“I make time for my family and loved
ones because if you take away my talents
and belongings, they are all I have left,”
she says.
Lydia also makes time for meeting new
people and making friends, like she has
with Atlanta Social Club. Her sister, Kera,
joined ASC first. “She mentioned it to
me and told me that she was meeting a
lot of great girls here in Atlanta,” Lydia
says. “Kera ended up adding me, and it’s
been great to watch like-minded business
women connect, collab, and have fun!
“When you surround yourself with young
professionals who all have similar goals, it
encourages you to stay on track.”
While Lydia doesn’t have any additional
full-time employees to split the load
with at the moment, she is looking at
that for the future. For now, she has a
long list of amazingly talented creatives
that she leans on for “second shooters”
for events or weddings. Since they will
be representing her firm, she picks her
photographers carefully.
“When deciding if someone would be a
good fit to work underneath me, I have
to keep in mind that they are the face of
my company and brand,” Lydia says. “I
ask what type of equipment they use, if
they’ve shot many weddings, what they
plan to do with the photos afterwards, I
see if our personalities work well together,
I check with previous people they have
worked with, and of course I look at their
portfolio to see if their style will blend
seamlessly with mine. To ensure that an
entire gallery flows together, I receive
the memory cards I gave them at the
beginning of the event and I edit all of the
photos so that they are the same style and
color palette.”
Lydia intentionally went out on her
own instead of joining an existing firm,
despite the extra effort she has to put
into logistics. “I’ve always been extremely
independent and often hard-headed
(which at times can be a fault). But there’s
a satisfaction that comes with being your
own boss, especially as a woman,” she
says. “The corporate photography field is
saturated with men and that just never
appealed to me. Why allow someone to
take over my creativity and talent so that
they can profit from it, when I myself could
be just as successful if not more?”
Business is booming for the firm, and
Lydia says she’s contemplating adding a
REVEAL | Q3 2017
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studio, even though she’s only needed it a
handful of times, as she believes it could
add a new aspect and help expand the
company. Most of her work is in natural
light, and some are more challenging than
others -- from elf-themed moonlit wedding
ceremonies at 9 p.m., to shoots with up to
10 children, dog sessions and more.
“If every session were easy, then there
would be no room to grow,” she says.
Lydia relishes the challenges that come
with running her own company, but says it
can sometimes be daunting. The hardest
part was finding the courage to start
initially, and the courage to keep going.
“Thoughts would pop up (and occasionally
still do) like, ‘What if I fail?’ ‘What if I waste
my 20s chasing something that won’t
become my reality?’ ‘People won’t take
me seriously at this age.’ The list goes on,”
Lydia says.
“I’ve learned that it doesn’t matter what
other people think of you if you hold your
head up high, take charge, realize you’re
stronger than your failures, that God is on
your side, and you get out of it what you
put in. That realization has been the best
part, alongside with finding myself.”