Meet Stephanie Rubyor

We recently connected with Stephanie Rubyor and have shared our conversation below.

Stephanie, thank you so much for taking the time to share your lessons learned with us and we’re sure your wisdom will help many. So, one question that comes up often and that we’re hoping you can shed some light on is keeping creativity alive over long stretches – how do you keep your creativity alive?

I definitely do not feel creative every day. It’s hard to keep that spark going. One thing that helps me is the fact that I love my job. I photograph High School Seniors and have recently started photographing Sports Portraits as well. I love working with teens. They are truly so unique and fun. It brings me so much joy. I find so much creativity in just getting to know my clients. Each one has their own personalities and hobbies and I tailor each session to reflect those things. When I arrive at my sessions and spend time with these seniors, it just flows so naturally as I see them in their element. It really sparks creativity while I’m there and always leads to wanting to do more like this and create more. Other times I will just be out and about and see a cool location. I love to get out of the house and explore too. I am always scouting for someplace new and fun.

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?

I am a custom photographer and my main focus is High School Seniors and Sports Portraits. When my daughter was born in 2013 I knew that I wanted to do something that was just for me. Something I enjoyed and something I could grown on my own and make my own hours since I have four kids. So…I started my own business. My main focus when I started was newborn and maternity photography. I spent countless hours focusing on my education and safety training for working with such young clients. Safety is critical when handling new babies. About six years ago I photographed my first senior and just knew that working with teens was something I really wanted to do. I photographed a handful of them and by the time I moved to Fort Worth my business was primarily teenagers. I still photograph sweet newborn babies but not as much as I used to, even though I still love it.

I have teenagers (four….well one is a pre-teen) and they are each so different and unique. They have their own likes, dislikes and hobbies. I truly love watching each of them grow into the amazing adults they will become. And that is my absolute favorite thing about my own business…getting to know my clients and creating a session that reflects who these seniors are. I am blessed to work with some pretty wonderful teens and families.

I offer a variety of packages and have recently started branching into Sport Portraits as well. These I will do for all high school teens, not just seniors, but my seniors really love that as a part of their sessions. I offer those types of sessions as a stand alone session or as an add-on to a senior session.

Because everyone has some sort of online presence these days, whether it is social media, web sites, or just emailing family and friends, I offer digital images with every package you can purchase. But not only that, I also offer gorgeous fine art products to display your favorite images.

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?

The three most impactful things I have learned in my journey would probably be:
– Only try to be better than the person you were yesterday. There are (for photographers) hundreds of people doing what I do and even more that own a camera. Set yourself apart by staying out of the “noise” and focus on who you want to be, what you want your business to look like and how you want to treat others. It’s way too easy to compare ourselves to everyone else.
– Never stop learning. Learn your camera. Learn how it works. Learn how lights effects a photo. Experiment. Try. Fail. Start again.
– Be financially smart. It’s so easy to get wrapped up in the latest and greatest piece of technology or the newest prop but running a successful business is about being creative yes, but it you also need to learn HOW to run a successful business. Know what you’re spending your money on and make sure it is worth it.

Looking back over the past 12 months or so, what do you think has been your biggest area of improvement or growth?

2025 was a year of growth for me in my business. I found some things in my business that worked well and that I loved. Those things I kept. They were the service and personalization that I offered my clients along with a few others. But I also found some things that were not working out. I cut costs where I needed to run a profitable business and reorganized my business model to make it more streamlined for clients and what I can offer them. These have been really successful changes for me and my clients seem to really like it which is a huge win.

On top of that I realized that I can’t do everything for everyone. I refocused my energy and talents into things that bring me joy.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://stephanierubyorphotography.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stephanierubyor/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StephanieRubyorPhotography
• Other: Pinterest – https://www.pinterest.com/stephanierubyor/