Today we’d like to introduce you to Rachel Robinson.
Rachel, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
11 years ago I was newly married, had worked with a photographer in Lubbock while at school and I got to take her camera out on the weekends to capture Texas Tech football pics and friends. This led to little shoots of friends who were engaged which led to their friends, and I figured if I didn’t know them I should charge them right? After doing that for about two years into our marriage of this little extra money hobby, we realized I was making more money on this “hobby” than I was in my “Real” job!
So I took the leap and went out on my own. I had a wedding business in Tyler and then in Houston. I was set up from the start because in Tyler all we had were barns and fields, but the rustic look was just hitting the city. When I moved to Houston my name followed and I put my head down made the right friends, went to ALL the parties and put booths up in ALL the wedding events. I did 28 weddings each year I was in Houston. It was amazing and exhausting.
At this point, I had 2 little baby girls, and I was realizing fast that I was not really doing well at either job, being a photographer or being a mom. When we got pregnant with our third we moved to Dallas and I was totally overdone, I didn’t want to do photography anymore I didn’t want to even pick up a camera. So I didn’t. We moved home to Dallas, and of course, people had known I had done photography so friends here and there would ask me to do their family images, and I would. But I didn’t feel the need to have a business again. At least not yet.
Over the last 4 years of my sons (our baby) life, I have slowly and steadily rebuilt my business. I found that I LOVED capturing kids, babies, and newborns, events in people’s lives like their growing business, their daughter getting Clara in the Nutcracker or the most life-giving thing I did last year which was to follow a family through their fight with brain cancer and watch them love and survive together.
I have found that this “job” is who I am and that it’s not going to look like everyone else’s photography, but it will look like me. I make friends with my clients. I laugh with them, cry with them, and capture those moments that look like real life. So how did I get here? I worked really hard. I made friends with photographers who had gone before me, I watched A LOT of YouTube and asked a lot of questions. I went to the events that my kind of photography needed to be at and I offered my services to people who needed it.
Has it been a smooth road?
Smooth. Heck no. When you work for something good, it’s going to be hard so that you know you really want it. If it were easy like they say, everyone would do it. I have lost images; hard drives have died with all my work on them. I now back up the backups.
I have had people take my images as their own. I have had to watch new photographers that I have helped get where they surpass me. And learn that this all looks different for everyone and each person’s life is exactly the way it’s supposed to be FOR them. I am have learned that is much easier being the encourager than the fighter.
And most importantly, I would not do things because I thought “that is overdone, EVERYONE is doing it,” but really I have to just get to a place where I take pictures of the people in front of me. That I see them for who they are! I want them to have a great time and love the time with me.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Rachel Robinson Photography – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Capturing people in real life. I want to meet you and have you as a friend and client for life. I specialize in families, babies, newborns, seniors, and everyday life experiences. I love some behind the scenes of life. Telling peoples stories, showing them and reminding them how great their families are.
I am most proud of my business and how I have moved 3 times, and it keeps getting better and better. I have clients all over the state of Texas.
The thing that sets me apart is that I am a safe place to land. I am here to see your family for who they are, Capture that moment, that face or that smile that only comes right after your love says something sweet. I am different because I go at each client in a different way because each client is different.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I LOVE Dallas. I have grown up here and remember when it was more field than city. But I love that I can get a little bit of everything with just a 20-minute drive.
I can get the beautiful skyline at night on the rooftop of Southside or chill in Deep Ellum with the artists and live music, I can go to Rockledge Park in Grapevine and feel like I am in another country with water and a beach, and I can go to downtown McKinney and get that sweet, homey feel. We have a little bit of everything you just have to be willing to go out and find it.
What do I like least? Man… Not much… maybe construction? Humidity? It gets so hot in the summer I don’t want to go outside. But that’s a plus because then I can go shoot at some of the great studios in town like thelumenroom.com or the txstudio.com.
I’m your token Dallas gal; I love it here always have. It’s home.
Pricing:
- Sessions start at $400 www.rachelrobphotog.com/pricing
- Once a year I offer mini sessions $250
Contact Info:
- Website: www.rachelrobphotog.com
- Phone: 972.974.1777
- Email: rachelrobinson3@gmail.com
- Instagram: @rachelrobphotog
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rachelrobphotog/
Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
