UncategorizedJune 24, 2021

Hidden Gems: Meet Perscilla Curley of The Post Wedding Photographer

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Perscilla Curley.

Hi Perscilla, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My story is a little different than most photographer’s stories that I hear. A lot of photographers began their careers as photographers first and businesswoman/men second. However, I was searching for a side hustle, I already owned an old Nikon, liked the idea of photography and began. I had followed some amazing elopement photographers for years and always thought their jobs looked like so much, they were capturing love while traveling the world and being creative. At this time, I was working my 9-5 and had a total lack of creativity. I was drawn to photography not only for the side income but because it provided a way to meet new people, explore new locations and flex some creative muscles. I was shooting everyday to learn fast! Almost two years later, I have learned so incredibly much and feel confident calling myself a photographer. I invested a lot in education, I’ve listened to hundreds of hours of photography podcast, tutorials online and mentorships. The COVID lockdown in 2020 is what made my business sore. I was not shooting for the first few months of the pandemic but gave every second of the day to learning to shoot, edit, and market my business.

Alright, 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?
There has been a ton of struggles along the way! I was naive to think I could just jump into a photography business with absolutely no background knowledge of photography. I have always been creative and entrepreneurial but that was not enough to get me to the level I strived to be at. I struggled learning my camera settings and learning how to edit. In every job that I’ve had before photography, I have always been able to get things done FAST. Beginning photography, I wanted my sessions to go fast and with a lot of confidence. I felt that when I would be practicing my settings, I was going too slow or looked unprofessional to my models/clients. Now I know that was silly to get quality photos that myself and my clients are happy with its okay to slow down, take a breath and make sure I am getting my settings right to produce the photos we both want. Another struggle is time, I work a full-time job in addition to photography, am a newlywed and want to enjoy adventures and personal freedom. I didn’t realize how much time went into every aspect of photography, not just photographing and editing. I love doing both my full-time job and running my photography business but managing my time is something I continue to work on.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
The Post Wedding Photographer stems from the thought that you should continue to capture your love even after saying “I do”. Typically, most people get engagement photos done with their significant other, put a lot of pressure on wedding photos, and then really don’t book professional photos again until a major life change like a pregnancy. The thought behind my business is that we should keep capturing our relationship with our loved ones through every step. When my couples are looking back on these photos after 10, 20, 30 years of marriage I don’t want them to just have photos a momentous day but also of a typical day in their relationship like grabbing coffee, having a picnic, taking a boat ride, etc.

My style of photography is capturing real moments of a relationship, you will rarely find a couple looking at camera smiling at any of my shoots. I keep my couples talking to one another, laughing with one another, kissing on one another, and embracing who they are together. My personal favorites are them laughing, giggling, smiling while locking eyes, I keep prompts and talking points sincere, light, funny and lovable.

More recently, I have been known to capture steamy couples, where I bring the same style with just a little more heat. More and more people have been responding to my couples boudoir sessions which makes me excited about the future of my business. I think what is setting me apart from other photographers is that I am producing happy, sweet, laughing couples boudoir sessions while other photographers who shoot couples boudoir focus on sexy and erotic shots. Nothing wrong with those, I just have such a need to keep people laughing and smiling and that comes through in my photography. I am really proud of the last six months of my business, I was scared to start shooting couples boudoir but now that I do it often, love it and that it is received well I will never go back to not sharing these steamy sessions. I think it’s amazing these couples will have photos to look back on that captured how attracted they were to one another physical and emotional appearance but also capturing their true happiness with being with one another.

Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
Most people are surprised that I have been shooting for just about two years. I will hit my two years mark in July. This is such a compliment whenever I hear it but it did take a lot of work to get where I am today. I shot a ton of couples for free to grow my portfolio and practice, have spent hundreds of hours on photography education and spent majority of my first year saving any money from paying clients to upgrade gear, pay for memberships, presets and mentorships. I am finally starting to see steady growth and way more confidence in my work and as a businesswoman.

Pricing:

I charge $250 for an hour long session, this includes sneak peeks within 24 hours and an online gallery of 60 images delivered via online within 10 days.

Contact Info:

Image Credits:
@ThePostWeddingPhotographer

Suggest a Story: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.