Meet Heather Vallentyne Moreau of Vallentyne Photography

Today we’d like to introduce you to Heather Vallentyne Moreau.

Heather, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I’m an Oceanside native, and I live near the beach with my husband, 2 sons, and 2 dogs.

Family is my life and telling the story families in this area is a huge part of my life. I started in photography just out of college when I got my first internship at a local surf magazine in San Clemente, Surfing Girl.

The beach and the lifestyle that surrounds it has always been a huge part of my life and working at a surf magazine was an integral part of discovering photography as a career, developing my style, and learning about working in an editorial and commercial space.

After working at Surfing Girl magazine, Surfing Magazine, and Transworld surf as an assistant photo editor, I moved into commercial photography at DC shoes and from there began to dabble in wedding photography as an assistant on the weekends. I loved getting out of the studio. I loved working with real people. I truly loved telling their story and capturing their natural joy and beauty. It was such a simple choice for me to continue into wedding photography, every day is so beautiful and I feel incredibly lucky to get to know so many amazing couples and their families.

Vallentyne Photography has been established in Southern California documenting couples, families, and people for 15 years. My style is very editorial because I shoot the day to tell the story with lots of beautiful elements and details. Within this huge industry of wedding and portrait photography, I really think that I have a unique perspective and style with distinctive images that are both modern and timeless. I have been working for years on the look of my images and know that they will stand the test of time.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Honestly, photography happened completely naturally to me. I had a passion for it and I pursued it relentlessly. I never felt like there was something I couldn’t do, I just kept trying until it happened to me. I was and still, am completely devoted to my art. After working in an editorial and commercial space in photography, I fell in love with wedding photography because I realized that rather than having these photos be thrown away after only a few weeks or months, my work would stay with people for a lifetime.

It just feels so important to create art for people that will be valued for years to come. If I am completely honest and dig deep for a struggle, my answer would be that my biggest struggle has been advertising and marketing myself. I love being an artist so much and my passion lies in creating beautiful photographs for people rather than in doing social media and marketing! The two things really need to go hand-in-hand for a successful business so that’s my continuing journey!

Vallentyne Photography – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I specialize in weddings and family portraits. Basically, I specialize in photographing real people, real families, real couples, and telling their story as a joyful representation of the feelings and love they have for each other. I coach people through their sessions with me in a way that evokes their most natural and beautiful selves. It’s totally natural to not know how to be in front of a camera, and that’s my job. I pride myself on constantly continuing my education and working with people so that I can give them the most beautiful final product I can offer. Something that really captures their true beauty and makes them feel like the photo represents all the love they have in their heart.

I am most proud that my photography can truly stand a lifetime with a client. This means that I can begin my relationship with them with an engagement session, continue with the wedding, after that we might book their maternity session, next is newborn photos and then we can see each other once every one, two, or three years for a family portrait. It’s such a great relationship to get totally comfortable with each other and to wash my client’s families grow. I think what sets me apart from other photographers is partially how long I have been in business, almost 15 years.

Another part of it is how much experience I have in both natural and Studio lighting, the lighting and Technical aspects are very natural part of the way I shoot so that I can devote my attention to the best and most flattering posing and composition. I think the last part is just that I really care so much about the people that I work with and on giving them the best possible experience and photography. I’m very proud of being ethical, giving, compassionate, and generous in my business, just as I would want to be treated.

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
For me, I define success as being able to do what I love, photography while being able to both support and spend as much time as possible with my family. Here I am documenting love and happiness, it’s no surprise that this is the most important thing in my life as well! As much as money and a big successful business might be the general criteria for success, I would probably take a day at the beach with my family and friends anytime.

Pricing:

• Wedding Photography begins at $2400
• Family Photography begins at $425

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.vallentynephotography.com/
• Phone: 760-672-2416
• Email: heather@vallentynephotography.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vallentynephotography/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vallentynephotography/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/vallentyne/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/vallentyne-photography-oceanside

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