Meet Charles Moll

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Charles Moll a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Charles, we’re so appreciative of you taking the time to share your nuggets of wisdom with our community. One of the topics we think is most important for folks looking to level up their lives is building up their self-confidence and self-esteem. Can you share how you developed your confidence?

I was a very shy and nervous person growing up. In High School, I experienced a fair amount of bullying. Once I got to college, I got involved in missionary work. With this, I would approach random strangers to talk about spirituality. Nothing really breaks down your fears like continuously pressing into them. Seeing how this built confidence in myself, I developed a philosophy that if something made me scared or uncomfortable, I should probably do it. This led me to overseas missions work, to become a director of a nonprofit, and to eventually start my own photography business.

For me, starting my photography business was the scariest thing I have done. From the inconsistency of a paycheck to doubting if it was something I was skilled enough to do. I saw that as I kept showing up, I became more confident, and with each failure, I became more resilient.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I moved to Montana in 2013, from Colorado, to pursue a degree in film making. I quickly realized this was not the best fit for me, mainly because I did not want to work with big production teams or move to a city. Around this same time I had decided to pursue a career in ministry. On a whim I switched my major to photography and fell in love with it, though at the time, I was afraid to pursue any sort of career in photography.
Over the next few years, I worked for various non profits, helping with fundraising and marketing. In 2020 I got to a point of being pretty frustrated with the trajectory of my life. When I looked at the next 15 years, I did not like the direction I was going. I hated my job and was pretty depressed. Also around this time, my wife decided to pursue a master’s degree and I wanted to find a way to support her through school.
This gave me the motivation I needed to start a wedding photography business. My favorite part of wedding photography is getting to document one of the biggest days of people’s lives. With my business, I wanted to build it around the idea of focusing on candid photos, rather than the picture-perfect staged images, because life isn’t perfect.
At the time, I didn’t see any other photographers in my area approaching weddings this way, so I doubted that there was a place for my business. Over the next few years though, I started to build momentum. I was able to leave my full-time job in 2022. In 2023 I was named Bozeman’s #1 photographer, and in 2024, I was named top 150 photographers in the world by WPJA.
While all this was really exciting, the coolest part for me was being able to provide for my wife so she could be a full-time student by taking pictures.
It truely feels fake that I get to wake up every morning and people pay me to do what I love.

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?

I would say the 3 biggest things are humility, persistance, and self reflection.

First off humility. I ad originally tried to start a business in 2019 and it absolutely flopped. I thought I was better than everyone else, and I thought I knew way more than I did. When I restarted my business, I approached it from a place of knowing nothing. This allowed me to try things I never would have before and learn from people who knew way more than me.

Next is persistence. Keep showing up. So much of having anything work is to play the long game. Early in my career, someone told me once you find what you want to do, comit 10 years to it. This was a huge paradigm shift of not needing the instant gratification, accepting losses as they come and enjoying the journey.

Lastly is self reflection. The only way to grow, as an artist or business person, is to be honest about what is not working and being honest about what is working, rather than sugar coating it to ourselves. This has allowed my photography to grow in huge ways. Every shoot I would be extremely critical of my work. While it was at times frustrating that it was not at the quality I would like, this allowed me to grow. To this day my work isn’t where I would like it, but with each shoot, I can see it getting closer.

Awesome, really appreciate you opening up with us today and before we close maybe you can share a book recommendation with us. Has there been a book that’s been impactful in your growth and development?

The most important book I have read for my development may sound cliche, but it would be the Bible. It has challenged me to treat all people equally, even the ones who frustrate me most, and challenged me to do all my work for God. As business owner this challenges me to do all my deallings honestly, justly, and to not cut corners even when it would be way easier. One of the biggest lessons it has taught me is to not worry about what tomorrow will bring because today has enough trouble for itself. Especially in the chaotic world of wedding photography where I may go months without a booking, I have to rest in God’s provision.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://charlesmoll.com
• Instagram: @charles.moll_photo
• Facebook: charlesmollphoto
• Other: Tiktok @charlesmollphoto