Today we’d like to introduce you to Michelle Marshall.
Michelle, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
The very, very beginning: My 9th-grade journalism teacher walks into the class, students’ faces down, diligently writing stories for the next assignment. “We need some volunteers to go take photos of things happening around the school. You will be given a hall pass and a camera.” My arm shot up.
That is literally how I came to photography; a way to get out of class! It could have ended there, but it didn’t. I went on to study photography throughout high school, becoming a staff photographer for the newspaper and yearbook, eventually becoming a photo editor of both. I then went on to study photography in college, graduating with a BFA from Texas A&M University-Commerce. I started my business many years later when my family finally stopped moving around and I could be in one place long enough to build a business.
But the biggest change in my life that finally gave me the confidence to start my business was a huge life-shift my husband and I decided to make. In 2015 we sold our house, our cars, and everything we owned to travel around the world for 18 months. We went to 27 different countries on five continents. This was not a vacation; we stayed in hostels, homes with other families, cheap hotels, even in a tent in the Bolivian Amazon for one night. We traveled only with a carry-on sized backpack each filled with only five days worth of clothes. Our goal was to not just see the world, but learn about it and grow from it; widen our world-view and our son’s (who was ten when the trip started). We learned histories we had never known about. Learned about religions we never knew existed. Met people from very different cultures. And it was the people we met along the way that made the biggest impression on me.
We hear that all people are the same and want the same things at their core, so much so that it has become something of a cliché or platitude. But to experience the hospitality of a family in Kenya first-hand, to have your son cared for by a grandmother in Morocco when he is sick, to witness the good work of a couple taking care of children who have been pushed to the streets in Uganda, to witness the generosity of feeding tens of thousands of people at a Sikh temple in India, to be invited to Easter dinner with a family in Bolivia is to bring the understanding of our shared humanity into consciousness. It is no small thing to learn this and it is not so easy. This trip taught me that what matters in life is people, our interactions, our generosity toward each other, our learning from one other, and our empathy toward each other. It was, of course, a privilege to be able to do this trip, but that we took the opportunity to do it rather than continuing to consume and accumulate is something I am grateful we allowed ourselves to do.
So, when we returned to the US in December of 2016, I knew I could not go back to a conventional life. I had changed too much at my core for that. I had been photographing pretty much every day while we traveled, so to begin a business using that skill was a no-brainer. In June of 2017, I started MGMarshall Photography, LLC. Living in Dallas, I found the market for business headshots to be very strong and my business naturally gravitated toward this market. It may seem very different to shift from photographing life during a world trip to photographing portraits for business people, and it could have been, but it was important that I bring the spirit of the trip into my interactions with my clients. This means that I see each person as a person and not a dollar bill, that I listen carefully to what they say they need and pay attention to what they aren’t telling me with words, but with their body language.
My photography business is about building relationships with people, building a rapport that allows a person to feel comfortable in front of a camera, so I can capture a little of what makes them unique and make that visible to anyone who sees their photo. I know I am successful when a person walks into a shoot dreading it and telling me they hate being photographed but walks out of the shoot excited about their photos, even saying they’ve never had a photo of themselves they liked so much or looks so much like them.
Just like I made the world visible to myself during that trip by learning and observing, I make my clients visible by learning about them and observing them, by involving them in the process to the extent they want to be involved, and by changing the way they see themselves. I may have started my photographic journey only thinking about what I could get out of it, but now what I get out it is what my clients’ get out it. It is about them; how they feel, what they need, making them proud of what they see in the photo even changing how they see themselves. It’s about their story now.
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?
Absolutely not! The struggles, though, have mostly been internal. Overcoming self-doubt and giving up numerous times because of it has been my greatest challenge.
Please tell us about MGMarshall Photography.
MGMarshall Photography focuses (HA! no pun intended) on portraits and headshots. That means headshots ranging from business and executive to acting and modeling headshots. Portraits include people (both kids and adults) and pets. I love photographing pets!
I am known for listening and adapting. I hear repeatedly from clients that they appreciate my ability to be flexible and actually listen to what they have to say before scheduling or pushing the shutter-button.
I am proud of my integrity. I have high personal ethics and I make sure to bring that into my business. This means I deliver what I say I will. I don’t manipulate people into buying what they can’t afford. I don’t hide fees. When I compliment someone in a particular way in shoot it is sincere. I admit, sometimes, that means I don’t get the sales I need, but it’s more important to me to have a clear conscious knowing I treated each person with respect and integrity than to make money in a way I feel isn’t completely on the up-and-up.
Having a great rapport with my clients comes through in the photos. When a person feels comfortable with you, they relax and let their guard down. That comes through in the photo. And that’s important for business photos because that photo is what will inspire someone to work with you. If you look stiff, aloof, uncomfortable in a photo, anyone who looks at it will assume that’s your personality. I am really good at making people look approachable in their business photos while also maintaining the necessary professionalism. For kids, I am great at connecting with them and allowing them to be themselves in front of the camera. I don’t force them to pose a certain way. Kids don’t respond well to poses and they tend to retreat inside themselves. Capturing their personality can only be done when you allow for a loose environment where they feel comfortable.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
My favorite memories from childhood always involve the lake. In 1986 my family bought an 18ft., blue & white inboard/outboard Wellcraft ski boat. We would spend many weekends in the summer on the lake, usually Lake Sommerville northwest of Houston, Texas. We would spend our day’s skiing, tubing, and just exploring the lake. I would sometimes sleep in the boat under the stars and wake up drenched with dew. I love those times!
Pricing:
- Business & Acting Headshot Packages start at $200
- Modeling Headshot Packages start at $425
- Pet Sitting Sessions start at $250
Contact Info:
- Website: www.mgmarshallheadshots.com
- Phone: 469-618-8766
- Email: mgmarshallphotography@gmail.com
- Instagram: mgmarshallphotography
- Facebook: mgmarshallphotography
Image Credit:
Photos by Michelle at MGMarshall Photography
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