We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Renee and Ricky Vigil. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Renee and Ricky below.
Renee and Ricky, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
Hello! We are Renee Vigil, the creator/co-owner, and Ricky Vigil, co-owner, of RVigilPhotos: a Southern California photography and videography business. We both are customer service lovers, professional third-wheelers and a personal paparazzi team.
Renee’s passion for photography surfaced years ago as she became known as the photographer for friends and family gatherings. With encouragement from several friends, family and Ricky, RVigilPhotos was born in 2021. Flash forward to 2022, a wedding vendor was in need of a photographer last minute for one of her wedding clients and Renee offered to photograph this big day. It was Renee’s first wedding photography gig ever and she was nervous, excited and all the emotions. Ricky was supportive (as well as one of our close friends) for this wedding and the event was a huge success. This event lit a spark in Renee, who encouraged Ricky to start videography, and to be of service in the photography industry by treating all clients with love, kindness and professionalism at each photo session and event.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
What sets us apart, is that we are a team that cares about every aspect of your day. We are there to serve you and make sure you feel comfortable/are taken care of. We will grab you drinks and food during your event. We come prepared and always have an emergency kit on standby for mishaps like bobby pins for your hair, a lint roller for dust or a safety pin if an outfit snags. We are known as professional dress fluffers and day of coordinators (the list goes on). We do not provide bare minimum amounts of footage and tend to overshoot for our photo side of the house (oops!). For events, we capture the day candidly so that clients can look back on their photos and videos to walk through the most important special memories and relive their big days. For smaller sessions, we try to photograph genuine feelings and sweet moments for clients to recall.
We specialize in photography and videography including weddings, quinceañeras, birthday parties, engagements, family photos, maternity sessions, graduations, elopements, boudoir, content creation, business launches, etc. We focus on customer service and love providing our clients with an amazing experience from the first phone consultation to the session or pre-shoot and on the big day event.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
As creatives, one quality we have learned on our journey is we cannot be afraid of change. We try to prepare our clients for the day of by providing a packing list, confirming the day of timeline, check-in the week of regarding weather, etc. We have had to endure crazy weather from extreme heat to pour rain on the biggest days of our client’s lives. We have learned to be prepared for adjustments, have a flexible attitude during sessions and create open communication with clients.
A second quality we realized when branching into such a competitive and saturated industry was to not give up and continue to grow our skills on our journey. We ask other vendors for tips and tricks. We watch Youtube, Instagram and TikTok tutorials. We follow other photographers’ and videographers’ social media accounts for inspiration. We strive to have a community with other vendors and create a non-competitive atmosphere as you never know when a client may ask for referrals for other vendors. We continue to practice, practice, PRACTICE and stay humble.
The last quality we have gained through our journey is it to keep our business client centered. We know that it is an investment to schedule a photo session and/or an event. We want all clients to feel special and comfortable during their time with us. We show clients previews during their sessions to help them make adjustments in live time so they feel confident in front of the camera. We don’t rush sessions – we understand kiddos might have the wiggles, someone might be super stiff or nervous as they have never taken professional photos, and we might have to take ten photos to capture the picture where everyone makes eye contact with the camera. We understand! We take our time for post-production edits as we share the crispest photos and prettiest video clips. We want our clients to smile and relive their big days as they view their photos and videos.
The biggest advice we can give anyone who is starting a business is to just start! Don’t be scared. There is no manual on how to run a business, but the key is to stay active in your craft, showcase your work online and treat clients like you would want to be treated as a customer (this skill is worth more than anything!).
Looking back over the past 12 months or so, what do you think has been your biggest area of improvement or growth?
There has been so much growth over the last year – whew this is a hard one. In the last 12 months, Renee has established a professional website that has elevated client engagement from contracts, scheduling, invoices, quotes, questionnaires, gallery links and inquiries. This has helped tremendously with our client experience from signing contracts, tracking payments and calendaring important details. We are transparent with our clients; we communicate about what to expect for their booking package and who they will be working with the day of their session. Renee handles so much of the backend client engagement that this has really helped her stay organized and help showcase our professional portfolio online.
One other area of growth for us goes to Ricky as he is learning how to operate a drone to capture aerial shots of sessions. He has been practicing this year and we can’t wait to offer more drone options for our 2025 sessions.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://rvigilphotos.mypixieset.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rvigilphotos/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/rvigilphotos-riverside-2
- Other: https://www.zola.com/wedding-vendors/wedding-photographers/rvigilphotos
https://www.tiktok.com/@rvigil_photos?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc
Image Credits
RVigilPhotos
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
