Meet Richelle Galbraith

Today, we’d like to introduce you to Richelle Galbraith.

Richelle, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin? 
I got my first camera when the Gameboy came out with a camera attachment you could slide onto it. It is a little cliche for a photographer to say, “I have been taking photos forever,” but as soon as I can remember, I was walking around subjecting people to my “click” of a picture being taken. As I grew up, so did my cameras. I bought my first professional camera straight out of high school and took pictures of anything or anyone who would let me. My dog ended up being my model most of the time as I learned the ins and outs of a camera’s functions. As I grew in confidence, I asked friends to model for me and quickly learned that I had a love for photographing couples specifically and started dreaming of becoming a wedding photographer. That dream came true when a few individuals took a chance on a girl with a whole lotta passion and not much experience and booked me for their wedding day. I kept working for years to be a full-time photographer but was terrified to fully jump in. I finally officially launched my business in 2020! And yes, it was right before the little learning opportunity called “covid” hit. What a time to try to launch an event-based business! Through that, though, I learned just how important it is to connect with and truly care for people. It really turned the industry upside down, and those getting married started to put a lot more value on the things that mattered to them most at a wedding. Love and emotions became the center again, and caution was thrown to the wind when it came to tradition or how things “should be done.” We saw a huge rise in elopements, which is the whole reason I am able to base my business in Cleveland, Ohio, and in Kauai, Hawaii. It was a tough start, but here I am in 2024, a digital and film wedding photographer who specializes in emotional storytelling and helping create moments for couples to experience emotions and connect with each other on a wedding day. I am a huge empath and tend to feel the day with the couple. It is a little embarrassing, but I really do cry at every single wedding I have the honor of being at. I love to create an atmosphere for two people to feel the day because I am right there feeling it, too. To me, it is personal. I am a firm believer that in order to capture the memories, we first have to make them. That is my specialty as a wedding photographer and something that is the heartbeat of my business. I hate fake photos and would never sacrifice a couple’s wedding day experience for some great images; I find that the photos that hold the most meaning tend to be the ones where you forgot a photo was being taken at all. My style is a mix of documentary, taking photos as events naturally unfold, and a mix of guiding moments and creating settings for genuine emotions to exist through prompts and a handful of poses. I don’t want a couple to walk away from one of the most important days, feeling like it was a blur. The only memories are the photos they get back. I want to create moments of them experiencing the day and each other that will be in their minds forever, and the wedding album is a tool to make it all more vivid. 

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Starting any business will be a struggle. Richelle Lynne Photography, LLC was not an overnight success and will continue to be a work in progress. I think I made about $200 dollars from my first wedding, and after all the time I spent editing and taking the images, that came out to be about 4 dollars an hour. Whoops! I didn’t make much, but you have to start somewhere. I will forever value all that I learned when I was making little or no money from my work. Since then, I have worked hard in my industry for the past six years. I have invested in my education in business, with my gear and even my creativity. It has honestly been a slow rise to becoming a full-time photographer, but I have learned to love slow growth. If my business was going at the pace it is today, six years ago, it would have crushed me. I would not have been able to handle and maintain or show up for my clients like I am able to now. Some things take time, and that is a good thing. I have seen photographers make it big on TikTok or Instagram and have their business blow up in a moment, and then they start struggling because they don’t know how to sustain it, and things fizzle out. I am so thankful and so proud to have my business built on a firm foundation. I have so much confidence in how I serve couples leading to their wedding day and in delivering their final gallery. I used to be scared, and I suffered majorly from imposter syndrome. I was constantly comparing myself to other photographers. I’d try to judge if their work was better than mine and be devastated if their business seemed to be doing better. I know, pretty ridiculous. I never quite felt like enough, and that makes it very difficult for me to be creative. I have met so many other photographers who have struggled in the same way. It can be such a challenge to over come. I tried on my own for years to stop the comparison and to not allow the grip of fear to get to me. It wasn’t until I gave my business over to God that I overcame that. I started to see myself not as the owner but as the manager. God is the owner, and He wants this thing to succeed even more than I do. He gave me the vision, and it’s my job as the manager to carry it out. If I start to get off on what I am doing, He helps guide me to a better way to do it. I do not run this business for my glory and my own name but for the name of Jesus. I found I can capture people in my photos so much better when I see them through the eyes of Christ. My creativity is flowing over because it no longer depends on me. If I open a door of opportunity myself to get my business to grow, guess who has to sustain it? Me. But if God is the one bringing the opportunity and opening the door, the pressure is off of me. He will be the one to sustain it. I no longer fear making decisions for my business because He gives me the wisdom to do so. I no longer fear not being creative or running out of ideas because He brings them to my mind. I no longer compare myself to other photographers or see them as competition because my God is big enough to bless my business and theirs. Business becomes a lot more fun when it is not all about you but about loving others. I have so much more freedom to love the people I get to serve well. 

Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
It takes more than a good camera to take good photos. Part of it is that it takes a photographer with experience to understand the flow during a wedding day. There is a time to stare off into the sunset, and there is time to dance with your friends! In order to “feel” the photo, you have to first feel the moment. I am a firm believer that it’s not about capturing memories. It’s about creating them. I am not a fan of fake photos. I document events as they happen and set a scene for real emotions with a mixture of prompts and a handful of poses. I don’t dictate. I observe the day through my camera as it naturally unfolds. Capturing real moments and creating a timeless record of your day. The focus is all on the couple and their love story! It is an absolute honor to be invited into those intimate spaces on a wedding day. Think about it: most often, a photographer is with the bride and groom on the wedding day more than they are with the person they are marrying. It is a huge responsibility to help foster the emotions in a room and to protect the couple’s experience. There are so many guests who would love to be with the bride and groom as they get ready or to follow them around all day. The reality is that you can’t have everyone there for every single part. As a photographer, it is an honor; I do not hold lightly that I get to be in those intimate places. Photographers have a responsibility to show the people who wish they were in those moments the memories and to make them feel as if they were in the room. I want to create an experience for couples beyond having their photo taken. I aim to make couples feel completely at ease in front of the camera while ensuring we get the shot. With years of experience in the intricate dynamics of a wedding day, I will be there to capture that subtle tear in a father’s eye; the spontaneous laughter shared with a bridal party and even the tiniest wedding decor elements that make a day unique to the couple. I treat each wedding day as if it were my own because, to me, it is personal. 

What matters most to you?
I don’t first see a photography business as a means to make money, but while I do need to pay the bills, I always start by thinking of this as a way to love people. You get to be one of the few people who are with a couple all day on their once-in-a-lifetime event and witness first-hand memories they will think back on forever, and you have the responsibility of documenting it for them to remember and for them invite others into that space without physically being there when those moments happened. Imagine you get back beautiful wedding photos, but on your wedding day, your photographer was rude, self-centered, and demanding. Your photos would look great, but you would look back on those images forever with a bad taste in your mouth. Now imagine you get back stunning images from a photographer who focused on creating moments for you and your partner to connect, who went above and beyond to make it the perfect day for you both, and who kept all the focus on you and your love story. You are going to look back on those moments and memories and feel all the emotions you had in the moment. If you are not someone who genuinely loves people and wants to serve them, this is not the business for you. The truth is wedding trends come and go, and styles change. Those things are never “timeless”. What is truly timeless is the way you feel. If I want you to look back on your wedding photos and feel something, you have to first feel something when you take the picture. 

Contact Info:

• Website: https://richellelynnephotography.com/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/richellelynnephotography/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/richellelynnephotography/
• Other: https://www.pinterest.com/richellelynnephotography/

Image Credits
Richelle Lynne Photography, LLC