Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Lake.
Hi Sarah, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’ve always loved photography- as well as drawing, writing, painting, or anything where I could create- ever since I was a child. But I also loved animals and wanted to become a veterinarian. So, being the sensible student that I was, I went to college with plans to go to veterinary school. However, just a few months before I was to graduate with my zoology degree, I had a realization: I didn’t want to go to vet school. I somehow wanted to work with people. (I literally remember thinking this extraordinarily clearly one morning while eating Cheerios!).
After graduating, I spent a year as an AmeriCorps*VISTA working with at-risk children in a local literacy program. It wasn’t long before I decided to return to school to become a teacher. After earning my second degree and teaching certificate, I married my husband (then an active-duty Marine) and we moved to North Carolina where I taught middle and high school science for two years. I then left teaching to begin working at a non-profit as an early childhood consultant. And after giving birth to our first child, our daughter, I realized that with an often-deployed husband, the best thing for our family was for me to stay home with our children, at least until they both started school.
I had a blissful (albeit exhausting) few years at home with our daughter. During this time, I found myself spending hours every day photographing her with an old point-and-shoot camera- completely unhappy with the photos. I told my husband that I refused to let her childhood slip away with only crummy photos to show for it. So, we invested in a DSLR- and my obsession with capturing her childhood began!
Later, when our second child (our son) was nearing the age of starting preschool it began to dawn on me… When he starts school, will I go back to teaching? Though I had loved teaching, I quickly burned out due to too many expectations with far too few resources. I knew in my heart that was no longer what I truly wanted to do.
A couple of weeks later, some friends with a toddler mentioned how they had wanted family photos but didn’t want to go to the local department store “cookie-cutter” studio. I quickly told them, “I LOVE photographing kids! I’ll do your family photos for you!” We met at a park a few days later, and I took family photos for them and they’re 3 years old. And that was it. Looking back on those images, they weren’t very good (it’s hard to have beautifully lit portraits at high noon!) but my friends loved them. And what I remember most was not the mediocre photos I took, but the feeling I had in the car ride home… I was So excited. I loved every minute of working with them and capturing their sweet little girl and all her innocent expressions!
From that point on, I had this nagging idea in my head of what if I don’t go back to teaching?? What if I start my own photography business?! I could stay at home with my children and still help support our family! Once I realized that these ideas made me so excited I couldn’t sleep: I knew that’s what I was meant to do.
And that’s how I started down this path! I spent the first couple of years reading, learning, practicing, and getting better. And though my images have improved exponentially! I continue to invest in learning and honing my skills today.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The greatest challenge to my growing business has, without a doubt, been starting/restarting in 3 different cities! I first began my business in a small military town in southern Arizona. And after a few years of growth, our family moved to the DC area for my husband’s job. And my community and market changed COMPLETELY.
And just as I began to finally make headway and establish myself as the only newborn photographer in my area, we had to move again- this time to San Antonio. I was excited to know that there would be more than enough families to serve with my services in this area!
What I didn’t account for was how difficult it would be to even get noticed with such a huge population with so many other highly skilled photographers! Thankfully, search engines are finally showing me to clients and my business has been growing by leaps and bounds!
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a family portrait photographer, and I specialize in newborns and babies! I’ve won awards for my baby portraiture, and newborns and babies are by far my favorite subjects to photograph. So, I’m immensely proud of that recognition!
But as contrived as it may sound, what I’m most proud of is what I’ve given to my families- both in the heirlooms I’ve created for them, and the service and attention I’ve given them. To have a parent invest in my services and still say “I could not be happier. I’m so glad we found you!” truly makes me proud of what I do!
So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
I hope to reach families in the San Antonio area that value beautiful photography and what it adds to our everyday lives and our homes- especially beautiful portraits of your favorite little faces. Families can reach out to me anytime by dropping me a line through my website: sarahlakephotography.com
And I love to collaborate with other artists! When I started my business, I was lucky enough to be welcomed into a local group of women who were also part-time and full-time photographers. Their friendship and support are something I still hold dear today. Moving to SATX just before Covid hit made it difficult to explore the area and meet fellow artists.
I’m hoping I can finally begin doing that now!
Contact Info:
- Email: sarah@sarahlakephotography.com
- Website: sarahlakephotography.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/sarahlakephotography
- Facebook: facebook.com/sarahlakephotography
Image Credits:
Hannah Whaley
