March 14, 2017

Meet Ceri Hui of Ceri Photography in West Los Angeles

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ceri Hui.

Ceri, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Ever since I borrowed my brother’s DSLR camera for a trip to England during college that made me fall in love with photography, my camera has been one of my best companions. Yet I had never really thought about using my camera as a source of income until one day I unexpectedly received lots of flattering feedback for my self-taken engagement portraits, which happened to be featured in a magazine (http://www.theweddingnotebook.com/inspirations/engagement-photos-taken-self-timer-function/). From that day, I started receiving many requests from different friends to work as their photographer and I eventually decided to start Ceri Photography as my side business. This summer will mark the 2nd birthday for Ceri Photography!

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Same as with many other businesses, kick-starting from scratch is never easy, especially when it’s a one-woman business. I’m not just the photographer, but also the website designer, branding and marketing director, customer service representative, accountant, etc. Among all this, I feel that the biggest struggle for me was marketing my services and putting my name out there. I’m very passive in using social media and I think that’s why I didn’t get a single case for almost 6 months. The tipping point came when I started using wedding service platforms like bridalquotes.com. A lot more people were able to see my work and many couples started approaching me. There was a month where I was flying to San Francisco three weekends in a roll. Soon, Ceri Photography was able to break-even. The lesson I learned was that you can be anti-social media for your personal life, but spending a few extra bucks for social marketing is invaluable for your business.

Ceri Photography – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I specialize in wedding/engagement photography and family photography. This spring, Ceri Photography is actually going to have its own studio ready for newborn photography! From my clients’ feedback, most of them were attracted to my candid style of photography. They were often very surprised by how I was able to capture beautiful moments in unnoticeable ways. I feel that what sets Ceri Photography apart from others is that I don’t mind going the extra mile to make sure my work is meaningful for my clients. I have spent countless nights editing every picture myself to make sure each single picture turns out perfect. Often when I promise a client that I would return 200+ edited pictures, I find myself actually returning 400+ edited pictures because I really want my clients to have access to all the beautiful moments that were captured.

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
“Men are disturbed not by things, but by the view which they take of them.” If I’m to take the standard definition of success, which is often a numbers-driven metric, I know that I would likely be discouraged. However, my definition of success is seeing people who truly admire your work approach you, instead of frequently altering your style and losing your unique voice just to gain more customers and fight for “likes”. It’s just like friendship, where I would rather have a few solid friends who truly understand and appreciate each other as opposed to being the most popular person on a social media platform.

Contact Info: