We were lucky to catch up with Tony Hoffer recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Tony, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?
I don’t think I ever had conversations about work ethic with my parents, but I didn’t really have to. My dad worked night shift for nearly two decades at a factory when we were growing up, but still didn’t miss dinner (even though it was his breakfast) or a game that we played in. My mom worked most of her life while raising us and also gave day care to another girl. My dad went to college in his 40s. My mom was one of 8 kids with parents who owned a small business. All that to say, I saw great examples of work ethic every single day.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
My wife Amy and I started Hoffer Photography in 2007. The business was really an accident born out of what I thought was a quick way to make $500. We blinked and within 2 years we had both left our careers to pursue it full time. Currently, about 60-70% of our work comes from weddings and the rest comes from portrait and commercial work.
The wedding space has always been crowded and competitive, so standing out is tough. It’s especially tricky to navigate in 2024 when it sometimes feels like being good at social media is more important than being good at photography. So, we’ve always taken a bit of a different approach…
For us, we simply try to make our work as personal as possible. That means taking every opportunity to ask questions and listen to our clients. Then, we tailor what we do (and how we shoot) to each individual. There’s no doubt that it’s the more difficult way to shoot. It requires a greater variety of skills and adaptability. But we think it’s the right way to do it. We believe that having a level of personalization makes our clients be more in love with the work we produce and we love trying to be as creative as possible without losing the personality of the subject.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
1. Be curious. Learn as much as you can about every aspect of the discipline you’re pursuing. Having a long career is dependent on being well-rounded and having a solid skill set. Keep finding new ways to learn and keep up with technological changes. Embrace change.
2. Be adaptable. Listening is one of the greatest skills a photographer can have. Once you get good at hearing (and interpreting) your clients, it is so much easier to make things for them and not just for yourself.
3. Be creative. Don’t get locked in to what everybody else is doing. Try things and fail. Then try again. Most new ideas are bad, but if you’re not willing to try, you’ll never get to the good ones.
Who is your ideal client or what sort of characteristics would make someone an ideal client for you?
The politician in me would say that ‘There is no perfect client.’ but that would be a lie. The truth is that while there isn’t a single perfect person to photograph, there are a few qualities that make us the most excited:
– Having a style and/or specific point of view. We LOVE to create things WITH people, not just FOR people. So when somebody has a unique style, it helps fuel our creative fire.
– Be vulnerable and trusting. A big part of what we do involves people letting us see the real them. So being there for intimate moments or being trusted when things get stressful is huge for us to do our best work.
– Be expressive!
Contact Info:
- Website: http://hofferphotography.com
http://hoffermedia.com - Instagram: instagram.com/hofferphotography
instagram.com/hoffermedia - Facebook: Facebook.com/hofferphotography
Image Credits
Hoffer Photography
