Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Shannon Rae. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Shannon, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
For over 10 years, I stayed in a job that made me miserable. I was doing the work of 3 people – overworked, underpaid, and invisible. I was beaten down, depressed, and mad at the world; but financially, I thought my only choice was to stay. I was stuck.
It hadn’t always been so hopeless; May 2013 was a big month: I graduated college, got married, moved in to my first apartment, and started working full-time. I was high on all the changes and excited to build my new life. Although I had been interning for this position for a year already, I still had a lot to learn and I was eager to prove myself. I worked hard. I put in the overtime, I took extra projects and joined other teams, I took courses to expand my skill set, and quickly became somewhat of a go-to whenever anyone needed something.
But as anyone who’s worked in a toxic environment will know, taking on extra work doesn’t get you recognition. It just gets you more work. Despite steadily increasing responsibilities, I stayed at my intern-level starting salary for 3 years. They told us the company wasn’t meeting their profit goals, and as the newest and youngest department, designers were the last to be considered for raises. Instead, they got stricter – people were fired, even more people quit, new hires didn’t stay long, and the workload rolled downhill. The company sold, upper management was a revolving door, but I kept my hopes up that with every change it would turn around and get better.
Despite the difficulties at work though, overall life was good. We bought a house. I built up a side business with photography, and it was really taking off – I matched my salary and I was ready to quit the corporate job to shoot full-time. We were even considering having a baby. Then at the end of 2016, my life fell apart. To make another long story short, my husband went to jail, and I suddenly found myself filing for divorce and questioning everything I’d ever believed in.
I went into survival mode. I knew I couldn’t make ends meet on my salary alone, but the job I hated was now my only stability. I brought in roommates. I took every small job I could find, working non-stop 7 days a week and often overnights editing. I all but gave up on my own business and prioritized 2nd shooting/assistant jobs instead just so I could get some sleep.
4 more brutal years and my efforts paid off. I got a promotion and a couple raises at work. My photography was still going strong despite zero advertising; I was matching my new higher salary over the weekends, and actually built up some savings. I started believing again that maybe I could make it with my own business. My survival plan turned into an escape plan.
If you’re doing the math, you know what hit next: 2020 lockdowns. Photography work stopped completely. I was again stuck relying on the corporate job, and I was the only one required to still go in to the empty office. I ended up hurting myself carrying heavy boxes up and down the stairs (which on the plus side finally allowed me to work from home). For the second time, I had met all the goals I had set for myself to leave, but out of fear while waiting for photography work to pick up steadily again, I stayed put.
I finally quit the job in January 2022, and my own business flourished and grew for 6 months… until an offer for a similar job landed in my lap. A few of my previous coworkers were working there, and they told me it was different. I trusted them, but I shouldn’t have – it turned out to be no different at all.
But this time, I wasn’t going to let myself stay trapped. I learned my lessons: to trust in myself, to build safety nets, set big goals, and to believe that whatever happened, I would be ok. I stopped trying to prove my worth to an employer, because I had already proven my worth to myself.
Resilience, I think, comes from knowing your own strength. Every time your plans fail, it’s easy to lose hope and give up. But never forget how far you’ve come, how hard you’ve fought, and everything you’ve gotten through already – then getting yourself back up and on track again will seem a little easier.
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?
Getting through those most difficult years in my life, I turned to the outdoors. My childhood love for playing outside became a love of hiking and camping, traveling and adventure. Combined with a love of photography, I think my work naturally pulls toward other adventurous souls.
I specialize in intimate weddings and elopements; but I believe any photo session, from newborns to seniors to families and beyond, is an opportunity to express yourself and create something beautiful that you can be proud of. My first goal is always to help you feel comfortable and have fun in front of the camera – to capture authentic emotions, meaningful details, and happy memories you’ll cherish forever. I find joy in really getting to know people and letting their unique stories shine through their photos.
I’ve had the honor of working hundreds of weddings throughout the past 15 years, and I’ve learned there’s so much more that goes into photographing a wedding than just photographing the wedding. There’s planning ahead, and being prepared for plans to go sideways. There’s finding beauty in everything, big laughs and little tears, big moments and in-between moments, and all the details that make the day yours. With me, you’ll always be getting 110% and a new friend by your side to help guide you if you need it.
I’ll also continue picking up freelance work in graphic design, product photography, and advertising. I still draw for fun, and occasionally for commissions. I relish the chance to be creative in any capacity – whatever your creative endeavor, I’m in!
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?
Patience, endurance, and (probably the hardest one for me to learn) trust.
My best advice, for a fellow creative with the goal of being self-employed, is to plan. Plan practically and in meticulous detail. Ask yourself what you need to feel safe, what you need to feel successful, then figure out how you can get there. Recognize and reward achievements big and small as you go along. Don’t get too focused on one thing to re-evaluate and shift your goals if needed. And most importantly, don’t let the fear of falling stop you from trying. Trust in good people for advice and moral support, trust your process, and trust yourself to get through anything.
Life can often feel like you get more than your fair share of switchbacks and backtracks. It’s frustratingly slow going; sometimes you’re hacking blindly through the underbrush, you’re worn out, there’s a rock in your shoe and your pack’s too heavy and it seems impossibly steep. But the hardest hikes always have the best views, don’t they?
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
Yes, always!! If you’re reading this and you’d like to get in touch about a photo shoot, I’m your girl. If you’re a photographer or fellow wedding vendor with ideas for a fun styled session, I would love to collaborate. Or if you’re in town and you’d just like a friend to grab coffee with, let’s go!
The most reliable way to get in touch with me is via social media, @runawayphotographer, or email [email protected]
Contact Info:
- Website: www.runawayphotographer.com
- Instagram: @runawayphotographer
- Facebook: @runawayphotographer
- Linkedin: @shannonrae
- Other: Zola: https://www.zola.com/wedding-vendors/wedding-photographers/runaway-photographer
