We got in touch with our friends Jamie and Heather Schneider for this post. Here’s what they had to say.
How did you get started in Photography?
Jamie: My father worked at Olan Mills before I was born and was a serious amateur photographer while I was growing up. You know, always breaking out the huge camera for nothing. His style was really old school too, ha! He actually won a bunch of contests. His camera was his prized possession that I wasn’t allowed to touch, so naturally it held a fascination with me. It wasn’t until high school when I took my first photography class; I wasn’t the best student in school and I fell even more in love when I learned that I could get get good grades just by wandering around the swamps that surrounded my parents’ house, taking pictures. Plus I had a crush on a girl in my class and I liked working in the dark room with her. It never went anywhere, but I always hoped!
Heather: Jamie actually introduced me to it. I always knew I wanted to do something “creative” professionally and after a very expensive detour through Audio Engineering school Jamie brought home a D70s and I was hooked.
An old friend of Jamie’s from high school had seen our personal photos we uploaded to our Flickr stream and really like what she saw. She was eloping on Mardi Gras years ago and asked us if we would come hang out in the French Quarter and get paid to take pictures of her small New Orleans wedding. We absolutely loved everything about it and knew after that we wanted to redirect our efforts to become the leading force in New Orleans wedding photography.
What has contributed to your success? Knowing what we want and don’t want. We both knew growing up that we didn’t want 9-5 desk jobs and once we realized that we could make this photography business happen, we never stopped working on it. We’re constantly thinking and talking about how we can improve our business and how to keep it fresh. We spend more time reading books on business than watching TV.
What is the most important thing for your continued success? To keep working and don’t get comfortable. I really don’t see success as a wave you can ride forever. You constantly have to be learning, working, researching, and growing to make it in the long run. If you want to surf, you have to paddle. There is a lot of competition to be a successful wedding photographer in New Orleans, and there’s so much talent down here. We have to continually try to think outside of the box. When either of us shoot a wedding at a location that we’ve previously shot before, we make the conscious decision to shoot it differently than the time before. You always have to keep things fresh.
What’s the best business advice you’ve ever received? The one quote that we read that really kicked our wedding photography business in high gear was by J.C. Penny. He said, “Give me a stock clerk with a goal and I’ll give you a man who will make history. Give me a man with no goals and I’ll give you a stock clerk.” Working in restaurants and retail previously that really hit home, and it has motivated us since. It’s actually framed above our desk!
We’ve also learned to make goals for ourselves and our business; they can be big or small. Then look at that goal, map out a plan, and follow through until that goal is complete. Ideas get you nowhere, people have ideas everyday. It’s working to turn those ideas into realities that set entrepreneurs apart from your everyday Joe with a good idea and no plan.
What is most important in your photography? Making people realize the importance of photographs and the memories that they carry with them. We really try to let things happen organically and grab them as we go, we love snagging a picture rather than forcing it.
We eloped years ago and because of this we don’t have any wedding photos from the day that we got married. We didn’t really mind until we had children and realized that we have nothing to show them from our own special day. We feel that we cheated them. It’s a great feeling knowing that in some small way, we’re making a difference in the lives of our clients and their families.
A big thanks again to Dark Roux Photography. If you’d like to learn more about them, please visit their site.
