Meet Emily McAllister | Lifestyle and Family Photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Emily McAllister and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Emily, what role has risk played in your life or career?
The way I see it there are 2 types of risks; the risk of going after what you want and potentially failing, and the risk of sitting on the sidelines and watching someone else chase your dream. The latter has always been much scarier to me than the potential of trying and falling on my face. I have tried many, many things that I later would find out were not for me, but it all led me one step closer to where I wanted to be.

Risk-taking has been integral in the growth of my career and business. Anytime you put yourself out to the public in a vulnerable way, you run the risk of being rejected. I can still remember the first time I offered my at-the-time amateur photography services via a Facebook post, over 7 years ago. I had very low expectations. I assumed no one would respond, but as it turns out, that post was the start of my business. As cliche as it is; no risk, no reward.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My ‘why’ is always about connection, story-telling and raw emotion. I love that I get an opportunity to capture and preserve a feeling. My candid-style of photography tells the story of who people are and how they feel about each other. I want the viewer to be able to feel that moment as if they were standing right there inside the photo. I think one of my gifts in life is that I make people feel very comfortable, and I believe that it translates into my photos. I always encourage people to be exactly who they are, imperfections and all. It is in those imperfect moments that my favorite photos have been created. I also always want my clients to feel incredibly taken care of, from booking through receiving their photo gallery. I try to offer a ton of support through easy contact, seasonal style-guides and lots of encouragement when we shoot.

In the beginning, I treated my business as a ‘side-hustle’. I didn’t give it or myself the credit it deserved, probably because I suffered from imposter-syndrome. I think this stems from being self-taught. I learned things backwards. I was learning incredibly advanced things in the beginning, and figuring out basics later on. But at the end of the day, I realized it didn’t matter, because my clients loved my art. I loved my art. And eventually, as my business kept building momentum and growing, I started to take ownership of my business as a business. I threw my entire self into it and I haven’t looked back.

I am a person who is always filled with ideas, and new ventures I want to try. I have big plans for myself and my business, and I trust that the process will continue to take me somewhere really cool.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
If someone was visiting, we would spend most of our time at the beach surfing. There is nothing better than a long, summer day at the beach getting in and out of the water all day long. We would break for snacks and sunbathing, and of course sushi.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
When I began pursuing photography professionally, I heavily relied on YouTube, Pinterest articles and the photography community to self-teach. One group in particular, 52Frames, was an endless resource of photographers at all skill levels. At the time they functioned as a Facebook group that gave weekly prompts as photo challenges. The goal was to be picked as a weekly winner, however it was so much more than that. I was able to ask other, more seasoned photographers questions about settings, gear, rates, clients, etc. It also have me an outlet to practice taking different types of photos with different objectives in mind. As my business grew, I eventually fell out of the weekly challenges, but I was able to apply so much of what I had learned, to my paid client photo sessions.

Website: https://emilymcallisterphotography.com

Instagram: @Emilymcallisterphotography

Twitter: @Emily_tweets

Facebook: @emilymcallisterphotography