Meet Alina Georgiev of Alina Georgiev Photography in Plano

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alina Georgiev.

Alina, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I have always been interested in photography. I have a diverse background, including studying classical piano and voice for most of my childhood and college where I grew up in New York. Then I served in the US Army for 8 years during which I completed a finance degree. I took film photography classes alongside of my other courses and remember loving the darkroom and how magical it was to transform a piece of paper into a portrait.

After college, I ignored any idea of working in a creative field, whether it was music or photography, and instead worked in finance and accounting for 10 years. After being married and having children, my photography naturally grew, since I had these little models to practice on and I started taking some more photography classes, “just for fun”. At the time, I still suppressed the idea of doing photography as a business, even though I had some photographer friends and thought to myself, “I could do that.”

The turning point came one spring after my husband’s work had transferred our family from Michigan to Texas. I had 2 young kids at home and was not working at the time, but I was thinking about what I would do next. I was spending a lot of time on photography as a hobby so I just decided I would ask 10 of my friends if I could do a free family portrait for them, “just for practice”. I had no idea how to pose people or what to do, and I made so many mistakes, but I immediately started to improve my work. Every mistake I made accelerated my learning. Only a few sessions in and I was hooked. I researched how to set up a legal business in Texas and knew this is what I should be doing.

Even though I liked photographing families and I did a few events here and there, I knew I needed to specialize in something and not just photograph “everything”. I’m a perfectionist and wanted to be really good at what I do. I knew that by narrowing down my niche to something specific, I could really focus on mastering that genre of photography because you just can’t be good at everything. It didn’t take me long to figure out what my niche would be.

Right away, with my first child, I became passionate about pregnancy and motherhood. I loved everything about the process of being pregnant, the miracle of birth and having a tiny little human to take care of. Of course, it is hard and painful, but you wouldn’t know how beautiful it was unless you experienced how hard motherhood also is. After starting my photography business, it only took me a few months to realize that this is what I had to photograph and not much else.

I specialize in maternity, newborns and the first year of baby’s life. I focus all my training and work in this area and I love everything about it. Newborn sessions are a lot of work, they are long and hard, but I love it. I love babies, I have 3 girls of my own, and would be happy if God blessed us with more. So, when I tell my clients that I truly love being with their baby for 3 to 4 hours for their newborn session, I truly mean it. It is inspiring to me to see all these perfect little tiny people that God has created and wrapped them up, dress them up, and pose them into beautiful works of art and create those memories for parents that last a lifetime.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I think one struggle with photography, is that the possibilities are endless. When you are first starting, you might feel like you have to do everything. You think you have to photograph every genre, have all the best equipment, say yes to all job offers. I think that when I started to say no to what didn’t interest me and only photograph what inspired me, I really improved and started to develop an identity with myself as a photographer.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Alina Georgiev Photography story. Tell us more about the business.
I specialize in maternity, newborns and babies in their first year. I am told that my work is classic, timeless and elegant. I’m told that my demeanor and the atmosphere of my studio is calm, relaxed and happy. My favorite props and colors are flowers, whites and pastels. I am comfortable guiding my clients in posing and I use studio lighting and shoot specific angles that are flattering and help my clients look their best.

With maternity sessions, I focus on celebrating motherhood and we use elegant flowing gowns and create beautiful portraits including the husband and other siblings with the goal to remember this time before baby comes.

With newborns, I do classic posed images in my studio and also family portraits with the new baby. I have a large variety of swaddle wraps, outfits and newborn props so we can tailor each session to the family’s personal style and interests. We also collaborate together to personalize baby’s 6-month session and 1-year birthday celebration session.

Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I wouldn’t call it luck, but I would say that I grew up in a creative nurturing environment. I was homeschooled and allowed to pursue my creative interests, which, at the time, were music and technology. I was a self-directed learner and usually pursuing some sort of entrepreneurial idea or obsessively researching something that I wanted to learn.

I even met my husband in an entrepreneurial class in college, which is a bit ironic. I think I still have those traits today. I’m not afraid to ask dumb questions and I have a never-ending list of ideas running through my head at any given moment. This job as a photographer, and especially a studio newborn portrait photographer, is perfect for me and how my creative brains works.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.alinageorgievphotography.com
• Phone: 734-660-5298
• Email: info@alinageorgievphotography.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/alinageorgievphotography
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/alinageorgievphotography
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/alina_georgiev

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