Emma Styles Photography

First of all, many questions clearly depend on the project at hand, especially as I work across a range of genres.
For example, if I am working on a portraiture project, I'll try to find out as much about the vision of my clients as possible, their personal tastes, from whether they want candid or more formal images to whether during post-production they prefer warmer or cooler tones.
If photographing product/lifestyle photography, it's important to establish what sort of 'feel' that the client is looking for to best reflect their company - Cosy? Sleek? Minimalist? Clean?
Then, depending on where the images will be used, there are the practical questions - do I need to shoot for landscape/portrait/square formats? I try to see a location to best understand the lighting and space I will be working with, or to meet my subjects to get a feel for their personalities, to try and reflect those personalities during our photo shoots.

I love the ability to earn money from a childhood hobby. I've been passionate about photography from a young age, and so to be able to call it my job is just amazing. I was told from the moment I said I wanted this to be my job two things: one, that I'd need a 9-5 because earning as a photographer is simply too hard, and two, that I needed to choose a specialty and stick to it. Choose to photograph people, places or things. That said, in order to survive financially, that specialty would need some flexibility - if I'm a portrait photographer, I also need to embrace weddings, for example. Instead, I photograph what interests me - everything. People interest me, places interest me, things interest me. And I'm surviving. I think the secret is passion. As long as passion radiates out from your portfolio, you don't have to conform to simply one thing.

I don't think 'inspired' is quite the right word. There wasn't some lightbulb moment of 'this is what I want to do'. The photographers who inspire me didn't inspire me to start my business in the first place. They inspire me to try new things and to push myself, but I always knew that this was what I wanted to do in my life. Since I was a child. I'm just doing what feels right.

Because I'm passionate. I love what I do, and I work hard to ensure that every single one of my clients goes home happy with the resulting images. I like to try and give people exactly what they're looking for, not just in a literal sense of 'I need headshots' or 'I need this product photographing', but the feelings that they're trying to portray. I try to make sure that personalities show. Also, I travel regularly, I'm based between London and Paris, and regularly travel to my home county of Staffordshire, so I am happy to work anywhere!