Check out Christine Sara’s Artwork

Today we’d like to introduce you to Christine Sara.

Christine, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
It’s an interesting story how I fell into photography. I began my journey as an artist, as a singer/songwriter. I’ve always been very visual though. Even when I would write my own songs, or hear music from other artists, I would often create a visual story in my head. I decided to pick up my dad’s DSLR, which was an old fuji S1 pro and started photographing friend actors and models. It was just a hobby at the time, but I really started to fall in love with being able to express my visions in a very tangible way. After being burned by the music industry, I decided to take a break from pursuing a singing career and have a family. When my first baby was born, I fell in love with photographing him. All the different stages and tiny details of my baby. Friends and family would start asking me to photograph their families and babies, so I decided to start a business. I had no idea what I was doing, so I called David Michael Photography to see if I could assist or second shoot weddings for them. Michael Brannigan, one of the owners, took me under his wing and taught me everything! This is where I fell in love with photographing weddings and couples. I worked with Michael for 2 years before starting my own wedding business. I continued working with Michael for 7 years until his passing in May 2017 due to a plane crash in Santa Paula. The Los Angeles wedding industry lost such an amazing and great man on this day. Can you believe after all those years of working together, I didn’t have ONE photo together? I wish we had at least ONE! I think this is where I realized how important photography is. These aren’t just photos, they are a legacy of you and your family. These are the memories that make up your entire life. How do we put a price on that? Especially when those we love, aren’t here anymore?

After shooting weddings, newborns, and maternity for 7 years internationally, I decided to take a leap and open another location in Park City, Utah, Feb 2018. While weddings will always be my specialty, I decided to open a boudoir studio in Utah. Why boudoir? Especially with already being known as a newborn and wedding photographer in LA? Even though I love babies and families, what excites me the most when I shoot, is when others are moved and inspired by my work. When I started photographing boudoir for my brides, I noticed something would happen to their confidence and the way these women would view themselves after they saw their images and even during the shoot! For me this resonates deeply because of my personal story. I was in an abusive marriage for 4 years. I left 5 years ago wanting to start a better life for my kids and me. After you leave a relationship that leaves you completely flat lined, especially emotionally, your confidence and self-worth are shot. These women that come to me for a boudoir shoot, are often in the same boat. Whether it be abuse from someone else, life, or self-inflicted, as women we tend to carry around this sense of shame thinking we aren’t good enough. Society tells us we have to be a certain way, which creates this unrealistic expectation of who we are supposed to be. We’re constantly striving to be something other than just ourselves. What is wrong with being you? The REAL you? Why do we have to act, look, dress, be anything other than who we are? That’s the beauty I capture in my boudoir shoots. I want me clients to be completely themselves. We drop the bags at the front door and let the real, amazing, you shine through. There is nothing more beautiful than a woman’s found confidence and it excited me so much to be a part of the process of self-discovery with these ladies!

Whether it be preserving amazing moments for my couples and their families at the wedding day or empowering a woman through an intimate portrait story, I absolutely love the fact that I can create art for people who love my work and build amazing relationships along the way.

We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I am a wedding and boudoir photographer.

The sterotype of a starving artist scares away many potentially talented artists from pursuing art – any advice or thoughts about how to deal with the financial concerns an aspiring artist might be concerned about?
I totally get this one! I was a new single mom just barely starting my own business. I didn’t know how I was going to run a successful studio without the money. I had a camera, some props, a few lenses, but that was about it. My advice is, do not undercharge. After I left my kids dad, I raised my prices for portraits by $1000 and for weddings $2000. I was in a state of survival. I thought, I am either going to make this happen and provide a service where my clients can really see the value in my experience so that I can afford to invest more back into my business while also supporting two kids. The part that is hard about jumping your prices, is you will turn away a lot of your current clientele. This was the scariest part for me. The magic started to happen though. Other clients would find me on google and valued my work and experience. I continued to book clients, different clients. Clients that stopped penny pinching me. Clients that would fly me half way around the world. It was insane what happened when I began to value myself, my craft, and my business. Do the research before you raise your prices. See how much it will cost you to be in business. How many expenses do you have (software programs, gear, computers, presets, props, client gifts, album and print costs, taxes (that’s a big one), website, business cards, studio rent, etc.)? How much do you want to take home? Let’s say you’d like to bring home $2000 after shooting a wedding. You’ll likely have to charge somewhere in the ballpark of $5-6k to do so after all your expenses, investment back in the studio, and taxes. If you’re charging enough, you’ll have enough money to grow. If you don’t charge enough, you’ll likely stay stagnant in your business.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.christinesara.com and www.christinesaraboudoir.com
• Phone: 323-205-5540
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/christinesaraphoto and www.instagram.com/christinesaraboudoir
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/christinesaraphoto and www.facebook.com/christinesaraboudoir

Image Credit:
The image of me photographing a bouquet with windows behind me is photographed by Trevor Hooper Photo.

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