ARTIST OF THE (EVERY OTHER) WEEK
MARGO REED
Q: How long have you been a photographer?
I have been a freelance photographer for two years, but photography has been a hobby since I was in eighth grade.
Q: What inspired you to start?
I got hooked on looking at all sorts of photos online. Everything from selfies to fashion, to scenic photography was interesting to me. I was always specifically attracted to pictures of people. Soon enough, I wanted to take my own. I had a newly opened Facebook account that I needed to fill up. I always used my pictures to portray an idea or emotion and I shared them on Facebook because that’s where I could get my ideas across to people.
Q: What inspires you to keep going?
Everytime I look at photos, usually photos of people, my aspirations and goals for my work grows bigger and bigger and I become immensly motivated to go out and shoot more creative and purposeful work.
Q: How do you balance creation and business?
I try to think of my business as part of my creation. For example, I’m not the most mathematically or logically driven individual so when I’m working on things for my business I often try to make them a part of my work. Much like my art, I want everything I do to have a purpose so when I’m working on things like generating prices, writing contracts, or organizing files, I try to think about the final result of the “boring” work that I am putting in. The business itself is part of the creation process I use when doing my art.
Q: What does photography mean to you?
As an artist, my purpose is to portray emotions and ideas with each photograph I take. Using photography as an art gives me, the photographer, the responsibility of conveying feelings through my images. These feelings could be inspired by an array of different subjects, such as memories,personalities, or goals, and it is my job to capture them and portray them accurately. The most important element of art is purpose. My goal is to create unique, appealing, emotional photographs that will convey an idea and portray a purposeful, sentimental work of art that communicates with the viewer.
Q: How do you feel when you photograph things?
When I am feeling inspired and creative my mind is in its most open and sporadic state. My eyes feel physically overwhelmed, and I feel like I could continue shooting for days. Shooting makes me see the world in a very exciting way. Photography is the one thing that I can invest all of my energy into without even realizing that I am totally exhausting myself, and it’s often incredibly rewarding to feel that way.
Q: What do you shoot with?
I use a Canon T3i.
Q: What is something you want to work on?
Technical skills are definitely my weak point. Since I’m self taught and have never been interested in science/mechanics/computers, I never took the time to learn all of the functions of computers and cameras that could really improve my photography.
Q: How do you find clients?
In my small hometown, clients were easy to come by because there weren’t too many other high school students with photography businesses so I got the chance to shoot a lot of senior portraits, family photos, and a few weddings. Now that I’m in a big city it’s much harder to find clientele, but I am quickly learning that good advertising skills, heavily utilizing social media, and introducing myself to as many people as possible is helping me to get my name out there and associated with photography.
Q: What is the most challenging part of photography?
Consultations are tricky. Even though they’re not part of the actual photographic process they are really important as a photographer and businessperson. A structured and worthwhile consultation helps clients to know exactly what to expect from their session, makes them feel more comfortable, and helps the photographer to be better prepared for the photo session itself.