Meet Sarah Sido of Studio Sido in Echo Park

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Sido.

Sarah, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I grew up in Vermont, raised by my idealistic New Yorker parents on a very rural mountaintop. Though I can now appreciate the incredible beauty of my home state, as a kid, I lived for our trips to New York. We were there to see family, but we’d go to Broadway shows, the ballet, and museums and spend countless hours just walking the streets.

I feel very lucky that I had these sorts of opportunities and knew what was out there beyond the world of my day to day. I started performing as early as I can remember, and basically never stopped, with acting eventually taking me to NYC and then Los Angeles, working in everything from touring Shakespeare productions to commercials and television.

About a decade ago, my then boyfriend, now husband, asked me to shoot stills on a documentary project he was making. He put his old Rebel in my hands and told me the basics of exposure. I really hadn’t photographed thoughtfully since I was a child, and I fell in love with being on that side of the camera fairly instantly.

With the birth of my son a few years after that, I suddenly had a readily available subject, one that I found endlessly fascinating. Since then, I’ve studied with some wonderful teachers and mentors. I launched my family documentary photography business in 2017. It’s a little crazy to continue to act and build my own photography business, but somehow I make it work.

I’ve realized that I’m always interested in the same things, on both sides of the camera, and they are just different mediums in which to explore. I’m endlessly curious about relationships and connection, the ways we express love and emotion, the real instead of the perfect.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
At this point, I’ve been pursuing a life in the arts for over two decades, and the road has been anything but smooth. I’ve been dropped by agents, had long dry spells immediately following what feels at the time like a big break, and had long periods of self-doubt.

With that said, I find deep satisfaction in the feeling of agency that moving behind the camera has given me. I’m free to tell stories that are interesting to me, and I embrace the challenges that entrepreneurship brings.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Studio Sido – what should we know?
Studio Sido is modern, storytelling photography for families and brands. Since launching, I have been invited into homes all over Los Angeles to capture what this moment looks and feels like.

I’ve had the honor to arrive at the hospital within hours of a baby’s birth and document a woman’s healing body just weeks after a preventative double mastectomy. I talk to my clients about who they are and what they want to remember, and then do my best to do justice to these intimate stories, creating imagery that my clients often tell me they didn’t even realize how much they needed until they had them in their hands, at which point it has untold value.

I work similarly with my personal branding clients, taking them through a process to discover what stories make them unique and how we will create visual representations of the ideas most important to them. Even with branding, I find it’s important to focus on the real over the perfect. We all deeply crave more authentic relationships in our lives, even on social media.

Earlier this year, I was incredibly honored to win 4th place in the international photography competition, The Documentary Family Awards, judged by some of the photographers that I have been following from the beginning of my journey.

Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
I think my first shoutout has to be to my husband, Ryan Kravetz. He’s a designer/animator/creative director, and on top of being the one to put a camera in my hands, he has an incredible visual sense and has always supported me having a strong point of view in my work. He helps me be ruthless in my culling, at the beginning literally standing behind me (when asked) and saying “keep, no, no, no, keep, no” and encouraging me to only deliver the very best.

I would be remiss not to mention Kirsten Lewis, a photographer who has really brought the genre of documentary family work more into the mainstream. I had the pleasure of studying with her in a workshop, and I have learned so much just by studying her work, as well. She is a founder and judge of The Documentary Family Awards.

I’ve found a community of photographers that have also been instrumental to my growth. We turn to each other for critique and advice, and I couldn’t do my best work without them.

And lastly, my parents – for being artists themselves, for exposing my siblings and I to all sorts of art from a young age, for accepting a life in the arts as a viable one, and for their support.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.studiosido.com
• Phone: 323-697-1035
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarah_sido/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StudioSidoPhotography/

Image Credit:
Photo of Sarah Sido by Tiffany Luong Photography

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