BELIEVER

There are a lot of drawbacks to starting something without any guidance or previous experience. However, the situation also comes with a critical advantage that sometimes changes history; you may stumble over a better way.

When Sabrina first started shooting real estate photography, she did so because a friend was a realtor and asked her to shoot a few homes for her. That is not an unusual story for photographers, who are often called upon their skills by people who do not really understand the differences between the many fields in the industry.

Sabrina jumped to the opportunity with curiosity. It was a beautiful home, and she had never tried anything like it before. There was nothing about the specifics in anything she had studied because most of the architectural photography literature focused on either architecture itself or design rather than the specific intricacies of real estate. A field many photographers see with disdain because of its lack of glamour and its perceived lack of storytelling potential.

It was not only about the wide-angle lenses—which she soon found her gears wouldn't cut it—but everything else that needed to be told. What about the details of the rooms? What about the furniture arrangements? What to do with the colors, and how to better handle the conflicting lighting? What about the rugs and the floor? A home won't pose for you; angles are set, and lines are defined. Yet, there is much room for composition (no pun intended).

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Sabrina soon fell in love with the opportunity and discovered a sense of harmony in chasing the right balance. She also approached her real estate photography with a sense of function, understanding that every room has a purpose and fits within a flow. And then, there were stories to tell because of the simple fact that both: people had lived at these homes, families had grown on them, and other families were looking to these homes as their own beginnings.

And then add an artistic dimension to the whole thing. When you get to know Sabrina, you realize she is not only a portrait and commercial photographer but an artist with a deep sense of purpose and inspiration.

Then comes the conflict; business and industry often do not have room for artistic considerations. It is all about speed, efficiency, and costs. 

When Sabrina started developing her career path in the industry, everything around her was about high-volume, fast, low-quality photography. The reasons behind that "fast-food" business model were several and complex, not only inexperienced realtors and poor business practices, though there were some of those, too.

The phrases Sabrina heard more often during those first years were something like, "Your photography is too expensive," and so on, but Sabrina did not want to comprise or only shoot multi-million dollar homes. That's when innovation got into action.

Sabrina developed a tailored, high-quality process that was fast and responsive. She built upon her artistic skills to empower her clients' marketing while creating solid partnerships with realtors and professionals who shared a sense of serving their clients by providing a higher standard.

Soon, Sabrina's photography started to open doors, and referrals grew exponentially. Like in many other industries, it turned out to be in the market an eagerness for the quality photography she could create.

There is much more to the story above, but once again, this is how much I can share in this post. Please follow us to discover more as we continue our journey.

Author: Emilio Castro | Published: March 2024