Sandra Moreland

I think my success comes through relationships. I have always been a people person, and making people feel comfortable, so that when I'm taking their picture, they're comfortable with me, and then I'm able to get genuine emotions, as opposed to pose and smile. Being across several different niches, I could be with corporate executives and then middle schoolers - it's being able to make people feel good about themselves in a very genuine way. Showing them their value, and just having them be relaxed - I'm gonna help them, I'm gonna help them feel comfortable, and it's not going to be scary, it's going to be fun. It's just a relationship thing, it's just comfort. I would say that's a lot of it, because almost all of my business comes from word of mouth. That is a result of people having a good experience and feeling comfortable and telling their friends and their co-workers.

Someone told me once, the most successful people were good with Plan B. That has been true in so many situations, because things always come up. In photography, it might rain, or the area you were going to use to photograph might be under construction. I did a wedding and we got down there, and the whole front of the church was covered in scaffolding. There's always things that come up - even right before senior pictures, someone will have an outbreak of acne, or had someone break their nose a day before. You can't let that rattle you. So you just go to Plan B, and stay calm about it, and have a good way to deal with things that come up. Because things always come up, nothing ever works perfectly 100% of the time.

I have a lot of high schoolers ask me, you know, how do I get to do this? And I talk to them about what part of it do they really want to do? Go try it. Go see how you like actually doing it. Spend a day shadowing a photographer. Come and see what it all involves. Then find the part you like the best and do it as much as you can - practice it. If you want to shoot sports, go and photograph a lot of sports games, and find out what you like that you've taken, and what you don't like, and then just work on that. Continue taking classes. This field - the technology is really expanding, and camera technology is expanding, and I am always taking classes. Don't ever think you know everything there is to know just because you've taken these photography classes. That's not enough. Go do it, go practice, and then take classes on lighting, and take classes on composition, and do these webinars that show you how to set up a video business. Nothing replaces actually doing it and seeing how you like it. And then continue learning by taking classes. Don't be afraid to ask other people. Ask other people for help, ask how they did it. Ask them, you know, what's the best way? Don't be afraid to ask and introduce yourself, and ask people who are doing it.

Currently, there's a lot of challenge with how cell phones are becoming - have become so, so good - that a lot of dance photography and everyday moments, people are able to do on their own. That has made a shift in what professional photography is more in tune with, because people are able to do it. I mean, I started in the film days, and if you didn't have a good film camera, you weren't able to get pictures of anything. And now people are taking a lot of their own pictures. It's a good thing, because they are able to capture everyday life and have those memories. But it also devalues photography a little bit, because they can do it themselves. They don't realize that professional photography is also so much more, you know, with the eye for composition and the lighting. A lot of people will look and say, why do you use lights outside when it's bright and sunny? Well, that's physics, so you've got to overpower the sun so that you don't have shadows under your eyebrows and down below your eyes. So it's a challenge for people to just position what professional photography is best for, and where that really is a benefit. All of the advancements in what's come has been a great thing and a difficult thing at the same time.

It sounds a little cliche, but just being authentic. Honesty and integrity are huge with me. I feel like, in relationships, you have to be real with people, and be honest. It comes down to not just business dealings, but also when people ask me, you know, do you think this shirt would work for this headshot? It's okay to say, what are some other choices? You can't just be a people pleaser. You have to realize that in the profession, being real and being authentic is in everyone's best interest, not just your own.