Meet Delia Bush of D Bush Photography in Orange

Today we’d like to introduce you to Delia Bush.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Honestly, it’s been a slow, surprising, and exciting journey building this little photography business. As a kid, I was always so interested in swiping away my mom and dad’s little digital cameras and phones to take pictures of RANDOM things on vacations, forcing them to pose in interesting ways, and of course, pictures of our dogs – but who isn’t obsessed with taking pictures of their dogs, let’s face it, we’re all dog photographers. I never owned my own camera until my first year of high school. It was a Pentax K-50 DSLR camera, and I felt so cool carrying around this big bulky high-def camera – that is, until it broke. Devastating, I know. Luckily, my parents could see how much the loss of that camera affected me, and after I did lots of research on what I wanted, I got my beloved Fujifilm XT-10 for Christmas – which I still use and cherish to this day.

Senior year of high school though – is when I believe I really fell in love with photography. I took a film photography class – and we learned everything from the ground up. I thought the Dark Room was maybe the most exciting thing I had ever seen, and the process was… so fun… I felt like a nerd in the best way. I became obsessed with balancing color, light and using my own imagination in my work. It’s funny because at that point, I knew I was going on to Chapman University for my BFA in Theatre Performance, pursuing acting and musical theatre, but I had NO idea that I would also be embarking on a journey of photography as well – and developing my own small business! Now, it’s something I cannot imagine my life without – and I hope to do forever!

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
A smooth road? Definitely not. A fun and challenging one? Yes. I think my initial struggle with beginning to work ‘professionally’ was figuring out how to cross the line between ‘helping out my friends’ and allowing myself to be paid what I am due. I was SO incredibly nervous the first time I decided to charge people for headshots and portraits. I had many amazing supportive friends and family who were telling me “Delia, you put so much time and energy into this – shooting and editing, you need to be compensated!”. I didn’t consider myself professional at all yet. I was still growing my portfolio, still developing my work! I didn’t think I deserved to be paid – I didn’t think I was good enough yet. When I eventually started out, finally working up the nerve to charge people for photos – I was STILL timid. I would give people a price range – saying, “whatever works for you, I’m open!”. I don’t think this was wrong of me, it was representative of how I felt – unsure of my worth and the value of my work. I was still growing.

I learned, however, that people WANT to pay for good work – and sometimes, a price can reassure the customer that it WILL be worth their money and that they are paying for and receiving something professional. I want my clients to feel professional and to feel that they are in the hands of a professional – who will make them look their best. After this, I would say the next struggle was building my online presence in social media, and especially with my website. I am lucky to have a large network of acting and performing arts friends and acquaintances being an actor myself, so I had a decent amount of people to reach out to, but the matter of getting my work out there, and HOW, to other communities, was a struggle before I really built up my Instagram and my website. This is still something I am working on, and am hopeful about – expanding my business’ presence to communities outside my own!

D Bush Photography – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
D Bush Photography is my own little one-woman photography business. I specialize in headshot and portrait photography and am most well known for that. I also do production, artistic/stylized, and landscape photography. I believe I sort of fell into my specialty of headshot photography – I had a lot of actor friends who needed headshots, knew I had a nice camera, loved to take pictures, and that I was decent at it! Then, I just kept learning the more I worked, and have really fallen into a lovely rhythm when I work with people on headshots! I am proud of myself for making bold choices all by myself with this company. Creating my website and always searching for new ways to give myself a little leg up. I invested in studio equipment about a year ago – and it COMPLETELY changed how I worked with light and the capabilities I had as an artist! It also made things more efficient. I now can bring my studio with me everywhere I go, or people can come to me! It made me feel more professional and has enhanced the quality of my work. It gave me a little crutch, but also a whole new world of possibilities.

I believe what sets me apart, especially with actor headshots, is that I know what it’s like to be on that side. I know, as an actor, that I want my headshot to say SO much about what I can do as an actor – but also be subtle, and a completely natural ME! This is hard to create for yourself when there’s a huge camera in your face, you’re surrounded by lighting, and you’re probably sweating. As the photographer, I in that situation become the actor’s biggest hype man. The first question I ask when someone enters the studio is “what makes you feel like a badass?” and we BLAST that music. I ask them questions about what kinds of roles and moods they want to emulate through their shot – and put them at ease to energetically get to those places, to reflect that in the shot. Also, if I know the person and know how to make them laugh and relax – that’s a plus.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
That’s SO hard to answer! I am proud of a lot of the little things; first starting to get compensated for my work, trusting myself to work with new studio equipment on my own, and making my website and appointment scheduler. I think my proudest moment, though, was when I applied for an internship at an advertising agency. It was the first time that I think I let myself consider my work as something that could be pursued as an actual career path, outside of what I’ll do as a performer. It was definitely a turning point for me.

Pricing:

• Headshot Session $80
• LinkedIn/Business Headshot Session $80
• Graduation Photo Session $120
• Style/Concept Shoot $150
• Merchandising/Business Shoot $150
• Group Session (4+ people) $200
• Event Photography (Weddings/Parties/etc) $300

Contact Info:

• Website: dbushphotography.com
• Phone: 952-353-0008
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: @dbushphotog

Image Credit:
Delia Bush

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