Episode 26
True Moua – Episode 026 – A Photographer Podcast Interview
This is a podcast episode you definitely want to hear! Matt and Kia interview True Moua, who is a photographer and educator, based in Wisconsin. She shoots only natural light and has a love for Iceland. You don’t want to miss True’s “all seasons session” and how she does that. You also want to listen in to why she doesn’t do a model program anymore and still does a destination session every year. True talks about how to do Instagram stories. She also talks about how she structured her pricing when she first started out and how to do what she says, not what she did. Listen in to hear how True would and wouldn’t spend $1k – you’ll be surprised! Curious which lens is True’s go to? You might want one too! True says, “Dig deep to find what makes you different and stop following every trend”. Keep hustling.
Online Resources – Google, YouTube, CreativeLive, Sue Bryce, Instagram TV
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@truemouaphotography
Transcription was done by Temi.com which means it’s an AI generated transcript. The transcript may contain spelling, grammar and other errors, and is not a substitute for watching the video.
[00:01] This is true and you are listening to from nothing to profit.
[00:04] Welcome to from nothing to profit a photographer’s podcast with Matt and Kayak where each week they talk to photographers about what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster
[00:21] from everyone. We are super excited to have true. And how do you say your last name? So it’s [inaudible]. Okay. True. Moolah here today and uh, I have seen her work online for the last couple of years and she is a phenomenal photographer and I’ve seen that she’s does a lot of education and so we’re super excited to have her here today to share with us about her business. And I’ve only seen you’re shooting in natural light. Um, she’s based in western Wisconsin and specializes in creative fine arts senior portraits. And you have a love for Iceland to, is that correct? I do, yes. Well thank you guys. Thanks so much for having me here. I’m super excited to be here, but yes, I am just, I just shoot natural light. I do have like studio equipment, but it’s just isn’t a demand, at least in my area. Uh, so yeah, everything I do is as natural light.
[01:18] That’s awesome. Yeah. I’m excited to have you on here because you’re one of the, one of the first interviews were Kaia and I both didn’t really know you’d be helped before this podcast. You know, typically I’m like, you know, people that we, I say Chi, we should in a reasons person kind of like, I don’t know that person. I’m like, well I do and it’s perfect, you know? But you’re my first people that like both of us are going to be learning from you right now while you’re doing your interview, which I’m really excited about.
[01:40] Oh good. Well, I hope you learn something. I don’t know. I don’t know how much help I’ll be, but I’m excited to be here.
[01:46] So anything else that you want to share? I mean, so, so I kind of said you’re from Wisconsin. Natural light photographer. Okay. Any other things that you would want to share, your family, anything like that?
[01:57] Well, you know, I, I’m actually before photography, I worked in dental for actually 16 years and was actually not looking for, you know, a new career or anything like that. And our son was approaching his senior year actually. And so I kind of fell into this kind of fell into photography. Really. I just, you know, we purchased this camera and I’m Craig’s lists and like, you know, everybody else, it doesn’t really understand photography. He was saying like, you’re going to buy this amazing camera and it’s just going to take amazing pictures for you. Um, and so, yeah, I mean that’s kind of what we thought. I’m like, well, just buy this camera and we’ll take great pictures and we’ll have, you know, amazing pictures for our scrapbook and, and whatnot. And of course, I quickly found out that that is not true. Um, if you don’t know how to shoot manual camera does not focus, then take great pictures at night during football games, then, you know, in basketball courts and whatnot.
[02:52] So I, um, started googling, you know, how to use this camera and was finding that I needed to learn how to shoot manual. And so I’m kind of from there. It basically, it just kind of took off. I, I took a little class on how to shoot manual and really just was falling in love with the whole process and, and one thing led to the next and all of a sudden, you know, in a year I was shooting clients full time and then launched my business about a year and a half after. So it just kind of all happened really quickly. But yeah, I mean I have, we’ve got three kids, um, obviously our son now, so I’ve been doing this for a start. I picked up my camera in 2012 and kind of started playing around then and I’m shooting clients, um, towards the end of 2012 and 2013 really?
[03:42] And then launched in 2014 so a few years now. And yeah, I mean, I, uh, you know, dabbled a little bit in everything in the beginning. I think like most photographers probably do and found that my passion was really with um, teens and that’s kind of what I focus on. I mainly shoot, majority of my clients are girls. Um, but I do shoot boys as well. I just don’t get a ton of um, you know, bookings with, um, with boys. But yeah, that’s basically, yeah, you’re answering questions that I’ve always had. I was like, okay, so w I think because you kind of came out of the womb being an actual artist and not, I know, I’m sure you can look back and go, oh, that was terrible. I felt like the very person images I saw of yours were, you know, just showed a lot of mastery and a lot of intention.
[04:38] Like it looks to me like you kind of, you know what you want, you know what you’re going for, you have really high standards. And so that makes sense. Cause I was like, where have I been? I haven’t seen, you wouldn’t see your work before 2014 and that may be why there, yeah. So how many, like do you shoot a lot of seniors or how, how, how does your business look? You know, in the beginning, um, I think this is probably true with everybody to you. You kind of just do everything and you do as much as you can. And I quickly learned that that was not manageable. So I, every year I feel like I cut back a little bit more. Um, and this year, this past year now I shot 42 seniors and my goal really is 35. Um, and I kind of in the Midwest here, it seems to be true with majority of the Midwest, but at least in my area, I have a really short time to shoot high school seniors really.
[05:34] So, you know, we have deadlines and our kids get to use their senior portraits for the yearbook. And so most of our deadlines our September and October, and so, and most kids don’t want to start having senior portraits done until they’re actually going to be a senior. So most of my bookings are June through September, October. Um, and that’s kind of it. I mean after that it’s, you know, there’s not much of a demand for senior portraits and plus it’s cold here. So, you know, nobody’s really, November is not that pretty, it’s usually pretty, everything’s dead and wet and, um, and then winter of course is beautiful but really hard to shoot in. So I kind of, um, you know, mainly just shoot from June to October. Okay. And then do you, do I’ve, I’ve noticed that you do like multi-season sessions. Is that a lot of what you do or is that just, okay.
[06:26] Um, so that’s something that I kind of started and the really, you know, kind of in the beginning, just trying to find other ways to really create art, um, in a time that obviously like I’m not at a huge demand, you know, for bookings and also was looking for a way to, um, you know, stay active and relevant on my Instagram or social media at the time when I started with just Facebook. Um, I don’t think I got on to Instagram until 2016 or 2016. But, um, so I was finding that, you know, I was trying to be creative and still like, you know, wanting to play with my camera and these off seasons that were not really a demand. And then that just kinda quickly led to people actually wanting to shoot those seasons. And so I thought, well, if I can offer something where my clients could potentially have a shoot every season, you know, that fills my schedule.
[07:22] I’m still making money on those off months. And so I launched this, um, in 2015 was this what I call I’ll season session. Um, and it’s an hour shoot per season. The shoots are shorter, so they are about an hour shoot. Um, and the girls only get two outfits because in the end like they’re going to have plenty to choose from. So, and the kids and the parents love it. They love it because, um, it gives them a chance to be able to like capture their child kind of throughout their senior year because I hear so many times from parents, like it’s amazing how much she’s changed just from her very first session with you to the very last session. So that kind of, you know, started to be a big thing and, uh, and parents were really then marketing, you know, it that way for me. And, uh, so it is, it’s, it’s become a really popular session of mine and I love it because I love shorter sessions.
[08:16] You know, I love just shooting right before sunset, so to be able to like, just go with that, you know, hour and a half before sunset and get everything that I want in that beautiful light, that’s like, that’s like everything I want. So it’s perfect. You know, I was, I think, you know, with my longer sessions, it’s like I can, I can definitely can shoot at anytime of the day. I mean, I’ve trained myself to do that, but I don’t, I don’t love it. Um, so I find a lot of times like I’m just not feeling really inspired and I’m just trying to get through the first hour of the shoot until that beautiful light comes. And then I’m like, okay, now let’s do this. So, so it’s, yeah, it’s been great. I’ve really enjoyed it. That’s awesome. I’m looking at your Instagram because the very first that I pulled up I saw like
[08:56] I saw all these winter shoots and I was like, oh, that’s really interesting. But that makes sense if you’re doing multiple seasons, why you have so many, like all the seasons. And then I was looking, I was just scrolling through and the image that you posted on February 3rd this girl in a yellow dress with, with the hat with us, like Straw hat thing. That hat is amazing.
[09:15] It was like $9 and some websites. So very cheap though.
[09:21] Cool. So everyone should to check out her, her Instagram and go, you know, scroll through it because it’s all amazing hat thing is as wild, right?
[09:29] Nursing. Yeah. You know, it’s, it’s, it’s something, you know, it’s something fun. And just to be able to add like a tiny little piece of her to, to a piece, you know, like a dress or an outfit that they have. I mean, it really can pull things together. So I enjoy all of that. I mean, styling is probably my next favorite thing to do besides, you know, shooting. So that’s great.
[09:50] And so are you shooting, you know, outside of west constant a lot as well or mostly,
[09:54] no, I, so once a year I try to offer a destination shoot for my seniors and the, initially it started out with, um, offering it just to my senior model of team. Um, and I currently do not have a senior medical team anymore and I don’t have any plans of, you know, having one in the future. And there’s many different reasons for that. I mean, I think for me, just because I have such a short time to shoot my, you know, bookings are usually filled by about spring. And so it, my, my girls just weren’t really benefiting from what they could benefit from if they were referring clients. Cause by the time I, I photograph them and they had their images, my schedule was already full. So I, it felt like it was kind of a disadvantage to them. And which is the reason why I’ve taken it, you know, a way.
[10:40] But I still do, you know, find like creative shoots and now I’ll pick models from like my actual clients. Um, cause it’s great. Like they already chose me. I know they love my work and I know they’re going to, you know, market for me. So what about model to, to choose on your own paying clients, but the kids really love it and they look forward to like where I’m going to go the next year or so. I’ve, I’ve gotten just a ton of dms in the last probably few weeks. Just like I wonder are you going to release, you know, your, your next destination. Like we’re ready to sign up. Um, and so, yeah, I try to, I try to offer one destination a year and then I do a lot of, um, workshops, um, during my off season as well. Um, and I love, I mean, I love to teach. I love to help people grow.
[11:23] And so to be able to do those in areas where it’s not like we were negative 35, you guys, like a month ago, it was so literally that gets cold, literally like that’s not even including with a windshield. I believe it was negative 69 or something. Yeah, insane. And it’s like frostbite and a minute, right? Luckily I was stuck in California at the time, but to be able to, you know, be, you know, and just to be able to shoot in a different area to it, we’re just really helps, um, re inspire me. So I try to, um, I try to, you know, set a workshops up in areas, not Wisconsin and that allows me to travel and explore new backdrops and whatnot. And, um, and then, you know, I been fortunate to, you know, have opportunities to speak on different platforms as well that usually they pick beautiful sunny places as well. So that allows me to add some, some of that to my portfolio.
[12:20] That’s awesome. Okay. So the first question we have is, um, like what’s working now? So like, you know, our podcasts is always just trying to give photographers, you know, like maybe just like a little piece of information of something that they could explore. So what do you think’s working now or tell a story of what’s working now in your business that you’d want to share with our audience?
[12:39] It’s working, um, as in like booking clients or,
[12:43] yes, sure. Yeah. Anything. Yeah. Like, or what you think? Yeah, I mean it could be about booking clients or something that you’re doing right now, you know, as simple as, you know, not doing a model program or you just think like, yeah, this is actually helping me succeed or helping me stay sane or whatever.
[12:57] Okay. Well, you know, I recently spoke at a conference put on by clicking moms, but a big topic while I was there with some of the attendees was Instagram story and how, you know, they were not posting because they were trying to kind of get like that. Perfect. I mean I was sitting at a table with six other ladies that had attended the workshop or the conference and um, you know, they were trying to post on Instagram, but they’re editing the image and they’re trying to get it perfect and they’re trying to think of the perfect caption. And I had to just stop them because Instagram story, I think if you’re not using it, you need to cause all of our kids, that’s probably, at least in my area, I don’t know about you guys, but in my area, the number one platform for my kids is Instagram.
[13:44] That’s the one that everybody says they’re on. So you know, parents are still on Facebook. Kids are definitely still on snapchat. But the reach on snapchat is basically, I mean, virtually nothing. So if you’re not using Instagram stories, like you need to use Instagram stories. But what the kids want to see, and this is so every now and then I pull kids that I’ve, I’m photograph and I do just kind of a little focus group. So we just go grab coffee or lunch or whatever. We just kind of talk about things. And one thing they told me is like they love Instagram stories. They’re on it all the time. I mean they’re, you know, they’re posting all the time. They’re watching other stories all the time, but they want to see like real things. They want to see like who you are. So Instagram stories is, you know, I mean it’s there for you to market it to tell your potential clients like who, who you are and what you have to offer, but they want to see real things.
[14:35] Kids are not, you know, they know a lot more than we think. They know and they can, they definitely, you know, sent, they know when something is fake and when something is almost like two curated, like your Instagram, you can definitely it. I think, you know, Instagram is there to, to be pretty and, and probably should be curated to a certain point. But your story is, is it’s like reality TV, right? I mean we’re all caught up in reality TV because it’s, well most of it is real and for some reason, even though it’s silly, like we just are drawn to it and then we just get almost addicted to it and we want to just keep watching because we want to know what’s going to happen next. And Instagram stories is kind of the same way. So I, you know, it just had to stop them and tell them like this, they’re not looking for you to post perfect pictures on Instagram stories.
[15:26] I mean, they’re going to click out of there because they know it’s not real. You know? And when your picture is already perfectly edited and you know, you’re in this amazing light and everything, like they know it’s not real. They want to see who you really are. It’s their way of connecting with you and being able to feel like, you know, they, like, they know who you are. And I think that that for sure, like has been working for me. I mean my kids when they show up, they know exactly. Not exactly, but they already have an idea of who I am. Um, and because Instagram stories, like I use it so big for every, I mean all the behind the scenes, like the reality of it all having a, you know, I show the girls coming in the way, they are kind of the whole process to behind the scene, straight out of camera and just like just real like in the moment and to be able to like post right away, you know, cause the curls are like I post straight out of camera before, before the kids even like get in their car.
[16:21] So they know like these images are real and they’re telling their friends about it and so when they’re coming to their shoot, like their friends are waiting to watch them on my story. Yeah. You know, so it’s, yeah, I mean that, I think it’s just been great. It’s been great for me. Every, every time. I, you know, poets like they engagement on my stories is a lot more than the engagement I should get on my feet. Yeah. For sure. And I, you know, it’s funny because that is so true. Like our girls this summer didn’t, they cared more about what we were putting on their story and you know, they were, they were watching and they were, they were watching their own story during the session. Yeah. We stay...
