We were lucky to catch up with Sophie Nolan recently and have shared our conversation below.
Sophie, first a big thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights with us today. I’m sure many of our readers will benefit from your wisdom, and one of the areas where we think your insight might be most helpful is related to imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is holding so many people back from reaching their true and highest potential and so we’d love to hear about your journey and how you overcame imposter syndrome.
Imposter syndrome is something that comes in heavy waves for me! Especially being pretty new into the photography game, it’s a hard feeling to avoid. Luckily, I have the best photographer peers to constantly lift me up when feeling down. When creativity hits a wall, it’s nice to collaborate with insightful and inspiring women in the industry to extinguish that sense of doubt! Without these empowering women beside me, I really don’t know if I’d be where I am now. Being a business owner in itself is tough!! But I’m so lucky to be surrounded by others who are all looking to achieve the same goal. There’s never competition, just uplifting eachother!!!
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
Poppy Pixels came to me in a place of feeling in a creative rut. I’ve always been an artsy gal through multiple different outlets. I love to draw, paint and capture things in a way that is unique and special to me. Sharing this part of myself with others was something that felt so far away from my reality. Through photography, I have been able to collaborate with those who share the same passion as I, and further that creative skill I’ve kept to myself for so long! With this, I found myself running into friends and families with different needs that some photographers weren’t gravitated to. As a previous SPED teacher, and proud LGBTQIA woman, I wanted to make it a point to capture all people of all backgrounds! So for Poppy Pixels, a huge part of my brand is being inclusive to those folk who may not find that comfort easily with just any photographer. I strive to broadcast all parts of families, and what makes them unique. I am so proud of the brand I have been able to create, and all the clients that make it so worthwhile!
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?
Taking online courses and collaborating with other photographers who have had more experience than I. I tagged along for plenty of weddings as a second shooter, family style shoots and mini sessions just to find my footing. I’m so thankful to all the photographers who guided me so graciously and allowed me to practice until I felt completely comfortable to start my own sessions. Any new photographers, I advise you to focus heavily on any education you can get your hands on, as well as finding your community!!! That has been the most important aspect of photography to me. Taking the vision I had for my own style of photos, with the knowledge shared with me from others, was my key to success.
Looking back over the past 12 months or so, what do you think has been your biggest area of improvement or growth?
My biggest area of growth has been my self confidence in my product. I am my BIGGEST critic in this industry! Constantly finding things I could improve on for the next session. While I do think that this can be a skill to continue to improve myself, I also see it as a huge setback in feeling that my photos aren’t up to the par. When I hear how much my clients love their galleries despite what little things I poke at myself about, it overcomes it all! It’s an adrenaline rush like no other!!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://poppypixels.co
- Instagram: poppy.pixels
- Facebook: Poppy Pixels Photography
Image Credits
All images credited to Sophie Nolan, Poppy Pixels
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
