Today we’d like to introduce you to Sabrina Guerrero.
Hi Sabrina, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
I worked in law enforcement for 11 years and bought my starter camera simply for the task of taking photos of my kids when we go on vacation and for my own memories. I am very much the type of person; when I do something, I want to do it right and know everything I possibly can learn regarding that task or topic. So, I began watching YouTube tutorials on how to properly work my Canon Rebel T6, all the ins and outs of it. This led to watching behind-the-scenes videos of an Australian Fashion editorial photographer shoot sessions where she would share her settings, equipment, and even how she edited her sessions. I was completely obsessed. When I finally got my hands on my camera, I knew my kids wouldn’t have patience with me while learning to operate my camera in manual mode, so I took my best friend out to shoot while I learned the camera, settings, lighting, etc. We spent 3 hours running all over our town taking photos and just playing and had so much fun. After learning some basics, I started taking photos of my kids, and family and when I would post on my personal social media received so many compliments. I decided perhaps I would start a business page and do photography as a side business for extra income, as I had so much fun with it. I created a business page but didn’t publish it for 3 weeks. I was absolutely terrified that people would make fun of me, one of those ‘moms with a camera’ type jokes. But I finally published my page and announced I wanted to pursue photography as a side business and began getting some bookings! I would work my 12 hr. shift at my local law enforcement agency, then run to take sessions after work, then go home and edit. I was HOOKED. About a month after posting my business page and into this new ‘side hustle’, I ended up losing my full-time job. I was devastated as I was fully planning on staying there till retirement. I called my husband in tears, and his response was, ‘everything happens for a reason… take this photograph ‘side hustle’ and run with it and let’s see what happens. This was March of 2019. By September of 2019, photography was my full-time job, I opened my first photography studio and was making more in those 6 months than I had in a year at my previous job. I was happy, I was my own boss, I was able to take AND pick up my kids from school EVERYDAY, a luxury I never had before. Life was amazing. I realized that God, SLAMMING that door closed and opening this other door was all part of his plan. That year, in an effort to get my name out there more, I started a ‘model team.’ I posted a Facebook post looking for high school seniors, and picked 20 kids, gave each of them a free session, in exchange for them posting and telling their friends to book me for this their senior pics. Lucky for me, this worked; everyone who comments on my business says the same thing, ‘it’s like you came out of nowhere and blew up overnight.’ This wasn’t the case as I know the hours upon hours of watching tutorials, researching, brainstorming that it took me behind the scenes, but nevertheless, my little model team of 20 seniors helped get my name out there. My model team slowly morphed into a full-out program. The following year, I had to post an application on my website and had kids from all over our area apply to be on my model team. Now, 4 years later, I have an established business, where I ended up hiring a 2nd photographer whom I trained and have taught to shoot in my style and technique, she shoots my overflow, and together we travel all over for sessions. We have taken members of our model team to New York, Vermont, Salem Ma, Boston, Savannah, Oregon, and various places in California and even Utah. We were blessed to have been able to travel with brides to Colorado, and Cancun for their bridal portraits and weddings, and are so excited to have booked a wedding in Santorini Greece this coming fall and are so excited about that opportunity. One of our favorite things is styling our own creative styled shoots or getting to help style women for their sessions. This January, I was able to open my own women’s boutique, Uptown Fashion House. The boutique is attached to my office and photography studio! Looking back over the past 4 years, seeing everything that has happened and how it’s all unfolded is mind-blowing to me, but the takeaway is, even when you’re terrified to try something new, you never know if that one thing that terrifies you is the thing that is going to absolutely change your life for the better.
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?
I don’t know if any road is ever just smooth. I don’t know if I can honestly say though that I would do anything different because even lessons I have learned the hard way, I learned something from then. With my model team, I had no contract in place that first year. I learned through that that I NEED a contract in place. So, year 2 I created a contract, and I learned what worked and what didn’t work from that first year and adjusted my business plan to accommodate those lessons I learned. I had a 2nd photographer before my 2nd photographer I now am blessed with, that taught me some lessons, such as I needed a non-compete and a contract in place for any employees I hire on, etc.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am most known in my area for our creative shoots and ideas. With our model team, that began as only seniors and is now kids from 9th grade to 12th grade, we love having styled shoots for all different seasons, holidays, or just if a cool idea or inspiration hits us. The kids love it because it’s something DIFFERENT and new and not your standard every day, pretty portraits. Our favorite tradition, one the kids battle for, is our annual “Hocus Pocus’ styled shoot for Halloween. It was always my favorite Halloween movie, and I had this vision of what if the Sanderson sisters were in TODAY’S age and landed the cover of Vogue Magazine. So, we shot that vision, and it was AMAZING, then every year, we just kind of built off that. The last 2 years, we actually traveled with our 3 Sanderson sisters, to Salem MA, and shot the styled shoots in Salem, each year being a different theme for the witches. For example, the first year was our regular Sanderson’s, in the costumes we got from our Halloween store. The 2nd year was our high fashion, Sanderson’s on the cover of Vogue shoot, then the 3rd year we went with a soft renaissance look for the witches and shot in pioneer village and the old burying hill in Salem and in 2022, our theme was 90’s Grunge Sanderson’s. The kids love it! They also go ahead and shoot their Fall Senior sessions in the New England area while we are up there! Might as well embrace the opportunity, right?!
Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
The biggest lesson I learned from the Covid 19 crisis was to SLOW DOWN and not forget the reason that I began photography in the first place. Capturing those moments that I want to remember for myself and my family, so during quarantine, I was able to capture some of the sweetest memories of the time with my own children even though I deeply missed my clients during that time.
Pricing:
- Full Portrait Sessions are $400 if local with a travel fee included if not local
- Half sessions are $300
- Weddings begin at $2600
- Travel Sessions of custom quoted depending on location and time span.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.sgphotographytx.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sgphotographytx/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sgphotographytx
