Okay you guys, so I did a thing…I FINALLY invested in a professional-level digital camera!!! Woo-hoo! I know it’s probably a shocker that I’ve never owned one, considering how long I’ve been at this blogger/influencer thing and taking pictures is such a huge part of my job. However, most of my content is still shot with a professional camera, I’ve just relied heavily on working with local Houston photographers up until this point and it’s worked out well for me. I’ve been blessed to work with some great photographers on a consistent basis, such as Creative Sparks Images, who took the pictures featured in this blog and others who I’ll continue working with, but I felt it was finally time to make the purchase. Here’s a few things that led to that decision:
My Growth
In the past year I’ve seen tremendous growth in my business, social following, and have received more opportunities to collaborate with some really amazing brands. 2020 was one of the busiest and most lucrative years to date for my business and 2021 is looking to be another one for the books, only 2 months in. While this has been amazing, the amount of sponsored content I need to shoot on a weekly basis is a lot. I was working with my photographer on a bi-weekly basis at the beginning of 2020 and we had to move to weekly, because bi-weekly was no longer cutting it. Then it got to a point where even weekly wasn’t sufficing. I was averaging having to shoot anywhere from 4-6 (some shoots even more) campaigns every single week at the end of last year and trying to cram them all in one shoot was very stressful. Especially considering majority of my campaigns involve shooting with my children as well. I also had to squeeze in organic content in those shoots too.
Then there’s so much that goes in to sponsored content, such as, sometimes there’s tight turnaround times, leaving my photographer in a crunch to have to edit the content and get it back to me immediately to then sometimes end up just having to reshoot it all due to the brand requesting a reshoot for various reasons. It got to the point where it wasn’t the most efficient process for my line of work.
While I still work with my photographer on a regular basis, having my own camera allows me to shoot campaigns in between our scheduled sessions so now I no longer have to cram so much in to one shoot. It’s taken a lot of stress out of the equation for sure. With any business, as you grow, you typically can’t keep operating how you were before your growth. Growth forces you to step out of your comfort zone at times, whether it’s learning new skills that may be intimidating but will help you in the long run or making large purchases that can be scary but will pay off in the end. In my experience it’s always been worth it and has only made me a more well-rounded business owner.
Consistent Content Quality
While working with a professional photographer on a consistent basis has worked really well for me, there would be circumstances, whether it was a super fast turnaround for a project or me and my photographers schedules not aligning, where I would have to shoot the content myself. Since I didn’t have a professional camera, I would have to use my iPhone. While the most up-to-date iPhone takes amazing pictures and videos, they still can’t get you the exact quality a professional digital camera can. I realized when brands reached out to me, they wanted to work with me based on the quality of content they see on my social platforms. I would hate for a brand to hire me expecting one thing and I delivered another. And not just on the brand side but I pride myself on putting out a certain level of quality content and I didn’t want that to solely be based on being able to work with my photographer because things happen. She could get sick and need to take time off, she could travel, anything. Having my camera has made situations where we can’t link up to shoot less stressful.
Having More Control
There’s a certain level of control you give up when 100% of your content is shot by someone else because after you shoot and your photographer goes on their way, your content is now in their hands. There’s a waiting period of them having to edit the content and get it back to you. When you create the sheer amount of content I do and post almost 7 days a week like I do, this can be taxing on me and the photographer. For me, it can be stressful because I now have to wait around to get my content back and for the photographer due to the pressure to immediately turn everything around and get it back to me.
It’s extremely stressful and can potentially be a problem when there’s really tight turnarounds for sponsored content and you have rigid deadlines to meet. I will say, my photographer does an amazing job at getting me what I need in a short amount of time but having my own camera has taken some of the stress off me and her. When I shoot my own content, I’m able to immediately upload the pictures to my computer, go through them, choose the ones I want, edit them, and submit the content to the brand. It eliminates the middle waiting period, which is really nice.
Learning the Skill of Photography
I believe whether you have someone else take majority of your content or not, photography is a skill that every influencer and blogger should at least know the very basics of. It’s such a huge part of what we do and it’s a big part of why nationwide brands partner with us, for us to create quality content for them. I knew the with the growth I’m having and the direction my business is going I HAD to no longer be intimidated by the thought of learning how to operate a professional camera, take great pictures, and edit them myself. It can be overwhelming, I’m still in the learning curve stage of it all, but hey at least I’m finally doing it. I vowed in 2021 I’m stepping out of my comfort zone and purchasing my own camera definitely took me out of my comfort zone but I can truly say, it’s been one of the best decisions I’ve made so far for my business.
I also want to shoutout my husband who has BEEN encouraging me to invest in a camera for our business for months, if not years. He has really taken an interest in learning photography and takes a lot of my pictures now. If you’re like me and possibly feel like you aren’t ready or the thought of investing in a camera overwhelms you, I encourage you to get out of your own way. You think it’s a lot to sit down and figure it all out, but you simply just have to do it. I let me needing to research hundreds of different camera, brands, and lenses out there prolong the investment I should’ve made a long time ago and now I wish I would’ve done this so much sooner.
Now I know you guys will have a lot of questions about the actual camera and that part of things I’m still learning A LOT about. There are still lenses I want. There are still settings I need to master. I still have a long way to go when it comes to editing as well. So, I’ll do a separate blog post on all of those questions once I learn a bit more. But if you simply want to know which camera I got and why, it’s the Sony a7iii, with the factory lens it comes with. Upgrading my lens is the next purchase I plan on making very soon. I went with this particular camera because a photographer I worked with uses it and I loved how the pictures looked straight off the camera before any editing was done. My blogger bestie Brittney F. uses this particular camera too and swears by it and her pictures are amazing so I was convinced. I really love it so far!
Here’s to stepping out of your comfort zone, no matter what that looks like for you specifically, and leveling up all of 2021!
As Always….Love you All,
Courtney N. Williams