Noelle Neff is a professional photographer and an entrepreneur. She is the founder of Noelle Neff Photography. Her portfolio includes weddings, sports, travel, art, and portraits. Her passion for capturing wedding memories has driven her to win multiple awards and honors. She is excited about the array of human emotions on display as well as the unique chance to preserve history.
Under the weddings category, she is adept at stills, action, close-ups, and photojournalism. Noelle Neff is a graduate of the University of Miami. Her fairytale journey to professional fame began when she responded to requests from close friends and family. Besides covering events, she also displays her works in temporary galleries and sells photos through popular online stock photo sites. She excels in business development and networking.
Social media and community outreach are excellent strategies to grow the client base. It also enables her to build long-lasting relationships that ensure a steady flow of business. Noelle Neff also employs innovative strategies to develop the business.
She believes that new technologies will augment existing features and capabilities of the digital photography equipment. For example, she recently invested in a cutting-edge camera light to help her take bright and colorful shots quickly. She enjoys mentoring upcoming talent. This enables her to focus on people and polish their soft skills. This is key because the industry is about celebrating people.
She recently took the time to answer a few questions about her venture.
How do you ensure you stay relevant despite the prevalence of better and easier-to-use equipment?
Photography as an art is about people. You can have the best equipment but still, create average pieces. When I started out, I did not have access to the latest cameras and supporting gadgets that professionals use. I still created memorable pieces that attracted more friends and referrals. It is not a question of having the newest equipment; it is what you can do with what you have.
Upgrading to the latest available gear is advisable, but pay more attention to your skills and talent instead. We are involved in community activities that cement our local roots. Additionally, we are open to new people who wish to elevate their game to the next level. We are not looking to push commodities, but rather capture people’s memories and emotions. Your long-term plan should be people-oriented as opposed to technology-trends driven.
What is your advice to new talent looking to get into the business?
Work on your inspiration. Decide beforehand if you are just going into it as a hobby or a serious business. A business requires you to acquire a lot more skills to make it work. This includes technical talent to capture great moments; people skills, to enable you to develop lasting relationships with customers; as well as a host of business support skills.
It requires commitment and hard work. It is not about picking a point-and-shoot and sitting back. Have a business plan that drives your resilience and motivation.
Which technologies have impacted your business the most?
Camera technologies are constantly upgrading. Similarly, people are quickly exploiting new tools to come up with new tricks, skills, and techniques. We all know about face and expression recognition matrix based features. A camera can detect when you are sad or happy from the form your face makes. Additionally, people are using light field recording in surprising ways. These features empower us to create powerful memories and relive them in full.
Which part of the industry excites you most?
Weddings! They are still emotion-packed presents waiting to be opened. However, I see a lot of potential in travel photography. It is an excellent way to showcase local scenes on a global scale. There are numerous opportunities to bring the world closer. Coupled with improved marketing and publishing options, this will push the envelope and open a world of possibilities.
It is also exciting to see how dedicated equipment manufacturers are to building technologies that are better than the human eye. Traditionally the target was to match its capabilities. Today, it is to augment it with superior functionality. Don’t be surprised to see intelligent cameras soon on the market.
