Today we’d like to introduce you to Michelle Thompson.
Michelle, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I became a family portrait photographer accidentally.
I learned photography in high school and fell in love with landscape photography. Then, when my daughter was a preschooler, I booked a Mother’s Day mini session with a local San Diego photographer, intending the photos as gifts for the grandmas.
The day before the session, the photographer canceled suddenly and without explanation, leaving me gift-less with Mother’s Day looming that weekend. As I already knew my way around a camera, I decided to just go take the pictures myself.
They turned out pretty great, if I may say so myself, so I started photographing friends and relatives, too. A new passion was born.
So if that photographer hadn’t suddenly canceled, we probably wouldn’t be talking.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Self-discipline, with needing to buckle down and work when I’m the business owner and there’s no boss breathing down my neck.
Learning to run not just a business but a successful one. You probably have to know more about business than you do about photography for that to happen.
Marketing. I hate it. There’s just no other way to say it.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
The importance of what I do is driven home every time I see the best photo I have of myself during my only pregnancy nine years ago – it’s a grainy, poorly lit phone shot in front of a bathroom mirror.
I had decided that professional photography was an expensive luxury we could forego; that I would have photos taken during my next pregnancy.
It turned out to be my only pregnancy, and that poorly lit shot is all I have to remember that miraculous, wonderful season of my life.
I saved money but lost something of much greater value.
That’s what I communicate to potential clients – that their stories MATTER and should be beautifully told and saved.
Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
Your story matters. Tell it beautifully, and keep it forever.
I create meaningful photographs for real San Diego families.
Rich, vivid & authentic are how I would describe my style.
I’m a lifestyle photographer, meaning my work is unposed and emotive, a cross between documentary and traditional posed photography.
You don’t just see my photos, you FEEL them.
Sessions with me are easy, fast-moving and fun! I guide my clients from start to finish, helping them through issues like what to wear, uncooperative children, and husbands who hate having their photos taken. And I provide an unparalleled personal experience.
Pricing:
- 500+
Contact Info:
- Email: michelle@lovemichellephotography.com
- Website: www.lovemichellephotography.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lovemichellephoto/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lovemichellephotography/
- Other: https://www.instagram.com/michellethompsonlandscapes/
Image Credits
Thank you to the Franke, Keene, LeMaster, Dominguez and Werner families for allowing me to share their photographs.
