Today we’d like to introduce you to Courtney Elsbury
Hi Courtney, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I started photography as a way to take photos of my baby and update my hobby blog back in 2018. When I moved to Fort Worth, I met a friend named Josie Gamett who happened to be the owner and photographer behind the give-back company, Give Photography. As I asked her how to use specific functions on my camera, she glanced through the photos I was taking and liked my style. She told me that she was dreaming of hiring on an associate photographer to work alongside her and I was very interested! She blessed me immensely by teaching me almost everything I know about taking photos and editing them. I accompanied her as she photographed weddings and families for a while until I felt confident taking clients on my own. A few years later, we added on another associate, Tara Wermuth. And now almost 5 years later, we’ve served hundreds of clients by taking wedding and lifestyle photos for them! 15% of each session has been donated to the non-profits and charities of the clients’ choice. It’s amazing how quickly that adds up and how much change that can bring! Nothing is more rewarding than receiving emails from non-profits about how our donations impacted them. And it’s a bonus that we get to use our creativity to bring about this change!
Alright, 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?
Honestly, it’s been a pretty smooth road because of Josie Gamett! I would say 75% of the time put into a photography business is the back-end work. It’s keeping up with the website, scheduling, invoicing, contracts, correspondence to inquiries, location scouting, etc. And Josie handles almost all of that entirely WHILE taking her own clients. I owe most of my success to her paving the way so wonderfully.
My biggest struggle as a photographer is that time is limited! I am a mom to 3 girls and have to be very strategic with my schedule. I never want clients to sense that they are last-priority or that I am inconvenienced in any way by working with them!
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a photographer and videographer for Give Photography, a give-back photography company that donates 15% of each session to a charity of the client’s choice. We have evolved over the last 5 years from Pinterest-perfectly posed photography to a little bit more relaxed, raw, candid lifestyle photography. We love the poses and bright colors, but also want our photos to tell a story about people’s personalities and relationships. So in a typical gallery, you’ll find the best of both worlds: the poses you saved on your Pinterest board AND the candid photos of you laughing in-between moments so you can see how beautiful you are and how others see you.
What sets us apart from other photographers is that our business isn’t as lucrative as some others. Our WHY is focused around creativity and deeper relationships with clients. You won’t find us pumping out 5 mini sessions in a row and then delivering only 3-5 photos to the clients (no hate to those that do–that’s a great way to make money). Since our photos tell more of a story and we love many different location backgrounds in our photos, we take our time. We walk and talk and play with the kids a bit during a session. We capture the unique qualities in families and couples. We pose them mostly with actions instead of making them stand completely still. If I could use one word to describe our work, it would be “real”.
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
Fort Worth is full of charm. The whole DFW area has such diverse locations for photos. I love how family centered Fort Worth is. What I like least is the heat, fire ants, and traffic. But mostly the fire ants.
Pricing:
- Courtney’s 1 hour portrait session is $350. It includes a gallery of at least 50 photos that can all be downloaded in full resolution.
- Courtney’s weddings start at $2425
Contact Info:
- Website: https://givephoto.co
- Instagram: @courtney.givephotography
Image Credits
All images are taken by me. Except the two team photos may have been taken by Josie Gamett.
