Alisha Perret | Alisha Perret Photography

A few months back we celebrated my brother and sister-in-law’s soon-to-be baby boy with a shower in their barn. Throughout the shower Alisha Perret snapped pictures, capturing moments through the day. That night our family browsed through the sneak peeks she sent, reliving the fun day we’d had. Fast forward a couple months, baby Cade made his entrance into the world, and Alisha photographed his precious newborn photos.

After she worked her magic behind the camera, us gals and baby Cade sat around the dining room table as, Alisha shared with us her journey to photography business ownership.

That journey began one evening when her husband asked how work was that day. She broke the news to him that she’d quit.  As one could imagine, Alisha shared that wasn’t a very fun day in her marriage. The reality was, she hadn’t been happy at her job for awhile that day was the final straw.  Alisha made the decision that night to start doing photography. She bought a few things to get herself started and reached out to people, asking if she could take their picture. Mini-session after mini-session Alisha’s business gained momentum.

Alisha was unhappy in her career and had this business idea, but she lacked a mentor or prior photography experience. So I kicked off our conversation asking Alisha how she knew she had the ability to build a photography business.  

How did you know you could make your photography into a business?
I just see something different, I guess. When I look at you I see something different and whenever I look at things I see it in a frame.  

What resources did you use to get started?
I made mistakes and learned. My pictures aren’t technically perfect. I know how to get my camera to do what I want it to do but don’t know very much about my equipment.  I Googled and YouTube “what are the best software to edit with.” I don’t use Photoshop like many people, I use a program called Light Room. I basically change shadows and things like that. I don’t change the actual person or remove anything from a photo.

What was happening in your life when you made the decision to start your business?
I was very good at my job, had very good numbers, and had an unsupportive female manager. It was just like the camera. I know how to do what I need to do to get what I want. On paper I was successful but to corporate I wasn’t.  That wasn’t working. With corporate I was traveling a lot. I had had an ectopic pregnancy and another miscarriage.   My doctor said my body was not responding well to being all over the place and stressed. There was a lot of stress in my job. I would like to say the doctor was wrong but when I slowed down I got pregnant. My wedding photographer, who was a big photographer in this area, moved away and I saw an opportunity.

Have you found your niche yet? How have you found your own style?
I call it lifestyle. Literal and real. I don’t use Photoshop. It’s really interesting photographing women, after they have had a baby, because they are always asking if I can Photoshop because they don’t usually look like that. I am very upfront and tell somebody, you are going to look exactly like what you look like. I don’t want someone to look like a magazine cover when I take their picture because that’s not real.  I don’t even like fantasy movies, I just like things to be real and that transfers into my pictures. 

Typically there’s emotion in my pictures. If someone just stands and smiles at the camera I don’t know what to take the picture of because I don’t feel anything.

If you’ve got a passion for something, like by nephew who plays baseball and surfs. Even if you just have a passion for life you can go stand in a field and I can get pictures of the emotion in the moment.

How do you manage your time?
I started telling everyone I could go home and do all this tonight or I could get to it next week. I edit at night, i’m a night owl, but if my kid goes to bed at 8:30 and I am exhausted. I go to bed. I just try to be upfront. I’m a mom, my kid doesn’t go to daycare, I do have a babysitter but she’s not here at night. I am not going to take my time away from my son, dinner, and bedtime. Morning time and bedtime are my special time. I always try to give a preview and then ask them to please be patient because I don’t use filters, I hand edit all of it. If i’m going to be rushed I could throw a filter on all of them and send them to you but that’s not what I’m paid for.

How do you keep organized?
For me it’s not about organization but priorities. I used to feel bad and try to make everything work. Now I try to find balance and prioritize. For example, I spend a lot of time in the kitchen. I make all of Pierrot’s food and have dinner for Pierre when he comes home from work. I’m married to a farmer; he’s all over the place so I try to make things like dinner a constant.  

How do you advertise?
A lot of it is word of mouth. I have Instagram and Facebook but I hate Facebook because it’s not user friendly and your things don’t get seen. Basically just Instagram and I ask people “if you share this will you tag me?”

How did you come up with the guidelines that you send to your clients?
What I send to my clients is what I need from them. That’s a question, “What do you need from me?”, I wish i’d have learned a long time ago. You can talk about things but if you don’t ask the questions you don’t know.  I realized what I needed from the clients to help me and them.

It seems you are pretty aware of your capabilities. Where does that come from?
I don’t know if it just comes from the horses but it’s just a feeling. I’ve always ridden horses. For me, even if I was ever going to give someone lessons on a horse I could see right away if you can feel something. If you can feel something then you can do it.  If girls came to me and said they wanted help but I could see they couldn’t feel their horse I can’t help them.  Some people go through life without a feeling. You can not teach someone to feel something but if they feel something you can teach them from the feelings they are going to get. They will recognize them and they will get better.

Photo Credit: Reins and Roses Photography

You too can experience the real emotion of Alisha's photography on her website Alisha Perret Photography and on Instagram.

 

Old School Modern Mama,

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