Meet Sarah Aprea

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Sarah Aprea. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Sarah, so great to be with you and I think a lot of folks are going to benefit from hearing your story and lessons and wisdom. Imposter Syndrome is something that we know how words to describe, but it’s something that has held people back forever and so we’re really interested to hear about your story and how you overcame imposter syndrome.
I started Aprea Media in 2016 (back then it was Sarah Aprea Photography) as a side hustle while I had an office job. I’ve always loved photography, as a child I was always begging my parents to buy me more film and let me get the rolls developed. I would store the ones we couldn’t afford to develop quickly in the refrigerator!

In college I studied with an old Nikon SLR and learned the art of composition and developing. It wasn’t until after my husband, John, and I had our daughter that I started to get more into photography again. There is something about becoming a mother and yearning to hold on to a hobby – and I had the perfect model to practice with.

At this point, Facebook was in its prime with mom groups and I started to discover other groups such ones for photographers. I joined and started to learn more about the industry just by watching and reading posts and comparing editing styles. It was mostly self employed individuals and many of them other mothers – some experienced professionals and many just starting out. Many times in the photography peer-to-peer groups one will see the term “mom-tog” thrown around like it’s a bad thing. At one point it seemed like mom-togs were synonymous with the moms joining multi-level marketing schemes and looked at negatively. It was as if extremely experienced and established photographers saw newly starting out stay at home moms as a threat to their market.

The general opinion is that new photographers don’t know what they’re doing, shoot in automatic, give away too many photographs to their clients, work without contracts, charge too little and aren’t insured. I think the majority of new businesses definitely start out inexperienced – but we have to learn somehow.

It made me feel embarrassed to call myself a photographer but I decided to jump into it despite all of the fears. I was upfront that I was starting out and building a portfolio, and yes – charged very little. It took me a long time to realize that my clients weren’t coming to me as a competitor who charged less than the established professionals. The competition is irrelevant. A client wanting to get a few pictures (back then on a USB drive) for $50 is not the same client who wants to have a boutique experience with perfect images. It took me so long to climb the experience ladder to really accept the term community over competition. I find that this correlates to my awakening that I’m no longer the imposter/newbie but the professional, experienced business owner who can offer quality and an incomparable experience.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
After leaving my full time job and really throwing myself into running a portrait photography business I focused on learning everything I could. From marketing, SEO, webpage building, equipment and comparing cameras, lenses and lighting to running a legal business and keeping track of bookkeeping, contracts, insurance, I wanted to learn it all. I wanted to see the business succeed. At first, the actual photography sessions were my favorite. While I still love them, and that is where my true passion lies, I find that at this point I love running the business side!

An exciting announcement this last year was the addition of more events and weddings. The most exciting part of that huge growth is my husband joining me as my assistant for weddings! His compassion for other people, sensitivity to needs, love of weddings, type – A organization and serious photography talent makes him the perfect assistant. Not only is he that skilled but we realized that when we are working together we have perfect silent communication. From across a crowded dance floor or during a ceremony we can sense where we need each other to be. We have such amazing days together when we’re working weddings! Because of the change we re-branded to Aprea Media.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
I believe that communication, patience and an eye for composing emotions in a frame have had the most impact in my success. I love working with children and showing them patience in family sessions. The best photographs are in the playful, candid moments. Parents are typically at ease when their children can be playful, the pressure of looking stiff at the camera is off. I always make sure a client knows our style leans documentary to make sure we are a good fit.

Even though I primarily shoot candid using playful prompts, I do believe my artistic skills in framing up a subject at just the right moment has been the most impactful.

My advice for anyone starting out or wanting to improve is to practice as much as possible, watch relevant YouTube channels and learn from your mentors.

Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
We are looking to collaborate with any relevant vendors for weddings or events, specifically a videographer or photo booth owner! I’ve found that while I attempt to also grab video footage at weddings it distracts me from doing what I do best – photographing! I am also so new to learning about video editing, right now I need my focus to stay where it is. We’ve also been thinking of adding some kind of photo booth to our packages! You can contact us through our website, www.apreamedia.com

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Aprea Media

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