Meet Our Team | Stephanie Moore

It’s the second installment of our new series named “MEET OUR TEAM”. We are really excited to introduce, or in some cases re-introduce ourselves, to our forum members and blog readers. Our moderator team is a talented mix of professionals, hobbyists, film lovers and digital gals and we are pleased as punch to show you a bit more of our personalities and what makes us tick.

If you’re a forum member, please follow the link at the bottom of every interview to ask questions directly to our featured moderator within the forum. The featured moderator will be checking back daily to ensure everyone gets their specific questions answered. Rest assured, no stone will be left unturned! Ask away! We will be posting new interviews every other week through the rest of the year so you will get a chance to meet the whole crew.

Today we are chatting with Arizona’s one and only, Stephanie Moore. Many of you know her through her wonderful work and amazing support she gives on the forum. But did you know she is just mere weeks away of making her household a real “Party of 5″?  With the birth of her daughter right around the corner, I’m anxiously awaiting the text from her her husband saying “SHE’S HERE!!!”

Name the places you have called home. Where is home now?
I was born and raised in AZ. In 2005 we moved to Mississippi for my husband’s PHD. After 5 years of living in Mississippi, we moved to Memphis for a year of internship. Now we are happy to say we are back in AZ. But we honestly miss the south, there is NOTHING like southern hospitality.

Describe a day in the life of you.
My day starts around 6:15 with making breakfast and packing lunches. We all head out the door around 7:30 for school drop off, and then I head to the gym. Mornings are usually spent running errands, volunteering at school; doing play dates on the mornings my son is home, anything to keep us busy. After lunch I work for 2 hours while my son has “quiet time”. Then we pick up sister from school and head home for homework, and I make dinner. I generally try to get all my work done during those 2 hours so nights can be spent with family. I also typically take one session a week at sunset, and have started reserving my weekends for family! Although my husband and I love our kids dearly, we look forward to 7:30 each night when our kids go to bed and we have the rest of the night together.

Tell us about your photography style and how it came to be.
Finding my style has definitely been an evolving process. I think my style is interactive and real, as opposed to more posed. My favorite subject to photograph is families because I love capturing those real moments between people. I will rarely ask clients to look at the camera, but rather will direct my clients to do something natural and capture them. Outfit choices are a big deal to me so I usually help guide them in choosing what they will wear. I am a big fan of color!

What’s in your camera bag? What kind of bag carries your loot?
I have an Epiphanie bag, and thank goodness it’s big because I store a lot of stuff in it. I have 2 Canon 5D cameras. I’m a HUGE proponent of having a back up camera, I learned the hard way  I am a prime girl with a 35 1.4, 50 1.4, 85 1.8, 100 2.8, and the lens baby. I also have a speedlight and a Sony video light for Weddings.

If you could only listen to one Pandora station for the rest of the week, which one would it be?
For those who know me and my love for Adam Levine it will come as no surprise that I would choose Maroon 5!

Photography related, what is the ONE thing you can’t go without?
TRA’s BAMF action for my Black and white photos. I tweak it and add to it to make it my own, but nothing can beat it! Anyone who knows my work knows I’m a SUCKER for a black and white. I feel like turning an emotional image to a black and white takes any distractions away and allows you to really feel the picture. Nine out of ten times I will choose black and white over color. I just love it!

Congratulations on the little one that is fixing to make the Moore household a family of 5! I’m sure you are excited to take newborn photos of the wee one. Do you have any special plans like a photo a day, and/or are you having someone take them?
I have 2 local photographer friends coming over to help me. They will hopefully help with all the posing and I will be there to snap my camera and do the editing. I am hoping to capture lots of photos of our new girl, she will hate the camera by the time she is one!

You always seem so busy when we text and chat on the phone…how do you manage to stay sane and do it all?
I’m not sure I would call it sanity, ha! I try to always be conscious of what I have going on in my life so I don’t over schedule. For that reason I never schedule more than 4 sessions a month. I am not afraid of saying no or turning people away. I am blessed with an amazingly supportive husband, who is a rarity in the fact that he is a cleaner. He does so much around the house that it helps alleviate what I have to do. I’m ashamed to admit that until like 2 years ago, I had never ran our vacuum because he loved to do it. We really make a good team and he is 100% supportive of everything I do. I also have 3 mornings a week while my kids are both at school which gives me SO much time to get stuff done, that will change soon though!

Who was the first person that made you interested in photography?
I have always loved photography and had a big desire to learn it. I first fell in love with Angie Monson’s work. She is still one of my favorites! I also blog stalked Amy Wenzel for a long time. After doing some stalking for a while I met an awesome friend, Aubry Startin, who is a great photographer and really encouraged me to start. She was completely open with me and taught me so much. She really helped push me to get going!

You are always so open and sharing on the forum. I know many are a bit weary about sharing information and tips. Talk to us about how you feel about making friends with other photographers in your area and how it has benefited you?
I’m so glad you asked me this question. This is such a HUGE part of my business and my beliefs. I wish every photographer could forge the relationships with other photographers in their areas like I have. I am BEYOND indebted to two local photographers here in Tucson, Michelle Rooney and Stephanie Newbold, who reached out to me before I even moved here. We now get together for monthly dinners and there are ZERO secrets between us. We share pricing, locations, post processing, marketing, and we lift each other up when we are struggling. I also have an awesome group of photographer friends all around the world (including those I left behind in Memphis) who I share info with. As I have formed relationships with other photographers, my business has only grown. I also don’t believe there is anything I do that is a secret. As you know I blab on the forum about anything and everything. I strongly believe that just because we do the same thing, doesn’t mean we will get the same results. We are two different artists creating our own tapestries!

What do you feel is your BIGGEST accomplishment photography related so far? And what do you want to achieve 5 years down the road?
Just being able to call myself a photographer is such an accomplishment for me. Just a few years ago I would have never believed I would be doing something I love so much and being paid generously for it. Every year I challenge myself to do better than the next, so I hope 5 years down the road I will continue my success.

If there is one corner of photography that you can improve on, what would it be and why?
I have always said that posing is not my strength. I love natural interactions in pictures so it’s harder for me to pose. I started shooting Senior’s last year and quickly realized that I was going to have to strengthen my posing skills because there was no interaction to capture! It is an ongoing process for me, but I am happy at how far I have come!

I know you LOVE chocolate cake :), but other than that, what is your favorite dish?
Oh gosh, I love food. And I love being married to a man that loves food too. We eat very clean and organic in our house but we LOVE us some good grub. My all time favorite dinner to make is veggie Fajitas. Mexican food is my weakness. But there are very few foods I don’t like. I am not a girl who is afraid to eat!

What is the best piece of advice your parents gave you?
My parents are amazing. I am truly blessed. They still play such an important role in life still. I am indebted to my Dad for teaching me the value of money. Growing up, he set up checking and savings accounts and taught us how to save and balance our check books. He would then randomly ask us to go get our checkbook to see if we were balancing our books. If we weren’t, we would lose them for a while. Thanks to him I have always been big into balancing and saving, and it only benefited me getting married and now running my own business. I don’t buy something unless I have the money for it!

You look so young, care to share your one (or two) beauty secret or product you can’t live without? Inquiring minds want to know!
Besides Photoshop, ha! I actually might disappoint when I say I don’t use anything extraordinary. As you know I’m a natural person so I use three things at night, Trader Joes Bar soap to clean my face, Apple Cider Vinegar as a toner (my husband says I always smell like a salad), and Coconut oil as moisturizer and eye makeup remover. My kitchen is also my beauty supply store!

Tell us a little more information about what the workshop will entail that you and Kara May will host on the forum?
I have to start off by saying how excited I am to host a workshop with Kara May, she is fabulous. I so enjoy working with her, and her work speaks for itself. We will be teaching a beginner’s workshop called “Bloom Basics”. When I first started out my photography journey I learned so much from the beginners workshop I took (which just so happened to be the Bloom workshop). Kara and I want to share that same foundational knowledge with those desiring to learn photography. We will be teaching all the essentials to get you started like exposure, composition, editing and more. We really look forward to having an open environment where questions can be asked and answered honestly. You all know how open I am so we hope to make our workshop environment that same way!

Thanks so much for a peek into your life and answering our questions! And for all you blog readers, I now know you are a fan of the gracious and talented Stephanie Moore as much as I am so you can now stalk her at her Blog, over and Facebook and let’s not forget Pinterest! If you are a forum member, don’t forget to head over to the forum thread with the complete interview to get your questions answered by Stephanie!