January 30, 2017

Meet Stacey Cochrane of Stacey Cochrane Photography in Playa del Rey

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Stacey Cochrane.

Stacey, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I began my career on a totally different path. I worked in casting at FOX for 8 years and was fully immersed in the entertainment world for 10 years. While my focus was television, this also meant looking through hundreds of headshots and photos weekly and I spent a huge part of my time looking at and studying them I think this truly helped me develop my style and approach to photography and positively influence my composition, use of color, etc. Throughout this time, I was doing photography on the side. One of my closest friends is a jewelry designer and we started to collaborate on her product photos. Then, when I had two major job changes, I was looking at where I wanted my career to go. I knew I eventually wanted a family and with the demanding hours of both pursuits, I didn’t know I could balance both of these things. After much thought, I decided to change gears and do photography full-time and so I opened my own business. I’m expecting my first child now, and I’m already thankful for the flexibility the business has afforded me and my growing family. Since 2013 when I went full time, it has been a steady stream of growing the business and working with a variety of clients.

Great, 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?
Like most small business owners, there have been ups and downs and lots of struggles along the way. However, I quickly found that they mostly turn into very good learning experiences. One of the biggest challenges has been finding my target clients and market. I practice and love many types of photography so narrowing down where to focus my marketing and client retention has been difficult. I initially thought with my background I would base my business around headshots and work with actors. While I still do that, I found that being on that side of the equation just didn’t make me as happy. I realized that it was when I photograph events or families that I thrive the most. My style of photography is more prone to finding things to capture rather than using extensive studio lighting setups, so focusing my business on the event and family photography eventually became a natural fit. The other challenge was getting used to the seasonal nature of the business. With event, wedding and family photography, there are definitely seasons and during the off-times, there is very little work. In my third full-time year, I have now realized how to work that into my financial plans and use the slow times to do things like update the website, marketing and educate myself on new photography and retouching techniques.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Stacey Cochrane Photography – what should we know?
As I mentioned before, I practice many types of photography but have really narrowed it down to focus on wedding, event and family photography of all types. I still do pets and products on occasion, but this is where my business lives the most. I believe the two things that I am the most proud of are the way I naturally capture moments and work with clients. One of the biggest challenges of wedding and family photography is that you are working with people who aren’t used to being in front of the camera, and oftentimes they can be rather uncomfortable. One of my biggest goals is to change that and make any subject feel as if we have known each other for years so they can be comfortable letting their guard down with me and in the photos. I usually leave an event or shoot feeling like I have been friends with the clients for years, which always makes it a success for me.

Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
The difficulty with photography in Los Angeles is there are a lot of photographers, so sometimes it is hard to break through the noise and build up your client base. But, on the other hand, there a large amount of people having weddings, hosting events and wanting family photos so it can be a wonderful place to own a business. The other thing I love about working in Los Angeles is you can find so many clients that value what you do and the fact that you can create beautiful photos for them. There is a great amount of creativity flowing through the city, and that comes out in working with such an amazingly diverse group of people and is something that is so special and valuable about working in this city.

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