to day basic with our businesses. Don’t let yourself stress over what anyone else is doing. Put ALL of that energy into yourself & the sky is the limit!
If for some reason you couldn’t be a photographer what do you think you would be? How funny to even think about this! Initially, I had no intentions of being a photographer, but now I cannot even fathom what life would be like otherwise.
I suppose I would still be doing something within the creative field. I used to enjoy Graphic Design quite a bit before Photography became the sole piece to the puzzle, so I would assume I would be doing something with that most likely! 🙂
What’s the best lesson in photography that you’ve learned so far? My biggest lesson that I’ve learned is that you MUST be goal oriented. Without this, I don’t think I could do what I do. It took me awhile to really understand how this is a pivotal point to not getting “bored” with things.
Thinking ahead was something I really didn’t do initially. I was grateful for anything that happened in those moments. Now, I am allowing myself to think forward, which constantly inspires myself to try new things & desire new goals.
What are your thoughts on props? When it comes to my style of photography, I for some reason have never gotten into utilizing props into my photos. It’s never really anything that crosses my mind unless I am doing a very stylized shoot.
For the most part, in my client sessions, I prefer to keep things all about them. If props end up being used, I try to make them flow in as naturally as possible without taking away from the client and rather adding personality!
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