Meet Mike Stevens | Photographer

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

Hi Mike, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I’ve been working towards starting my own business for around the last five years. For various reasons, every idea and attempt at making that idea work fell through. Sometimes it was the idea itself, and other times it was either me or someone else that kept the idea from going anywhere. There’s no blame in that statement, it’s simply how things went. When the pandemic shut almost everything down I told myself, not knowing how long it would actually be, that I was going to come out of the other side of the pandemic having learned a new skill or having improved myself in some way. Once of the closures was local schools which included public running tracks I would train on. With those closures I continued my training around the Washington DC National Mall after work. Sunsets provide great lighting for pictures. Since I was out running and had my phone I would take pictures during my cool down. I also decided to start using the Instagram account I created several years, but never used. I got a lot of compliments with those pictures and decided to upgrade to an actual camera. I had a professional camera many years ago and have been taking pictures all my life, but took a break from that for several years. I spent too much taking taking many pictures and not doing anything with them. I also wasn’t fully appreciating what I was taking pictures of. Within a few months of the upgraded camera I upgraded again. With the compliments and successes I began having with juried art shows, I figured if I was going to do this for fun, I would see about making money with it. This lead to success in being juried into studio art spaces where I know work on portraits, product photography, youtube video creation, photo printing for myself and for my clients, and other enhancements to my business. I found what worked for me and what people both wanted and needed.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
The heart of my business is instilling confidence in people or helping to bring people’s own confidence out a little more to help it grow. I do that with a camera. Everyone has potential they don’t always see in themselves for variety of reasons and it often holds them back from living their best lives. I love taking pictures and seek to make whatever my subject is look the best it possibly can. With landscapes, cityscapes, individual aspects of nature, monuments, etc., this typically requires several hours of exploration. Different times of the year, different times of the day, various weather conditions, etc. It takes time to get or create the right picture and it’s completely worth it. It can be hard though. Cold and wet conditions are not ideal to be in, but can make for an amazing picture. Some of the best pictures I have are in these conditions when it doesn’t seem possible to get a good picture. If you wait for the ideal conditions, you are already too late. I employ the same principles with my clients. I spend time getting to know them before and during the shoot. Find out who they are, where they are from, what motivates them, what their goals are, etc. I don’t simply take their picture. Anyone can do that. Pictures capture the essence of a person. Getting them to display their own confidence shows up in the picture which the world then gets to see.

It’s not always easy though. Taking pictures, editing, posting online or printing, are all fun. A business still needs to run. Creating and updating a website, consistent social media use, advertising, business license and tax documents, can all hamper the fun, creative side of photography, but are incredibly important for a business to run and be successful. I have had to schedule time to work on each of these aspects of my business. It can be tedious but it has been worth it. I’ve had successes and rejections. The rejections can hurt, but I’ve found if you face those rejections they hurt less over time and can provide valuable knowledge on how to grow a business.

The other aspect of this is that I work on this business outside of my day job. There are days I am exhausted both mentally and physically. It’s easy to give up many times. Some days I have felt like it. I don’t because I believe in what I am doing. I don’t because I have friends who believe in me. Not simply because they are my friends, but because they see what I can do. I love photography and love helping people. I also love the idea of working for myself. I don’t quit. I don’t quit this. I have quit other things in the past. Those things I quit were because they were not the right thing for me to do. It took many years to learn that lesson and learn how to recognize when to quit the thing that wasn’t right for me. That has made a huge difference in my business because it helped me recognize which business idea to run with and which to let go as well as which client or project to work with and when to let go.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
The Washington DC area has so much to do. I would take a friend around DC National Mall to see the Lincoln Memorial, The Vietnam and Vietnam Women’s Memorial the World War II Memorial, the Washington Monument, The White House, and the Capitol. I wold also go to the International Spy Museum, both Air and Space Museums, as well as the other Smithsonian museums in the area. Depending on the time of year I would take them on a drive and a hike Shenandoah.

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?
Nichole Yawn, Olivia Bond, Family, many friends, “Start with Why” by Simon Sinek, and several episodes of the show, “Shark Tank.”

Website: https://www.mstevensphotography.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mikestevens_00photo/

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

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@mikestevensphotography

Other: Vero: @mikestevens_00photo

Image Credits
Linda Yang, Becky Kim