Today we’d like to introduce you to Heather Nixon.
Heather, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Throughout my childhood, I felt like I always had my hands on some sort of camera. Whether it be my little orange point and shoot that was gifted to me one Christmas or my family’s ancient iPod touch, I always enjoyed using whatever technology available to capture all the random things that caught my eye. By the time I got to high school, I upgraded to using my dad’s decade old Canon Rebel XSi and started doing photoshoots with my friends just for fun. It felt like doing photoshoots was just another way to hang out with people but I was also learning so much about how to use light, become familiar with my camera settings, pose people, and more. Like pretty much any gen-z kid, I learned everything from the internet. There is a never-ending list of YouTube channels that deserve credit for helping establish my education in portraiture such as Mango Street, Jessica Kobessi, Peter McKinnon and Jessica Whitaker just to name a few, but getting to do these casual shoots with friends helped me to apply everything I learned from the internet into real life situations.
After taking photos all throughout my freshman year, someone from my school reached out to me asking if I could take photos for them and their friend. They even asked me how much I charged which absolutely blew my 15-year-old mind since I’d never even thought about making money from this hobby of mine. My mom ended up driving me to the photoshoot and I only made a total of $30 but I remember feeling so professional in that moment. After that shoot, more of my peers heard about my photography and slowly I started getting more inquiries. Over the course of my high school career, I began taking more professional high school and college senior photos, couples portraits, and family photos. I eventually got the opportunity to take pictures at a small handful of weddings and was able to work for two local restaurants as a food photographer and social media manager.
I just graduated from Hebron High School in May 2021 where I had the privilege of taking senior photos for 24 of my peers while also being Editor-in-Chief for the yearbook! Now, you can find me at UNT studying Journalism with a concentration in Photojournalism and a minor in Spanish. I am still traveling within the DFW area to do photoshoots so if anyone is interested in booking something with me, I’m available and excited to create!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Like anything in life, my photography journey has not been easy. As a student who was heavily involved in extracurriculars, AP classes, volunteering, and part-time work, running a small business on top of that was overwhelming. I’m still figuring out the right balance but having supportive people to make my hard work feel appreciated encouraged me to keep going.
After high school, I realized that I put so much of my identity into my job and while I love photography, it’s not the only thing that defines me. Now that I’m in college, I’m actively trying to pursue other interests of mine; I think it’s important that humans are constantly growing and exploring so I’m trying to be intentional about how I spend my time between school, photography, and my personal life.
Luckily for me, photography is one of those things that even though it takes a lot of effort to sustain and grow, I find it so rewarding to be able to make connections with such cool clients and get to capture them through my lens.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m a freelance portrait photographer and I mostly work in senior and couple photography. I’ve dabbled in food photography, landscape, and videography but I’ve always been drawn back to portraiture. Even though I’ve been doing this for a few years, I’m still defining my style as a photographer. My general goal is for the photos to feel warm and natural but I think there’s always more to explore in the realm of art and creativity so I don’t think it’s fair to completely define my work right now. But if we’re letting my client reviews speak, they would tell you that I’m known for providing a great customer experience. I do my best to be intentional about connecting with people in the limited time that we have together so it makes my heart so happy to see reviews explaining how I was able to make my them feel comfortable and confident during the photoshoot. I hope that I can be known for not only being a trustworthy professional, but just a comforting and reliable person in general. People are the reason why I do portraiture so their experience with me is very important. Although I want to be prepared with pose ideas, itineraries, and backup plans it’s most important to me that my clients feel known and understood to some degree by me and my camera. I think that what you put into a picture is what you get out of it so if I invest even a little bit of time and intentionality into getting to know a person or a couple, it’s easier to make them feel comfortable in front of the camera and photograph them more naturally.
Generally, I’m proud of how much I’ve accomplished over the past few years because I really didn’t expect to have grown as much as I have. But if I had to pinpoint a specific moment, I would say that I felt most proud when I pitched my photography services for a local pizza place, Pie 3.14 Everyday Eatery at 16. I knew that I could help improve their social media with my photography but I was scared of approaching them because I acknowledged that I was young and definitely not perfect. Despite my worries, they were very generous to me and gave me a chance.
After some time of working with them and learning the ropes, I finally got the courage to ask for compensation. I know that a lot of professional photographers have opinions on offering services for free but I was still pretty inexperienced at the time so it took me a few months to gain the confidence in myself as a photographer and as a teenager working with adults. From that I was able to work with their sister restaurant TBD Kitchen as well so for nearly a year I was their food photographer and social media manager. This was quite an accomplishment for me because I had to work hard to actually put myself out there and create that opportunity. Looking back, that experience motivates me to seek other opportunities to grow. It reminds me that I’m capable of accomplishing things beyond what my anxieties or expectations tell me I can do.
So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
To me, support can be as small as keeping up with my social media or recommending me to a friend, but of course, if anyone is looking for a photographer to document any stage in their life or wants to work on a creative concept, I’m just an email away! The same thing goes for fellow photographers. I would absolutely love to get to know and work with anyone who’s interested in collaborating with me.
Contact Info:
- Email: heathernphoto8@gmail.com
- Website: https://heathernphoto.wixsite.com/photo
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heather.n.photography/
- Other: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMJW4wcc1/
Image Credits
Sunrise Media Co.
