Meet Megan Yates | Documentary Family Photographer

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

Hi Megan, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
Photography is something that I’ve been interested in and enjoyed for a long time, but mostly as an enthusiast; I would daydream about being a photographer, but for quite a while I simply left it at that. After leaving my career in the wine industry to care for my children full time, I found that the lack of a rigid structure allowed me to think more creatively and I began to feel a strong tug toward being an artist. For the first time, the idea of pursuing photography as more than a hobby felt realistic.

I started taking photography lessons online, but was unsure of the kind of photography that I wanted to work with. I knew that I liked street photography and I’ve always enjoyed photographing my own family in a similar, natural manner. Then, I found the work of Sally Mann – the photos that she’s made of her family are beautiful and have a raw and vulnerable quality that resonated with me so much. That led me to discover the genre of Documentary Family Photography and that was my “aha!” moment. “The style of photography that I’m so passionate about has a name! And people pay money for it!”. I knew it was the genre of photography that I wanted to work with. After that, I was like a freight train. I took as many courses on the genre as I could and practiced it constantly with my own family. Within a few months, I decided to launch a business offering this style of photography to families. I’ve been doing this professionally for nearly 3 years now and I love being able to bring a sense of ease and refreshing authenticity to family photos. There’s no pressure to perform whatsoever and families can relax, play, and enjoy being present with one another while I hang out with them (and I just happen to have a camera in my hand!).

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Thank you! I’m a Documentary Family Photographer, so my work is centered on connection. I spend up to a full day with families and small businesses photographing the authentic moments of their day. I love showing people how beautiful their real lives are! Speaking as a parent myself, we get so caught up in work, to-do lists, school, juggling everything related to kids, volunteering, trying to have a flicker of a social life, and the laundry, oh god the laundry…..that it can be easy for us to not notice many of the meaningful ways that we interact with our loved ones. So, it’s incredibly impactful for people to see themselves being present with their children and partners through photos that tell their family’s story. Being able to connect with people in that artful and emotional way is something that I really treasure and I think that’s what sets this genre of photography apart from others. It takes a certain level of trust to invite someone into your home and reflect your real life back to you in photos – and I don’t take that lightly. I really enjoy building that kind of relationship with people and making memorable photos for them to enjoy for decades.

It was not easy to establish my brand; the most obvious challenge is that the pandemic hit during my first full year in business, so that impacted my work significantly, as it did for so many. Family photography is also a very saturated market, so it took a lot of trial and error to learn what makes my work stand out and I found that my own quirky authenticity was the key. Authenticity is at the core of my work and my vision as an artist, so the most important lesson that I’ve learned is to stay consistent with that. Everyone perceives life and the world a little bit differently and clients choose to book a session with me because they connect on an emotional level with the way that I interpret and photograph what’s happening around me. So, by staying true to my own photographic voice, I not only deliver beautiful photos to clients that they will treasure for many years, but it also keeps me really, really loving what I do and pushes me to be continually growing as a visual storyteller. It’s a win-win!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I live just outside of New York City and everything that a big city has to offer is a quick train ride away. So when I travel to Los Angeles I like to spend time in, and recommend, places that are very different from what I can find near me. So, I enjoy hiking in Runyon Canyon and Point Dume, and a stop or three at wineries in Santa Barbara. I visit museums or art galleries whenever I travel as well, so The Getty is perpetually on the agenda

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I want to give a great big shoutout to the entire documentary family photography community! We are a small, tightly knit, and supportive group of photographers who are always so willing to help each other out and cheer on one another. I’ve learned so much from my fellow photographers and I hope that I’ve been able to share some useful information with them as well. It’s very much community over competition in our little niche of family photography and I am so grateful to everyone that is part of it.

Website: https://meganyatesphoto.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meganyatesphoto/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/meganyatesphoto

Image Credits
Image credit: Megan Yates