We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Toni Viola. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Toni below.
Hi Toni, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
My purpose has always been to create photos that capture special moments of the ones you love. So that years from now, when it’s harder to remember all the little details, these photos will remind you of the way your little one used to grab fistfuls of your hair or even farther back, the sweetest feeling of growing your little one inside you. And it wasn’t until last year, when I had a daughter of my own when my purpose took on a deeper meaning. The idea of her witnessing me having my own business, doing what I love, and sharing that with others and inspiring her to know that she can follow her dreams too gives me so much motivation and inspiration for what I do.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
The short version is that I’m a photographer. But truly there is so much more that goes into what I do than what most people realize. More than just clicking a button and delivering photos. Ultimately, my goal is for you to receive photos that become cherished memories for you and your family, ones that you want to print out and hang up on your walls so that you can be reminded of them daily for years to come. And a huge part of that is the genuine care I have for each of my clients. I love helping you to naturally create moments that bring out the REAL you (not the one just showing up to pose for some photos!). So I spend a lot of time ensuring that my planning for our session, encouraging you during our session, and my editing afterwards all help build your authentic story. Coming up soon, fall is always the busiest time for photographers. I’m really looking forward to getting to work with so many sweet families for those sessions. And some brand new information – I’m so excited to announce that I’ll be hosting holiday mini session this year… and Santa may even make an appearance, so if you’re interested make sure to drop your email at the bottom of this page (https://www.toniviolaphotography.com/2023pricing) where you’ll be the first to receive information when booking goes live!!
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
These are things that have taken me a long time to learn, and I’m still learning today.
But just deciding that you’re just going to do it. I spent a lot of time trying to read, watch webinars, go to retreats, learn about different styles, master editing and I realized that at some point, I just had to START. It’s easy to get caught up trying to make everything perfect before you start, but you only learn by doing.
Be consistent. Show up every day, in whatever way that means for you. But if you don’t put in the work, you won’t see the results.
Have fun and enjoy the process. My guess is, if you’re thinking of starting a business or early on in your journey, what initially brought you to it was because you absolutely LOVED it. So remember to enjoy the journey.
Who is your ideal client or what sort of characteristics would make someone an ideal client for you?
My ideal client is simply someone who values and understands how quickly life moves. Each year seems to go faster and faster and I have so many people tell me that they wish they had photos done annually so that they could remember each season with their family, to have a reminder of those. So if you are someone who constantly finds yourself saying “HOW does time go by so fast, can’t it just slow down?” then I’d love to get to work with you.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.toniviolaphotography.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/toniviola/
- Other: If you’re wanting more information about booking a session: https://www.toniviolaphotography.com/contacttoni
Image Credits
Toni Viola Photography
