Today we’d like to introduce you to Larissa Bahr.
Hi Larissa , it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I discovered photography at a very young age (around 5 or 6) when my mom gave me her old film camera to play with. I would spend hours taking photos in my backyard, of my horse, of my siblings and anything else that struck my fancy! My parents bought me my first digital camera when I was 12 because I loved taking photos so much and they were spending a lot of money on developing the film photos I was taking.
By 16 years old I decided I would become a photographer, I was not sure where I would focus on but I knew I loved it and my camera went with me to every event I was at! When I graduated high school I used my graduation money to buy my first Digital SLR camera. My pastor’s wife, Pam Booher, at my local church was a wedding photographer and when I told her I was interested in pursuing photography, she invited me to start photographing weddings with her. This is where I discovered the love of people and wedding photography. I had always been fascinated with people’s stories and loved celebrating special moments with others, and photographing weddings became an opportunity for me to tell people’s stories through photography and capture their special moments for them to cherish forever! Pam helped mentor and encourage me for the next two years, and I learned so much through her guidance and encouragement.
I went through RCC’s photography program and graduated from Cal State Fullerton with a Photo Communications degree. There my teachers helped inspire and encourage me to continue pursuing photography and they supported my goal to photographing people and weddings and let me tailor a lot of my assignments towards that. After graduation there were a few rough years as I was a very young photographer and I didn’t know how to market myself well and getting my business off of the ground was a struggle. I started going to networking events and trying to make as many connections as I could and I joined a group in Orange County where I had a lot of my great connections come through.
In 2013, an opportunity for an office in the suite above Mary Me Bridal dress shop in Orange opened up in a new wedding center. A DJ, Dave Greenwood, who I had met through my networking group in Orange called me and let me know about the office and though I was hesitant to spend the money, God opened the door for me to get the office and I took the leap of faith! We became the Southern California Wedding Center, and together we attended bridal shows, hosted networking events, and helped encourage and build each other up in the business. It was one of the best things to happen for me and my business and pushed my dream into a reality!
I was blessed with that office for 8 years until the pandemic hit in 2020. At that point, I had established myself and my business in OC and was able to weather through the shut down with good clients who supported me. I made the decision to give up my office and invest the money I was spending monthly back into other things for my business. Through the time in 2020 and beyond I started also focusing on elopements as well as weddings and was able to do start traveling for them!
Now my business though still focused primarily on weddings and elopements has grown into photographing for lots of the growing families from my past clients as they do maternity, newborn, baby, and family photos with me. I do graduations and events and headshots and photos all centered around people. I am able to travel for clients and help create priceless photos for their memories forever! And I absolutely love it still. When I take vacations to travel, my camera still goes with me wherever I go! And I create and photograph for the love of it all. It is still my passion 18 years into business later, and I love being able to do what I do each and every day!
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 have been lots of struggles throughout the years, from needing to overcome the naysayers who didn’t believe I would make it, to not having people take me seriously as a young woman photographer in my teens and early 20s, to overcoming the worldwide shutdown and doing whatever I could to keep my business afloat, and even to learning what it meant to be a business owner and marketing myself in an ever changing climate of social media and online platforms. But through it all, God opened the door for me to continue and the struggles built up a lot of resilience within me. Now as obstacles come, I can still have some anxiety or worry but I also try to choose faith over fear and perseverance and hardwork over despair. And the network of amazing clients and vendor friends I have built up over the years really has carried me through. I wouldn’t be here today without those who have supported me and who keep believing in me! And I am so blessed and grateful for them!
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I create and capture moments that tell of the love, relationship, and personality of my clients. I always come to my photo sessions with ideas for posing and I help guide my clients, but I also observe and see how they are as a person, as a couple, or as a family and try to build off who they are. My goal is to make the photo time fun and enjoyable and as non stressful as possible!
I specialize in capturing not just my clients but them within their scenes whether we are at a venue, at the beach, in a city, or someone else in nature. I want to capture a beautiful scenic photograph that they want to blow up and hang on their wall and it take their breath away.
While I learn from trends, I have never been a trendy photographer. I have specialized in staying true to a classic and natural and enhancing editing style that shows the green of the trees and blue of the sky or water. I want to help display the glorious sunsets or the atmosphere around my clients and use it to add to their story. I am proud of the fact that through the years, I have not become a bandwagon photographer but have stayed true to my vision and creating beautiful work for my clients.
There is also an art form in not just creating a beautiful photo but in helping my clients feel confident and comfortable behind the camera, and this is my aim at every session! I strive to encourage and work with my clients helping them with posing and helping them to laugh and smile, I let them know how I see how great they are looking and will often show them some photos from the back of my camera to help them see that they are looking amazing! I enjoy doing this and helping my clients see the beauty they have inside and out! And I know this is one of the ways that helps set me apart because I truly believe in bringing out the best in my clients!
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
I think with the integration and accessibility of AI there will be a lot of changes especially in the next 5-10 years. We will see more and more headshots and commerical shoots being more AI generated. And with camera and editing software evolving, photography will become more and more accessible for the general population.
But in all of this, there will still be a need for capturing authentic moments and events. In the upcoming generations there has been a push for film photography again to showcase the authenticity of the day. And my goal in all of this will be to continue to give my clients an amazing and authentic experience where we capture the beauty of their day and big event! Nothing can replace the true moments that happen in a wedding or the love you share as a couple or the laughter with your kids and I believe people will crave more of the real moments in photography in the upcoming years of AI generated images. So I will continue to do what I do best and serve my clients the best way I know how!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.larissabahr.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/larissabahr/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LarissaBahrPhotography
