Daily Inspiration: Meet Alithea Louise

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alithea Louise.

Hi Alithea, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I asked for a DSLR camera in the 7th grade in hopes of becoming a film director. Without many resources or people to put in front of the camera to act for my scripts, I ended up putting aside my camera for a few years until I went into high school. Beginning freshman year, friends would ask me to take photos of them for their Instagram or for their school campaign posters because I had this professional-looking camera.

That same year, I was also in theater and I had many of my friends who really took acting seriously and auditioned for every single play or musical. Most auditions required us to bring a resume and a headshot in order to prepare us for auditions beyond high school and college. However, many of these high school students didn’t have the time or money to pay for headshots from these established Hollywood photographers so they asked me. Eventually, I offered to take the whole drama department’s headshots for their resumes and this went on for all four years of high school. Over time, my photographs would end up on the school’s theater Facebook page, the yearbook, the school newspaper, and even the local newspaper. As a practice, a good friend of mine who wrote articles for our small-town newspaper asked me to photograph the high school Varsity games every Friday Night. I remember being on that field and feeling special alongside the professional photographers because my photographs were the ones going into the newspaper.

Beyond high school, I took a break from photographing but stayed in the photography environment as I worked as a receptionist in a photography studio (and I still do every summer). I finally decided to kickstart my small photography business in December 2019 and that’s really when I started meeting new faces and my new client’s thanks to one of my childhood friends who is an actress. After taking some fashion portraits and acting headshots for her, she would recommend me to every single person she met in the industry, and ever since, I book multiple clients weekly for commercial/theatrical headshots or social media photos.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
A struggle I faced along the way was finding clients. People usually try to begin by offering their services to family or friends and I tried to do the same. Sometimes friends will be impressed with your work and say “we should take pictures!” but not necessarily be willing or able to pay and it’s made me feel used but I also understood because they didn’t have a stable income either. Thinking back, I believe reached out to the right people in my life that are always supportive and continue to encourage the growth of my business.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a photographer who specializes in capturing headshots for young, up and coming industry professionals. I’m known for photographing commercial and theatrical actors and actresses while also being reasonably priced. I am most proud of expanding my photography from just doing theatrical headshots in high school to now including fashion and lifestyle portraits. Apart from others, I make my clients feel very comfortable and give them a lot of creative freedom during their shoots rather than posing them too much. This is the key to the best photographs because it truly shows who you are as a person and these types of photos are admired by industry agents and managers.

How do you define success?
I define success by being happy and proud of who you are, where you are, and what you have created. Sometimes all three will not line up and you’ll find yourself happy with who you are but not satisfied with where you are or what you have created. I have come close to feeling two of the feelings at once so I know it’s possible that all three will align one day.

Pricing:

• Studio Portraits $60/hr
• Outdoor Portraits $45/hr
• Family Portraits Outdoors $35/hr (minimum 2 hours)

Contact Info:

• Email: alithealouisephotos.com
• Website: alithealouise.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alithealouise/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Photographs-by-Alithea-Louise-104798838178266