Meet Stephanie Ferguson

Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephanie Ferguson.

Hi Stephanie, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I have always loved photography for as long as I can remember. I remember my aunt asking me when I was little what I wanted to be when I grow up and I told her a National Geographic Photographer! I didn’t pursue my dream at first feeling that it probably wasn’t a career that could pay the bills. So I got a degree in Public Relations and ended up working in the hospitality industry for about 10 years. I have also struggled with anxiety for a very long time.

So whenever life would get overwhelming for me or when I needed an outlet I found it in photography. I took classes here in San Antonio and I also lived overseas in Sydney, Australia for a while and took classes there. Throughout all those years anxiety would pop its head here and there and really affected my life at times. But it wasn’t until 2018 when my anxiety got so bad that I could barely leave my apartment and all the stress of it was caused a lot of physical pain in my body too. All of this lasted about a year. It was a really dark year for me, all I could feel was anxiety and depression and not much hope. In December of that year, with things I now know are not coincidences, God put the right doctor and people in my life to help me.

I started OCD counseling and that changed my life, I felt so free from the prison it had me in. I remember how it felt the first signs of hope, the sun on my skin felt like I won the lottery and the taste of coffee felt like Christmas when I was a kid! I felt so much gratitude for all the little things. Not long after I had picked up my camera that I had bought the summer before, and it has become such a huge part of my healing journey. To me, photography has so many metaphors for life. It helps me see the beautiful light, and all the beauty in the little things. It shows me that some of the most beautiful light shines in the dark, which reminds me how healing and powerful our personal struggles can be to someone going through something similar.

I’ll never forget some of the people I followed on Instagram and their stories of hope especially Ruthie Lindsey and how much that helped me when I couldn’t leave the house. When I started photographing people I put my whole heart into it because I want to capture those memories and moments you share with the people you love. Photography is so precious to me, it is a part of my life, it is a part of my healing. Being able to photograph families connect and create memories always reminds me and fills me with the most important thing in this world — love.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The first year I took so many free sessions or charged $50.00 for a photography session. I really loved it so much that I would devour photography classes on the internet, I would bring my camera everywhere, I would photograph anyone that would let me take their photo. Honestly, I was having so much fun and it was the first time I had felt alive in such a long long time. I made so many mistakes along the way but it was in the mistakes that I would learn and grow so much!

One of my photography teachers told me if you hit a wall don’t turn around and quit, that’s what a lot of people do. Find a way to climb over it and you will go much farther than most. I would think of that a lot when I felt like all I was doing was making mistake after mistake. It made me want to take more classes, push myself more, keep growing and learning. After about a year people started noticing my photography and started wanting to book me!

I would say it took me about a year and a half to really get my business going. Also, my anxiety didn’t just disappear. The medicine really really helped me get out of the house again. But it wasn’t until I finally found my OCD counselor in May of this year that my life has changed the most! I put in so much hard work with counseling and I can honestly say that that has changed my life the most for the better.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a lifestyle photographer here in San Antonio, Texas. I specialize in Family, Couples, Engagement, and Weddings! What I am most proud of is that I never gave up and I never will. Having an anxiety disorder and OCD was a huge challenge for me in my life. But where I am now, I can honestly say I am no longer in the prison of anxiety and OCD, yes, I still have it but it no longer controls or dictates my life.

I am proud that I didn’t give up, that I found help with medicine, therapy, and doing the work. I feel that my experience with anxiety and OCD brings a different perspective to my photography. I realize how much the little things are really the big things and how our loved ones are what matter the most.

I try to be present with my couples and families and tell their stories. I find light to be such an inspiration to me in my photography and how it enhances the story of the people I am photographing.

What was your favorite childhood memory?
I think one of my favorite memories would be going on walks with my mom. We would walk everywhere! And she would make up these amazing imaginative stories along the way. I would feel like I was transported to a different place and time, wherever her story would take us!

That was really special to me and really influenced my life as it made me love to read and travel. It also made me so imaginative and see so much beauty all around me!

Pricing:

• Lifestyle Session- $450 + Tax
• Intimate Weddings-4 hours- $1,300 6 hours- $1,800 8 hours- $2,200

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.stephandladyphotography.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stephandladyphotography/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Stephandlady