Meet Sherah Brickell | Lifestyle Photographer

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

Hi Sherah, how has your perspective on work-life balance evolved over time?
Work life balance has been something that I knew I needed to have at the forefront of my mind as soon as I had my first son while serving in the Untied States Air Force. I knew my time was not always my own, so I had to make a conscious effort to put my husband and boys first when I did have time away from work. Since retiring and starting my own business, I knew I wanted to be able to make my own schedule and not have to ask or answer to anyone when I wanted to spend some extra time with my family. At the end of the day, my faith and family are the most important things in my life and they will be there long after any job so I know I have to make them a priority while still being able to do something that I love now.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
After spending the last 20 years in the Air Force doing something I did not love, I found a creative outlet in photography. It started out with an instagram devoted to photos of my home (I’m also really big into interior decorating) then it took kind of a natural next step into photographing people when one of my friends asked me to take her daughters senior pictures. I gave myself a YouTube crash course in good starter lenses for an old Canon T3 camera I had, decided on and bought a 50mm prime lens, and never looked back! That first session was so much fun, running around St. Louis and capturing beautiful pictures of my friend’s gorgeous (inside and out) daughter. I knew from that moment on that photography was what I wanted to pursue when I finally retired from the military.

Little did I know that that one shoot was going to actually get me started about a year ahead of schedule! I had so many people reach out after they saw those photos, I talked to my husband about really pursing it and purchasing a better camera (since mine was about 12 years old). He was all in and we invested in my business. From there, I was booking everything from senior sessions to Christmas pictures and loving every minute of it! I can say that still being in the military while pursuing my future career was difficult at times. I was living about 3 1/2 hours away from my family, and where I booked most shoots, for the last 2 years of my enlistment so there was a lot of travel involved. It wasn’t the easiest start but it was definitely worth it because by the time I finally came back home for good, I had built up a nice clientele that keeps me pretty busy and word of mouth was starting to get out about my photography.

Even though I have only been doing this for a relatively short amount of time, I have found that I am 100% community over competition. I don’t “gate keep” locations and I’m all about cheering other local photographers on and praying for success in their business also. I’ve met some wonderful photographers that have been so nice and accepting of me stepping into this space. I know this business can seem a bit saturated but I think we all have different things to offer the world. My style is definitely more laidback, emotive, and unposed which honestly, doesn’t work for everyone and that is OK! I’ll gladly recommend another local photographer that may be a better fit. Like I said there is room for us all and all of our styles.

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 feel like Illinois and Missouri have some amazing places to visit and some great food! One of my newly discovered favorite places to eat is Edley’s BBQ in O’fallon, IL! It probably has some of the best bbq on this side of the river but if I’m willing to drive a little farther, Pappy’s would be it! They have some of the best ribs I’ve ever had in my life and I love their support of the military. Since I’m a photographer, I’d probably make my friend pose for me either on my property which has an old window greenhouse and a wildflower field, or we’d head to downtown STL and find a parking garage with a nice view of the arch to take some amazing sunset pictures!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I know this might not be the most popular answer but I have to give all credit where credit is due and that is to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. My faith is the most important thing in my life and I know that I would not be where I am today with the Lord leading my path and fully trusting on Him to guide me through all the good and the bad that life has thrown at me. My husband and boys are a super close second and their love and support means the absolute world to me. I take all of there opinions and counsel very seriously when it comes to my business ventures.

Website: https://www.sherahreneephotogrpahy.com

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

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

Image Credits
Sherah Renee Photography