Meet Cynthia Holsclaw-Francis of Your Candid Memories Photography in Lewisville

Today we’d like to introduce you to Cynthia Holsclaw-Francis.

Cynthia, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I have always loved photography. As a child my room was covered in photos of my friends, family and my cats. I always had a Polaroid or one of those little yellow disposable cameras with me. When I was 13 I got my first big girl camera, a Pentax SP 500, and from there I wanted to learn everything about photography that I could. I took a photo journalism class and learned how to develop my own negatives, process my own images in the dark room and even served on the Year book team in High School.

I worked for a major portrait studio for six years and realized I was meant to capture memories for families. I fell in love with people and the babies. To watch a family come in with their newborn and then be able to watch that child grow was so amazing. Fast forward to 2006 when my first son was born. I realized that the corporate life wasn’t for me. I wanted to be able to love on the families I worked with… to show them they were important and not just dollar signs. To have more time with my family was an added bonus. So I decided to branch out on my own and Your Candid Memories was born. I was shooting the weekend we moved back and thanks to my amazing clients spreading the word, I was busy just about every weekend. Now 11 and half years later we continue to grow every year and have a loyal client base, which blows my mind. I am incredibly thankful for this every day.

My nights at the dining table editing have transformed into a studio in Old Town Lewisville, a home office and a team of people to help me book, order and edit every session. I am so thankful for every family that chooses us to document their memories and equally as thankful for the referrals they send. Without our loyal customers we wouldn’t be where we are today.

Great, 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 started YCM in 2006 after we moved back from North Carolina. I was a new mom so I was trying to balance working mom life, be a wife and build my business… YCM is 100% my first baby so it is hard to let myself have some time away from work to enjoy my family, take time for myself without feeling guilty. I was always taught that in order to be successful in business we had to sometimes be flexible so when the economy crash in 2008 I was able to successfully revamp my business model and continued to GROW and add new families during that time.

I still think I struggle with balancing work life with personal life to this day and I am not sure that will ever change 🙂 We are also focusing on print orders. In the digital world I think so many people forget to print their photos. They easily sit on the usb or the computers and don’t get printed. It is hard to get people to see the difference in our professionally printed items vs the consumer labs that don’t necessarily offer the best quality printing as far as colors, canvases/paper, mounting services etc. We started including print credits into our packages for this reason. We want you to have amazing, true to color artwork in your home!

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Your Candid Memories Photography – what should we know?
YCM photographs a little bit of everything, including commercial needs. We love and specialize in maternity, newborn and family photography but also photograph weddings, high school seniors, births, and special events. Our goal is to offer a fun, relaxed and enjoyable approach to portraits sessions. I like to say we specialize in PEOPLE. 🙂 We have recently begun offering beach sessions in Gulf Shores Alabama and they have been a hit! I am so excited to see that part of my business grow.

We are best known for our patience with kiddos, bold colors and our quick responses to clients.

I am so honored to have won many awards including:
Best Photographer in Denton County 2017
Best Photographer in Flower Mound FIVE years in a row (2012 -2017)
Top 3 best photographers in Denton county 2016
Best Photographer in Denton for 2015 -2017
Red Tricycle awards -Most awesome family photographer 2013

Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
I believe my ability to be transparent and flexible is important to my success. I treat everyone how I would want to be treated. I think a lot of times people forget that running a photography business is a service business first and foremost. If you don’t have respect for your clients then eventually you won’t have any. I love all of my families so much and really want to make sure they are always 100% happy. I am naturally a people pleaser so I do try my best to keep everything on schedule and running smoothly. I have a team of people helping me to do all of that and I am so thankful to them! I think it is also important to stay humble and to be thankful for what you have. Without my loyal families I wouldn’t be here and we don’t forget that.

Pricing:

• Famliy sessions have multiple options starting at $300
• Newborn sessions start at $600
• High School Seniors start at $600

Contact Info:

• Address: 189 Elm St Suite 108
  Lewisville Tx 75057
• Website: WWW.YOURCANDIDMEMORIES.COM
• Phone: 469-583-2819
• Email: info@yourcandidmemories.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourcandidmemories/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yourcandidmemories/

Image Credit:
Cynthia Holsclaw-Francis Your Candid Memories Photography

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