Master beach photographer, crafter, and coach, Elle Messenger, shares her expertise and knowledge on how to get started in photography and turn it into a successful business. From beginner tips for capturing beautiful moments to advanced techniques for beach photography and group shots, Elle provides valuable insights for anyone looking to improve their photography skills.

She also shares her advice on investing in education and mentorship to take your photography hobby to the next level. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced photographer, this episode of the HobbyScool podcast is a must-listen!

Summary

Photography is a hobby that has been enjoyed by people of all ages for a long time. Whether capturing a beautiful moment, a beloved pet or a scenic landscape, photography has the power to capture memories and evoke emotions. In a recent episode of the HobbyScool podcast, master beach photographer, crafter, and coach Elle Messenger shared her expertise and knowledge on how to get started in photography and turn it into a successful business.

According to Messenger, to get started in photography, all you need is a basic camera. Canon equipment is recommended, and the Canon EOS R camera is a great starter camera. However, she emphasized that lenses are the biggest part of what makes a picture, besides the photographer. For sports photography, a good zoom lens such as the 70 to 200 zoom lens is recommended, along with a fast shutter speed to freeze the moment in time.

For family events, Elle recommends scheduling the session to end right at sunset. She also suggested starting with the grandparents in the center of the shot and angling them towards each other when setting up extended families for group shots. When dealing with kids or little toddlers or babies during photography shots, it's important to be patient and flexible and to have distractions and treats on hand to keep them engaged and happy.

Elle also shared her tips for beach photography, which is her specialty. She suggests keeping the session upbeat and engaging, as children can be unpredictable and overstimulated in that environment. She recommends using a "shutter hugger," a stuffed animal that goes around the lens, to get children to look at the camera. Additionally, Elle advises letting children have some control over the session by giving them options, such as whether they want to stand or be held by their parents or where they want to stand in relation to their parents.

To turn a photography hobby into a successful business, Elle advises investing in education and mentorship from successful photographers. She recommends finding photographers whose success you would like to model your business after and pursuing education or mentorship through them. Many successful photographers offer free educational resources, such as podcasts, YouTube channels, and freebies on their websites, which Elle emphasizes the importance of researching and learning as much as possible when starting a photography business.

In conclusion, photography is a beautiful hobby that can be enjoyed by anyone. With the right equipment, techniques, and education, it can even be turned into a successful business. As Elle advises, it's important to invest in education and mentorship to ensure that you are getting started on the right foot. With patience, practice, and perseverance, anyone can become a successful photographer and capture the moments that matter most.

Mentioned In This Episode

• Where to find Elle: ⁠⁠Website⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠

• Elle's free gift: ⁠⁠Asking for Client Feedback⁠

• Don't forget to join our wait list for the next HobbyScool online learning summit. Our summits are free to attend and you can be the first to know when the next summit launches by ⁠getting on the wait list here.

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Transcript:

Destini Copp 0:00:00

You. And my special guest today is Elle Messenger. Elle is a master beach photographer, crafter and coach for people wanting to show up as their true self. People teaching and crafting have been her passions for as long as she can remember. And Elle was an elementary teacher for five years, but she was caught by a not so subtle pull to become a full time photographer and that's when she decided to do it. And I am so happy because we have her here today and she's going to be talking to us about how we can get started in photography as a hobby and also giving us a little bit of tips if we want to take that a little bit further and turn that hobby into a business. So, Elle, before we get into all the questions I have for you, can you tell the audience a little bit more about you and how you help people?

Elle Messenger 0:00:57

Yes, I'm so happy to be on. So I have been a photographer for more than ten years, and it started as a hobby back in high school when I got my very first base level camera. And my passion just grew from there. And over the last few years, I have decided to really niche down into beach photography and I specialize in families. And it's just been so amazing getting to be my own boss and truly work with amazing families and capture their most special moments in such beautiful scenery.

Destini Copp 0:01:38

And I will say that I myself, I love beach photography, so anytime we go to the beach, I always want to hire a photographer to come down to the beach and take pictures of us as a family. So I love, love what you're doing. So let's say that the audience is listening, they're interested in photography as a hobby. What do you have to say to them? How can they get started?

Elle Messenger 0:02:05

So there's really not a wrong way to get started in photography. All that you need is a basic camera. And I know that when you look online for digital cameras and professional level entry, professional level cameras, it can be a little intimidating because there are so many options out there. But your best tip bet is to just I get all my equipment from Best Buy. And if you're just getting started, you can search for digital camera. And I prefer Canon Equipment. It's just what I've used over the last seven years and so that's what I know. And you can just sort all of the Canon cameras from the price from lowest to highest, and that will give you an idea of where your camera will fall on the spectrum. The more expensive ones are, of course, going to be down at the bottom, and those are for the seasoned professionals. And the ones that are more towards the top, that are more affordable, are going to be a best bet for you. I would recommend the Canon EOS R camera. It's the new mirrorless body, and that is a great starter camera. And there's not so much even though you have a basic camera, it's not the camera that is going to produce good quality images. It's going to be you and it's going to actually be your lens. So lenses are the biggest part of what makes a picture, I believe, besides the photographer, of course.

Elle Messenger 0:03:51

But if you were getting an entry level camera, then I would recommend investing in a better lens. The kit lens that comes with the camera is going to it'll be good once you're learning all the settings and stuff. But if you really want to hone in on your hobby, getting a worthwhile lens that has a lower f stop is where you're going to get the best quality images.

Destini Copp 0:04:20

And you might not know this off the top of your head, so I might be putting you on the spot. The camera that you recommended, can you give us like a ballpark, how much that might cost in today's market?

Elle Messenger 0:05:03

So photography is not going to be a cheap hobby, but it's going to be one that has a lot of longevity to it. So you will invest a good chunk of money up front with your equipment, but as long as you take good care of your equipment, it requires very little maintenance. You honestly don't have to clean your camera and you don't have to clean your lens that much. As long as you protect it from the elements. It will just be, for the most part, this one time investment until you outgrow that. And once you want to make photography more of an income revenue source, that's when you will want to that's when.

Destini Copp 0:05:52

For the Canon camera that you recommend, for somebody who's just getting it, it's coming in their house, they're opening up the box. How easy is it to learn how to use it? Is it super simple or does it need do you need to go to YouTube and watch a bunch of YouTube videos to figure it out?

Elle Messenger 0:06:14

Well, every camera is going to have an auto setting. So when you're just getting familiar with all of the buttons and all of the features of the camera, that auto setting is really going to help you out. But once you somewhat become familiar with the buttons and what they all control with your camera, you're going to want to jump into manual mode as early as you can or as soon as you can so that you can produce quality images and knowing that you are in control of the camera.

Destini Copp 0:06:51

Okay, so somewhat easy to learn is what I'm hearing from you, let's say, because I know a lot of people listening. They probably have kids playing sports, maybe it's soccer, baseball, football, whatever, and they want to capture some of those moments right when they're on the field. And some of those special moments. Do you have any tips for them?

Elle Messenger 0:07:13

So once you have your camera, if you are in the auto setting, your camera will read all of the information from your surroundings with the light. And the newer cameras actually have facial tracking on them, so it will track your subject so that you don't have to manually track them with the focus. And the camera does that for you, and it'll adjust your settings when you are in auto. But for sports photography, the thing that will be the most helpful for you is having a good zoom lens.

Destini Copp 0:07:57

So.

Elle Messenger 0:07:57

That you can capture your kid out in the middle of the field, whether that's baseball or soccer, and you'll be able to see them better than with just the basic lens. So what a zoom lens that you would need is probably the 70 to 200 zoom lens, and that will give you a good range from sideline views all the way up to being able to see to the opposite end of the field.

Destini Copp 0:08:24

Okay, so if we have that Canon camera that you recommended with a zoom lens, that would give us some really good sports photography shots?

Elle Messenger 0:08:34

Yes. And then the secret for really freezing that moment of time when you're doing sports shots is to have a really fast shutter speed. So the shutter is how fast the camera captures your picture. And the slower the shutter, the less movement it captures, so it won't be your moment frozen in time. If you've ever seen kind of a blurry picture of the subject, you can see it moving across the frame. That's what a slow shutter does. But a fast shutter speed will really freeze that moment in time, and you'll get to see all the details of their face.

Destini Copp 0:09:17

Okay, so what about family events? I know you do a lot of beach photography saying that we want to go down there. I'm going to the beach in a week or so. Would love to get some pictures of my family on the beach. What do you recommend in terms of maybe the time of day to go or how you maybe even set everybody up? Maybe you have a big family that you're trying to take a picture of. Any tips that you want to give us there?

Elle Messenger 0:09:46

Yeah, so I schedule my beach sessions, and I time them so that we are ending right at sunset. So the good thing about that is you can look as far into the future as you need to find out what time the sunset is. You just hop onto Google and say August 7, sunset time, and it will tell me exactly down to the minute what time the sun sets on Hilton Head. And I have a pretty good system now, so I know that if there is a family of about ten people, it will take me about an hour to shoot their session to make sure we get all of the posings and grouping varieties that I like to get in a session. So if the sunset is going to be 824 that night, I would technically like to start my session at 724, but I sometimes round that up just to give my clients a few extra minutes. So we would start that session around 715. So the most important thing to remember is just make sure that you are ending your session right at sunset.

Destini Copp 0:10:51

Okay, well, that's a really good tip. Do you have any settings or when you're setting everybody up, any tips there?

Elle Messenger 0:11:00

Yeah, so when I am setting up extended families for group shots, I always start with the grandparents in the center of the shot and I make sure that they are angled in towards each other because they are the reason that the whole family is together, right. Like they started the family and they are the center of the group. So I always make sure that they are the focus of the shot. And then coming out from each side of them, I disperse out their adult children with their spouses and then I have their kids sprinkled in in between the families. And then depending on how many adult children there are, I try to make them as balanced on each side as I can.

Destini Copp 0:11:48

I know when my kids were little, sometimes they were throwing fits or tinter tamters right in the middle of the photography shot, right when we were trying to get everybody to smile. And any tips for dealing with kids or little toddlers or babies like that?

Elle Messenger 0:12:05

Yeah, especially, I mean, kids are already so unpredictable and especially at the beach, they're going to be overstimulated. They want to play in the ocean, they want to play in the sand, and the last thing that they want is to take pictures and adding on how late it is because most kids are going to be going to bed between seven and 08:00 P.m., which is when we're starting the session. So there are a lot of things working against you, but just making sure that you're always keeping the session upbeat, keeping kids engaged. And it's called a shutter hugger, and it's just a little stuffed animal that goes around my lens. And I've had a bunny that I've been using recently, and it's always funny because we're like, is there a bunny on the beach? And that gets them to look at my camera. What else? Kids. I like to let kids control the session to a certain extent, so I think that it's important to in order for kids to cooperate, they want to have a vested interest in the session. So I give them options. I say, do you want to stand or do you want mom and dad to hold you? Or do you want to stand next to mom or do you want to stand next to dad? And I always make sure to present kids with two options that ultimately end in what I want, but it's letting the kids take control so that they feel like they kind of have a say in how the session goes.

Destini Copp 0:13:33

I love those tips. So, Elle, before we wrap it up here, I want to talk a little bit about your business. Because you have taken a photography hobby and you have turned it into a six figure business. Can you tell us a little bit more about the process that you went through to do that? And if somebody was wanting to follow down your path and do it also, what is one of the first things they would need to do to get started?

Elle Messenger 0:14:01

So the very first thing and what I think is most important and it's kind of underestimated how often it's not something that people talk about a lot. But I believe that it's really important to invest in education and invest into your business first to make sure that you are getting started on the right foot. So I would suggest looking for photographers, whether it's their websites or their instagram, finding a photographer that looks like there is success that you would kind of want to model your business after, and I would pursue some kind of education or mentorship through them. So there are so many successful photographers out there, and a lot of us have learned lessons the hard way. We've learned through trial and error, and sometimes there have been more errors than success. And I think that the best thing that you could do for your business is just reach out to other photographers, find out what has worked for their business and getting one on one coaching from them. And sometimes that might not be the one on one coaching, might be a little out of reach when you're first getting started. But just finding education. Lots of photographers have free educational resources, whether it's their podcasts or YouTube channels, lots of photographers have freebies on their websites and just truly investing in education. And you can never research too much when you're just getting started in your business.

Destini Copp 0:15:45

And I love that advice. Educating yourself, learning, and just taking that first step to get started, I think is a big thing there. So, Elle, before we wrap it up here, can you tell the audience where they can find you? And I believe you have a free gift for them also.

Elle Messenger 0:16:03

Yes. So I have a podcast where I talk with other photography business owners, and I have guests on, and we do interviews, and we just talk about things like how to market yourself and how to charge sessions so that you're making a profit, and just little tips to run your business. I also have my Instagram, where I have lots of photography resources on it's at Elle Michelle Photography, and the freebie that I would love to offer you guys. One of the most successful ways that I've found that I've grown my business is I ask my clients for feedback. So I ask them how the session went. I ask them, what are some things that I did well, what are some things that they think I could work on? And that has really helped shape my client experience. It's helped shape my workflow and my email automation. So I want to share that freebie with listeners who are thinking about breaking into taking their photography from a hobby to a business. No matter how big your business is, feedback is important. So I have a feedback request questionnaire freebie that I'm sharing with you guys that has the questions that I ask each and every one of my clients. And it has, what's, tailored my business to help me become a six figure photographer over the last three years.

Destini Copp 0:17:39

And Elle, I will make sure all of those links are in the show notes so people can find you and download your free gift. And thank you so much for joining us and giving us all these great tips about photography and how we can kind of dip our toes into it.

Elle Messenger 0:17:54

Yeah is. You are so welcome. I had such a good time.