Conversations with Annette Yegge

Today we’d like to introduce you to Annette Yegge.

Hi Annette, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I grew up watching my dad take photos of everything except people, including me. Yes, he is a landscape photographer and does beautiful work, but there were almost no photos of me as a kid. No birthday cakes with candles, no first days of school smiles, no day in life stuff that becomes your favorite photo. I didn’t understand what this all meant until much later in life.

I also don’t have any wedding photos. My photographer lost them. All of them. I hired the cheapest person I could find (because photography was never important to me), and she didn’t back up the images. Her laptop died, along with my wedding photos. (Thanks, universe, for your sense of humor.) Yes, I want to get them redone; it’s on my bucket list.

I began my photography journey because of my Etsy shop over a decade ago. I had to learn product photography to sell my handmade items, online. After many years, I felt like something was still missing in my photography, until I started taking pictures of people!

And that’s where it changed from being a hobby to more of a calling.

My inner child came out to play, and I could bring out the inner playfulness of others, too.

I now, capture people in their element, and I create artwork they hold in their hands or hang on the wall. I don’t let your images sit in a folder you never open, or disappear when a hard drive fails. If you’ve ever trusted a hard drive with something irreplaceable, you know it’s basically a matter of when, not if. (My wedding photos).

My work is a blend of storybooks and fairytales. I photograph people living their magical dream. They can play and tap into their own imagination, as a warrior, woodland creature, or this is for a beautiful mom to dress up because she hasn’t felt seen since she had kids. My clients are book lovers and dreamers. People who love feeling their fantasy! This is for people whose inner world is more colorful than an everyday photo.

Here’s where I’m different than every other photographer out there. I work exclusively with physical prints, wall art, and hand-designed albums. No digital galleries around here. Every image I deliver is something you can frame, gift, or pass down.

That’s not just my business model, it’s my whole philosophy. I believe the photographs that change you, are the ones you can touch. And, if it’s worth photographing, it’s worth printing.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
No struggles at all. Ever! (I’m joking)

At one point, I talked myself into becoming more of the “sad-beige” photographer that everyone knows and loves. My fantasy work that started out with fun storybook themes, gothic portraits, and “let’s visit a forest dressed as fairies” sessions felt too niche, weird, and hard to explain to someone who just wanted a family photo in a field of Joshua trees.

So I stepped way out of my comfort zone. I photographed families, and I aimed to be the kind of photographer who made more sense to people.

It made my business go silent. It was crickets galore. And, it honestly made my soul dim.

The “sad beige in a field of Joshua trees” style is not for me. If you’ve ever seen the high desert, you can find a photographer on every corner that does that style. I would rather stand out and be memorable to people.

So, when I returned to fantasy photography, it wasn’t a pivot so much as an internal decision. This is the work and style that makes my heart sing. I just had to stop overthinking it and just do it. The right people will find me.

Another ongoing struggle for me as an artist, and I don’t think I’m alone in this, is that what I create doesn’t fit inside a box. A phone screen doesn’t even come close to a hand-bound album or metal wall art. Explaining an experience that ends with printed artwork in a fifteen-second video is a creative challenge every single day. But I’m a Leo and stubborn, and I genuinely love trying to convince others they need this!

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I create fantasy portraits through photography. Think gothic, fae, mythology, storybook, it’s for people who have never seen themselves the way they exist in their own imagination. It’s more than cosplay.

I build ideas and worlds around my clients and then put them inside. I love props like fairy wings and cloaks. We use a fog machine with bubbles, natural forest light, and costumes that look like they came from a wardrobe in Narnia. It’s portrait photography, but it’s also a little bit theater. I’m a former theater kid, so I love added drama.

I want people to tap into their own main character energy. That sounds cliché, but it’s also literally what happens. People show up nervous and leave having seen themselves completely differently. Sometimes, people cry during their session because they’ve never felt more seen or beautiful. I’m not taking hair and makeup, they feel beautiful because I’m seeing who they are. I see you and want you to see yourself, too.

The moment when someone looks at their portrait and says oh, that’s actually me, is what I’m super proud of. I just want to make my clients fall in love with themselves.

What sets me apart is probably two things that don’t usually go together: a deeply imaginative, whimiscal aesthetic and an absolute refusal to hand over a digital gallery. Every client receives physical prints, wall art, or a custom-designed album. No online galleries. Although, I do give a digital copy for them to post on social media, I’m not a monster! I work that way because I believe an image only becomes an heirloom when it exists in the real world.

I want to make something beautiful that lasts, even in your fantasy world.

What does success mean to you?
Success used to mean bookings and revenue, and yes, we all have a car payment and need to eat. Don’t forget about the cost of handmade crowns made of bones (yes, I have this) and bubble fog machines.

But the definition has shifted for me. Now I measure success by whether the work is actually mine. Are the images I’m making coming from me, or am I just filling a slot on my calendar? There’s a version of a photography business that’s very busy, but completely hollow. It’s not success. It’s just motion.

The truest form of flattery is when a client contacts me years later, telling me the first thing they reached for, during a move, a loss, or a big milestone, was their portrait. That’s when I know it lasted. And that’s the whole point.

Pricing:

• Booking Fee is $150
• Wall art begins at $493
• Albums begin at $997

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.annettemariephotography.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/annettemarie_photography/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@AnnetteMariePhotography