Today we’d like to introduce you to Briana Doolittle
Briana, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I’ve always enjoyed looking back at pictures, no matter who or what it was. Though I never liked being in front of a camera. Anyways, I grew up playing sports all through school and wish I had more memories captured during them. I was apart of a small school with small athletic teams where we typically had 1 or so players spotlighted over the rest. My mom bought herself a camera to capture some of my last years playing sports. After I graduated I would come back and watch the younger classes play. I started to bring my mom’s camera and just played around with it to capture as much from each player as I could. I wanted everyone to at least have something to look back on during their time playing. I quickly realized how much I love to take pictures of others. Especially after seeing their reaction to the final edit. I recently began broadening what I shoot and am slowly building a clientele of people reaching out wanting me to capture moments for them. I have done a handful of athletics, couples, senior galleries, portraits, and some small families. This is not the career I’ve had planned for myself I’m in college heading into the medical field but I absolutely LOVE capturing moments on the side. I can definitely see my small “side hustle” grow in the future!
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I’m still getting used to more complex things with my cameras and editing style. I do think my biggest struggle is self teaching myself. Lots of trial and error, free shoots, and a ton of research!
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I really started doing photography for fun. I enjoy it and like giving people memories to have and look back on. I post most of my work on social media as I think it is the quickest way to give athletic pictures. I also realized it was a quick way to get my name out. People began asking me what I photograph and asked to book with me. That pushed me to pursue it a bit more. Out of the shoots I’ve done I most enjoy capturing athletics, seniors and couples! I think being in a small community with word of mouth spreading my name has helped set me apart seeing that I am already local.
Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
Social media has been my biggest help with networking and getting my name out. Doing free shoots to display my work and tagging the models in my posts to reach further audiences has been the quickest way for people to see my work and keep up with it. I don’t have a specific mentor, but I do lots of research on Pinterest, YouTube and TikTok to find inspiration and ways to better my photography. Not every photo turns out perfect. There are a lot of factors that can make a difference in a final shot. Everybody has to start out somewhere and learn more as you go. You can’t learn without failure so just go for it!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: brianadoolittle.photos
- Facebook: brianadoolittle.photos
