Expose Me!

From coast to coast, this Marine wife moves her business every six to eight months and “starts over”. This weeks Exposure goes to Photographer Joy Watson with Modern Joy Photography. All eyes are on Joy!

Other than the obvious, of being a photographer and business owner, I’m a Marine wife from Minnesota, and city girl at heart.  I’m a detail Nazi and obsessively make lists.  I drink too much Starbucks and sleep in way longer than I should.  Running my biz makes me crazy but doing what I love leaves me happy.  So, I migrate around the country to wherever the Marine Corps sends us, and spend my days photographing couples and families on every coast.

{Why and when did you become a photographer?}

I studied art in high school and college.  I thought that I was going to be a starving artist living in a downtown loft in Minneapolis selling drawings for a few hundred dollars a piece.  At the age of 17, I moved out of the house and had this shocking realization that real life meant bills needed to get paid.  In the last semester of high school, I got an internship with Rick Stidger, of RStidger Photography (rstidger.com) who opened up my eyes to the world of digital photography and running a portrait studio.  He was making money doing something he loved.  It was the beginning of a whole new world for me. 

Shortly after, I was hired by Jen Hillenga of Momento Images Photography (www.momentoimages.com) where I spent the next 4 years learning from one of the most amazing photographers in the world.  In 2009, my husband joined the Marine Corps which required moving to 5 states in 3 years and therefore was required to leave Momento.  It was that beginning that forced me into starting my own business and creating the company that Modern Joy is today.  It’s been a crazy, rough, exciting, heartbreaking, and rewarding ride ever since.  But, I’m proud of where we are.  I have created income opportunities for other military wives, grown immeasurably as a business woman, and created my own opportunity in a very challenging lifestyle.  I’m doing exactly what I should be doing and it feels good to be in that place.

{What is your most difficult challenge in the business?}

Hands down, our military lifestyle.  We’ve moved every 6 to 8 months for the last 3 years.  Every time we move, I have to re-establish credibility and reach out to a new market.  It has forced me to reach outside the box and go against everything I ever learned from studios about traditional marketing in order to create a brand that could survive in any market and any location.  There are frequently days when I want to give up because it’s so hard to “start over” so often.  But, there’s always a client in tears of joy that tells me how much they love their photos, and it keeps me going.

{Where would you like to see your talents take you?}

I would love to grow in such a way that I can provide full-time jobs for other military wives.  It is a huge challenge for spouses to find employment when they have to move at a few days notice.  Currently, we have a few part-time opportunities but I would love to turn those into full time rewarding opportunities for those military spouses.

{Who or what is your biggest source of inspiration?}

Business audio books and Sarah Petty. Delivering Happiness, Good to Great, How to Win Friends and Influence People, 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, Selling the Invisible, etc.  Photography is just the deliverable product.  It’s about capturing life in the moment.  It sounds funny to say this, but in order to create that experience where we are able to capture real, candid, love saturated moments that are unscripted and unplanned, everything must be done in order to build trust with our clients. From the marketing to the consultation and everything before the session, we do things specifically to create a relationship that allows them the freedom to be real in front of the camera.  Without that, we cannot capture real moments; they’re prescribed and forced.  So, I spend a lot of time learning how to get everything else in line before I even see the client for their session.  It’s easier said than done.

{Tell us little about your studio.}

Modern Joy: Unscripted Life Photography.  We specialize in capturing life in the moment for couples and families across the country.  We started In Minneapolis but have moved to Virginia, Florida, Texas and we’re headed to North Carolina in February.  I spend a lot of time traveling in order to keep up with our loyal clients.  We’ve got a very specific style of photography that is all about capturing the music in each moment.  We also sell custom designed albums called Lifebooks.  In a world of digital images and millions of online albums, pictures have become a dime a dozen.  So, we provide a tangible memory for our clients to remember their story for years to come that won’t get lost in the sea of endless online digital albums.

Check us out and leave some blog love or just send me an email to say hi.  Thanks for listening!

Joy

Website: www.modernjoyphoto.com

Blog: www.modernjoyphoto.com/blog

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ModernJoy