We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Monique Dao a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Monique, thank you for joining us today and sharing your experiences and acquired wisdom with us. Burnout is a huge topic these days and so we’d love to kick things off by discussing your thoughts on overcoming or avoiding burnout
Burnout is a common challenge in the wedding photography industry due to its demanding nature and long hours. To overcome or avoid burnout as a wedding photographer, I’ve tried a few things:
1) Creating a work/life balance. I set a realistic number of working hours each day so I don’t overwork myself. Being an entrepreneur means it’s really easy to work hours on end into the night without even realizing it. To avoid this, when I’m done for the day, I go do the things I like, sometimes as simple as getting coffee and walking my pup.
2) Outsourcing the work. I am only getting around to utilizing my team of photographers more, by having them shoot some of my weddings for me while I handle the post-production work. By splitting the work I don’t feel as stressful trying to do everything myself.
3) Be out in nature. Whenever I feel overwhelmed, I get up and get out into nature to reset, emotionally and physically. It could be a walk in the park, a garden, nature preserve, a lake, etc. Sometimes I go birding. Photographing birds relaxes me and reminds me that life is beautiful.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I got into photography a little more than ten years ago as a way to be creative, relieve stress, and escape from reality. Largely influenced by romantic-era literature from my university English courses, I’ve always found and drawn my inspiration from nature. Photographing wildlife, flowers, insects, and sunsets gave me great joy. It allowed me to be alone and reset. It’s where I’m the happiest and most comfortable. But never in my life would I have thought it’d become a career.
I was halfway through my corporate life when I started having second thoughts about what I was doing. Sure it provided me with financial stability but did it give me joy? It was simply this question that I asked myself almost daily. I wondered if I wasn’t doing this job, what else could I be doing that would make me happier and make money as well?
One day I took portraits of some friends and shared them on social media. To my surprise, the images received so many compliments, with many of them asking if I was charging. I then realized maybe there was something there. I started to focus more in people photography, learning everything I could, from camera gear to settings, composition, framing, lighting, posing, directing, etc. Yes, there was so much to learn and it was overwhelming. But I was excited about it all. Before I knew it, I was booking my very first portrait session ever. Making money with photography for the first time felt amazing. The feeling that I did something on my own that earned me some type of income felt liberating.
I spent the next several years mastering my craft, upgrading my gear, and exploring different ways I can make money with photography. I applied for a business license, built a website to showcase my portfolio and offerings, created an online shop to sell art prints of my nature/wildlife/bird photography, and photographed engagements, weddings, events, and families. I found myself learning how to be a business owner, wearing many, many hats. All the while still holding down my 9-5. Whew! I was doing it all on my own. Yes, it was hard and overwhelming, but it just felt right. I finally found the inspiration and motivation to wake up every morning.
I am now a full time Wedding & Portrait Photographer serving California and beyond. I’d love to book more luxury weddings as that is the direction I am headed.
I’m also a Wildlife Photographer offering nature & birding tours and workshops around Southern California. I’m currently booking new clients who might be visiting California from other states and countries who are looking to add lifer birds to their list!
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Photography has been an interesting journey for me. It started out as a hobby which unexpectedly turned into a full time career. I’ve had to learn and master so many different skills to be where I am. Being a creative person was kind of a starting point for me. I was always into arts, music, and writing. Basically anything that requires creative thinking and analytical skills. So taking on photography felt natural to me.
Looking back, I think having these skills really helped me along the way:
1) My ability to creatively capture memories that my clients can treasure forever.
2) Mastering the technical side of photography that ensures high quality photos.
3) The ability to connect and build rapport with clients to create a comfortable atmosphere.
If I were to give advice to those who are starting out, I would tell them this: Never stop learning. Keep practicing. Go out and shoot. Find inspiration where you’re most happy. Put yourself out there and build relationships. Everything else will fall into place. What can I say – I’m an optimist!
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
Wow, there are so many industry professionals that I’d love to connect and collaborate with!
As a Wedding Photographer, I’d love to work with: wedding planners, venue owners & managers, caterers, florists, decorators, videographers, social media influencers, etc. I strongly believe in working together and building each other up rather than competition.
As a Wildlife Photographer & Tour Guide, I’d love to collaborate with local conservation organizations, hotels/lodges, travel agencies/tour operators, birding clubs, tourism boards, local guides & naturalists, online birding communities, birding festivals, etc. One goal of mine is to inspire people to care about nature and wildlife and show them around places to find and photograph beautiful birds.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.moniquedao.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/moniquedaophotography
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/moniquedao
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/moniquedao
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@moniquedao.photography
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/monique-dao-photography-anaheim-3
- Other: https://www.moniquedao.com/birding https://www.instagram.com/moniquedao.photography
Image Credits
All images are mine. 🙂
