Interview with Tamara Tovey of Tamara Tovey Photography

Interview with Tamara Tovey

1.    Will you start by telling us where you work and live and the type of photography you do?

I live in Bristol with my husband and two daughters. I specialise in newborn, baby, child and family lifestyle photography. I work on location only and use natural and available light.

2.    What inspires you as a photographer?

A lot of things... Beautiful places - I often have an idea when I’m walking (often with a pram J)  and then I just try to bring it to live. I’m always on a lookout for new locations but also try to see beauty in the normal, usual places. Very inspired by a beautiful light that I notice. Inspired by family bonds...Inspired by how fast the children grow up and by their personalities. It always pushes me to go past the usual posy portraits and try to do something that shows their personality at the time and not just how they looked.

3.    How long have been a photographer?

I was always interested in photography, but never thought I would actually ever be able to do it. So I have been a photographer for just over 2 years! Feels a lot longer though! My story is very common – we bought a basic DSLR just before my first daughter was born, I was taking photos of her all the time and learned a lot when she was napping. It was a very steep learning curve. Then I was sharing photos of my daughter on a couple of mum’s forums and started getting a lot of requests from other mums I met there. I had enough requests to get started and decided to go for it with a big support from my husband.

4.    When you’re not photographing, where can we find you?

I have a 3 months old and an almost 3 year old, so most of my time is spent in different playgroups, ballet, swimming, gymnastic classes, rhyme times, etc.

5.    Any books that inspired you {or helped you} in your business?

Visionmongers by David DuChemin

But most of all – a couple of Flickr groups, photography blogs.. I’ve learned so much from there.

6.    Best marketing idea? 

I have not really done any marketing yet. My clients have been recommending me to their friends so much!

7.    Worst marketing idea?

The word of mouth was great for me but unfortunately as a result most of my clients are in London. It was fine until I had a baby, but now I’m trying to focus on work in Bristol! I also got so relaxed that I didn’t work on my website, I have only just changed and updated it for the first time since I have started.

8.    Do you have a studio and if not do you feel having a studio would help your business grow?

I don’t have a studio, I do like shooting outdoors or in my clients homes. It really makes every session unique but also is a challenge for me, which I love. I would love to have a space to have viewing sessions and a samples gallery, I am sure it would have really helped.

9.    What do you think makes a photographer successful?

So many things! Creativity, vision, people skills, unique style and then there is the whole business side to it as well.

10. What’s your weakness in this business?

My biggest weakness is that I don’t have a lot of time! Kids are my priority because I know that they will grow up so fast that I don’t want to miss anything. But it also means that I am very limited in the time I can spend on networking, working on my website, blog posts, planning, etc. A lot of late nights for me!

11. Are you a Nikon or Canon?

Canon

12. and Lens?

24-70mm 2.8 rarely leaves my camera, absolutely love it! I still love my old trusty 50mm 1.8

13. If you weren’t a photographer, what would you be?

 I’m very grateful I have found what I want to do in life! Then only thing I can think of would be baby clothes designer – I keep seeing things that are not very convenient for babies and have a lot of ideas on how to improve them!

14. Can you give the readers your best piece of advice for starting or running a photography business.

Before you start a business, you should know that the business part takes a LOT of time, a lot more than shooting, a lot more than you can imagine. So I would say – learn as much as you can before you start your business.

15. Tell us your proudest moment of your career?

I can’t really point out one experience – I’m very happy every time my clients recommend me to their friends, because it means they were very pleased with the images I have created of their families.

Here is where you can find Tamara Tovey

twitter.com/@tamaratovey

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Tamara-Tovey-Photography/174355735925925

Website: http://www.tamaratoveyphotography.co.uk/

Blog: http://tamaratoveyphotography.blogspot.com/