Meet Caroline Fraska: Wedding + Engagement Photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Caroline Fraska and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Caroline, what is the most important factor behind your success?
The most important factor behind my brand and my success as a small business owner in a very saturated industry is going to sound a little cliché, but it rings true, and that’s straight up just being yourself. When you’re first starting your business in any industry there are people and brands you look up to and inevitably you try to emulate and replicate what you think their recipe for success is. It took me so long to realize the secret sauce, the magic dust, the golden ticket is actually me. As a business owner you can sell the same products and use the same platforms to promote those products but the key difference is the person behind the brand. In the photography industry, YOU are your brand. Once I started tapping into what makes me different as opposed to what makes me similar to [insert fancy successful photographer here] is when I noticed a shift in the success of my brand. No one can be you and that’s your superpower. The moment I let my personality shine through my brand is the moment everything started to change. As Theodore Roosevelt said, “comparison is the thief of joy” and that really resonates with me. It can be hard to stay in your lane and not feel like the grass is greener on the other side, but as the wise Justin Bieber once sang, the grass is greener where you water it. Once you start being true to yourself, the rest will fall into place.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’m a wedding and engagement photographer based in Tampa, FL. I would best describe my style of photography as bold and vivid. My love of photography began in high school where I transitioned that passion to college and obtained my BA in photography along with a minor in entrepreneurship. Through college and up until 2019 I worked at a law firm as a paralegal at the same time as building my photography business. I would go to work, photograph sessions after work, edit into the late hours of the night, and work weddings on the weekends. I literally never stopped working. I took every opportunity I could to build my portfolio and my client base. I mentored with other wedding photographers in the industry, I second shot weddings for free to gain experience, and I attended workshops and education courses to help become a better business owner. In 2018 I was bringing in enough clients that my photography business could sustain my lifestyle full time. I slowly started the process of transiting to becoming a full-time business owner and I finally took the leap to full time photography in 2019. Was it hard? Hell yeah. Did I work my ass off to get here? Hell yeah X2. Nothing worth having comes easy and if you want something bad enough you’ll do whatever it takes to make it happen, so that’s what I did. There’s no easy way around it, being a business owners quite literally takes blood, sweat, and tears but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Between Tampa and St. Pete there is so much to do and so much to eat! I would make sure we had reservations at Berns Steakhouse for a fancy evening dinner out. Breakfast at my favorite brunch spot, Noble Crust, and for every meal in between you can’t go wrong at Datz! Some fun places to check out are Armature Works in Tampa Heights, the shops at Snow Circle in Hyde Park, and the new pier in St. Pete! Oxford Exchange’s Champagne Bar is a must and the Dali Museum always has amazing exhibits on display. The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
It’s hard to narrow down once specific person or resource that I’ve utilized over the years, as the road to success is filled with so many along the way, but I think I’m most grateful for my life coach/therapist, Laura Jasen, owner of Sage and Sunshine Therapy. Through her support and guidance she helped me gain the courage and confidence I needed to pursue photography full-time and my life wouldn’t be the same without her.

Website: https://www.carolineallenphotography.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carolineallenography/

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

Image Credits
Caroline Allen Photography