Today we’d like to introduce you to Blair & Emily Austin.
Hi Blair & Emily, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Oceana Digital was created as a joint effort to combine my passion for photography with my wife Emily’s passion for acting and film. I’ve been working in photography for over a decade and originally started with nature photography in California, Colorado, and South Africa as I moved between these locations. I eventually began doing wedding photography as a second shooter in South Africa. When I moved back to California, I continued my surf photography work under Blarrel (blarrel.com) and began working in real estate as a realtor to support my income. From there, real estate photography became a natural transition. While Blarrel was always for my own artistic ventures, Oceana Digital became a larger business where I could work for-hire under a variety of different work that didn’t belong under Blarrel.
We currently do a wide range of photography including real estate, headshots (both professional/corporate and for actors), private surf shoots, family and lifestyle, engagement and wedding, and actor suit-to-shoots (which involve filming a custom scene for actors to help them improve their demo reels). Emily (emiaustin.com) has several years of experience in the acting and film industry and has a keen understanding of actor headshots and demo reels, so she takes the lead when we book this work. We work as quite the tag team with Emily doing coordination, video editing, script writing for scenes, and photo selection. I focus more on the actual photography and videography, lighting, and photo editing.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
As always, self-employment has many ups and downs. For a long time Oceana Digital was growing as a side business while we supported ourselves with full time careers. The company is now our main business venture, and in our free time I photograph work for Blarrel and Emily continues to pursue acting. It’s an interesting way to operate but we’ve found it works very well for us and allows for us to have more flexibility in our lives while pursuing a combination of work that we are passionate about.
The hardest part has been adjusting to the irregularity of bookings. Sometimes things are very busy and sometimes there will be slower months, and it takes a decent amount of trust to know that things will work out and continue growing. Luckily we have a strong support system and network in San Diego that have kept us positive and connected to more work. It’s great to get recurring bookings and see our work getting published, like our recent cover photo on the May 2024 issue of Discover La Jolla. All these ‘wins’ remind us that things are continuing to grow, and that’s always exciting.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Oceana Digital is a two-person team consisting of me, Blair Austin, as the photographer, videographer, and photo editor, and my wife, Emily Austin, as the coordinator and video editor. We specialize in a wide range of photography including real estate, headshots (both professional/corporate and for actors), private surf shoots, family and lifestyle, engagement and wedding, and actor suit-to-shoots (which involve filming a custom scene for actors to help them improve their demo reels).
What sets us apart from others is our extensive background in different types of photography and how we keep everything in-house, from the photography itself to the editing and final touches. We really love to work with our clients in a very hands-on way so that we can completely understand their vision and help create exactly what they’re looking for. There are many photography companies out there that you can hire, get your photographs, and never really feel like you were a part of the work. We really like to be more in-depth with how we work with our clients so that it truly feels like each shoot is very unique to the client rather than just a copy-paste photograph. Photography can feel very vulnerable for the subject and we like to respect that.
We also love helping our clients feel more comfortable in front of the camera, which many people struggle with. Emily’s background in acting is of great help in bringing someone’s true essence out in front of the lens.
My extensive background in action photography and my unique style with surfing photography allows me to capture one-of-a-kind images for surfers. We love seeing how much joy it brings people to have such magical memories photographed.
For our real estate photography, having several years of experience in real estate from all ends of the business gives us a strong understanding of what helps a property lease and sell at top prices. We like to bring an artistic touch to our real estate work that brings out the best in every property and truly makes it pop.
We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
Covid was extremely hard on so many small businesses and the effects of it are still being felt today. More than anything, we’ve learned that we need to stay resilient and flexible while trusting that things will work out. A positive mindset, even when it feels impossible, is so important.
Pricing:
- All of our pricing can be found on our website at oceanadigital.net
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.oceanadigital.net/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oceanadigital/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oceanadigitalmedia
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/oceanadigitalmedia/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/oceana-digital-san-diego
Image Credits
Blair Austin, Oceana Digital
