We were lucky to catch up with Allison Payne recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Allison, thank you so much for agreeing to open up about a sensitive and personal topic like being fired or laid-off. Unfortunately, there has been a rise in layoffs recently and so your insight and experience with overcoming being let go is relevant to so many in the community.
In 2020 I was a sales manager at a hotel, a job I had been doing for 15 years! All of a sudden, COVID hit and the world shut down. All of the hard work I had poured into helping to build a successful hotel started falling apart in front of my eyes and just a few days into March I knew that my time with that hotel was limited and a layoff was imminent. And while I knew that it was coming there were still tears and a sense of loss. How could there not be with a career that long.
Rewind to January of 2020 and I had just purchased my first real camera, a NikonD610. Deep down I knew that photography was where my heart was and I decided that I wanted to at least start learning about the camera and doing shoots whenever I could. My boys were very small at the time (11 months and not quite two) so it wasn’t something I could pour a lot of time into but I was so excited to have taken that first step.
When the layoff happened, like most people I found myself as a stay at home mom. My days were filled with finding activities for my kids to do, long walks, and preparing so many snacks and meals. In my down time, which was only a two hour window of naps I would watch courses online to learn about family/newborn photography, editing and even marketing.
As the months went on and it got nicer out I reached out to families that I knew and offered complimentary sessions and by summer I was offering very discounted minis. By Fall, everyone was kind of in a routine and they were ready to be out and about a little more. Fall sessions booked fairly easily and by that time I knew I couldn’t go back to an office and that I had found what I wanted to do full time!
By the beginning of 2021 I had not been called back to the hotel. Things just were not quite back to the point of needing sales managers yet so I continued to book families and newborns and with each session I continued to learn more about what to do and not to.
So much trial and error in that first year and I am so thankful that some of the families I photographed in those first six months still come to be four years later and let me capture so many amazing and special moments for them.
After some very serious talks with my husband of where we needed to be financially and for our kids we came up with a game plan and by May of 2021 when the hotel called me back to start working again I was able to tell them that my photography business was too busy and I would not be returning!
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
As a newborn and family photographer I feel so lucky to be invited into these families lives to capture some amazing memories. Whether it is a newborn session and I am one of the first people to meet that new little soul or a family session and the parents are just trying to make sure they have beautiful memories to look back on. These kiddos grow way too fast and there is not one single photoshoot that I ever regret for my family and my hope is that the people that hire me feel the same.
My most unique offering would be for newborns. Typically you have a studio session where you go to a photographers space and have posed images of the family and then wrapped or table posing for your baby. Or you can choose to have an in-home lifestyle session and that just gets those beautiful candid moments throughout your home. Where my specialty comes in is that I offer both! My most popular package would be my newborn Lifestyle+Wrapped. This is where I come to your home and spend about an hour, hour and a half on lifestyle images that take place usually in the parents room, nursery, living room or truly if I see I great pocket of light I will set my families up anywhere. After that I set up for the studio style images for baby. This is where I bring the props, lighting, wraps to you and set it up in your home so you can have those beautifully posed images as well.
When I was pregnant with my second child I searched and searched for something like this in my area and never found it and I love that I can offer something so special to my families. The families I work with really appreciate this option. After bringing home a new baby it can be so tough to get yourself together and get out of the house or even in the cold winter months its not fun to bundle up and bring your new baby out. This gives families a chance for a more relaxed morning to get ready in their home and I bring everything to them!
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?
Drive, determination and willingness to keep learning.
They may sounds cliche but without those three things there is no way to build a successful business. Imposter syndrome is real. Maybe a slow week of bookings or a shoot that didn’t go quite as you expected have you second guessing everything. Drive and determination will allow you to keep moving forward because there is something deep down that will not allow yourself to fail. Having a willingness to keep learning will let you see those failures (or perceived failures) and find a way to do it better next time.
Envisioning your business as a success will keep you moving forward even on the hard days.
Alright, so before we go we want to ask you to take a moment to reflect and share what you think you would do if you somehow knew you only had a decade of life left?
I think the current economic climate is a little challenging at the moment. I am very grateful to my clients that continue to book with me and refer me.
For the last year or so and especially in an election year the economy has been questionable. Prices of everything are going up and sometimes people have to cut out non essential things. While I think what I do is essential I can understand why it’s not and why my expertise is cut out of the budget for some families.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.allisonpaynephotography.com
- Instagram: @allisonpaynephotography
Image Credits
Initial Image – Rachel Rossetti
All additional images – Allison Payne Photography
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
