Art & Life with Leslie Guy

Today we’d like to introduce you to Leslie Guy.

Leslie, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
Who knew at 40, I’d start a completely new career? After seven years at my previous job as a graphic designer, I finally decided to take the long-awaited leap into photography full time. I had spent 4 years juggling between my full-time job, my photography and my husband and kids. I got to the point where something had to give.

Since 2003, I spent all my time and effort putting everything I had into what I thought was my dream career. As a graphic designer, I could be creative and use my talents to make a mark on the world. Instead, it left me empty and always seeking something more. During college, I had to take a basic black and white film class. This was at a time when DSLR cameras were just making their way into the public mainstream. I had a Nikon D40 I had gotten from a relative. I had the choice of using the school’s DSLR or my trusty old film camera. Part of me felt like choosing school’s camera was cheating! It wouldn’t give me to the chance to really learn about photography. So I continued the class, struggling along the way. Oh, and my teacher ate me up for breakfast! Each and every picture was terrible, or so I was told. He’d pick at every flaw, every detail of everything that was wrong. I thought, for sure, I’d never had a career in photography. It just didn’t come naturally. Well God has quite the sense of humor.

Now here I am nearly two decades later, and rocking it. I wake up every day blessed to be able to do what I truly love. I have a sense of ownership of this business and passion I created. It’s been a long, windy road, but it’s been worth it. All the sacrifice, time away from my family during those crazy years of burning the candle at both ends just trying to make it. I just kept remembering the reason I was doing this. And honestly, it wasn’t for my kids or my husband, it was for me. Getting just a paycheck from a job wasn’t enough. I wanted more. So I went after it with a fiery passion and desire to live out my dream. Now here I am, at 40, doing what I love. Nothing could be better. It hasn’t been easy since I started. You can’t truly know how hard it is being a business owner until you’re walking the plank. There isn’t anyone to tell me to get busy. No one is here giving me a pay raise or telling me I’m doing a good job. There’s no paid time off or vacation. No bonuses, no 401K. The simple fact that I get to create my own life and have the freedom to do it is worth its weight in gold. At this moment in time, I’m a millionaire.

Can you give our readers some background on your art?
I love creating works of art for my clients. Photography has always been there but it’s evolved into something people now take for granted. With my photography, specifically with my maternity and newborn clients, I’m creating timeless works of art. I want them to feel like they’re getting something classic, that when they look at it years from now, there isn’t a trend or a fad. I provide my clients with heirloom quality wall art like gallery wrapped canvases or framed fine art matted prints, large custom designed coffee table albums, birth announcements, unique glass boxes with matted linen prints and folio boxes with up to 8×10 matted fine art prints. All of my products are chosen to create a sense of a family timeline. It’s important to convey to my clients how important it is to print the images I create. Not only are they created as a piece of art, but they’re something that can be passed down from generation to generation.

One of the things I communicate with my families is that today’s issues are that our lives are lived on our phones. If you drop a phone and don’t have it backed up, you’ve lost all those precious memories. And that CD sitting in your desk drawer at home? The CD could get scratched or corrupted. Most of today’s computers don’t even come with a CD drive anymore! It’s the same thing with a USB drive. The technology that carries our memories is not transitory. It will fail us. But you can always create a photo from another photo. You can scan it and create a new one. A digital file can’t be hung on a wall.

I grew up with photos of my mom and aunts hung on my grandmother’s walls. There were a few pictures of her grandkids (including me). Then, my mom, had photos of me hung up or sitting in frames on a table. But my generation, we were some of the first to use a phone to show our off our kids. I’m so worried that the next generation will have nothing but empty walls. How will that make children feel? Will they feel as cherished? Will they be able to look at those precious memories hung up on a wall or on a dated phone?

Print, print! Print! Print your photos! Create those albums, so that when you’re sitting with your grandchildren, you can tell them how much they look like their parents at that age. Otherwise, we will forget those precious memories.

How do you think about success, as an artist, and what do quality do you feel is most helpful?
My success is a happy client who tells friends and family about their experience with me. They send me pictures of their homes with my work hung on their walls. They call me or send me messages about the impact my images made on them. Seeing my newborns grow up, coming back to me for each milestone. Or when families come back to me with a new sibling. When my clients become friends. There is no greater success than that.

What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
First and foremost, my website and social media platforms. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter.

Contact Info:

• Address: 189 Elm Street, Suite 108, Lewisville, Texas 75057
• Website: www.lesliechristinephotography.com
• Phone: 9033998193
• Email:  lesliechristinephotography@hotmail.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/lesliechristinephotography
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/lesliechristinephotography
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/lcphoto2014
• Other: www.pinterest.com/lcphotos2014

Image Credit:
All the images are provided by Leslie Christine Photography

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