Mia Turco Photography.
My interest in photography is completely inspired by my amazing aunt, Mary Shannon Johnstone. I’d follow her around on family vacations, begging to use her professional DSLR and bombarding her with questions about composition. It was always my favorite activity to play around with her shiny camera toy. But time after time, I found that shooting not only made vacations all the more merry, but provided the best souvenirs time can buy.
Wanting to follow in her foot steps, I purchased my first DSLR at 13 after working in a steamy snack shack all Summer. It was a beginner’s model with about a fourth of the professional capabilities, but it scratched my itch and provided a place to start. I began, like my aunt, bringing it on every outing and slowly getting better and better shots with practice.
Eager for more practice, I arrived at High School desperate to apply my interest to subjects other than my family, dogs, and same tree in my backyard. I volunteered at local and school-wide clubs that had never before been shot, adding photos to the choir concert brochure or a slide show to a student council banquet. I had not only a love of shooting, composing, and editing, but the sheer art of documenting. I found myself constantly looking back at my own photos. Even if I didn’t know the people I was shooting, I was so excited to relive the thrill of the parade, production, basketball game, or whatever was going on that Tuesday night.
On the topic of documentation, I naturally started to think of life events: graduation, senior photos, university send-offs, family reunions. If I was this excited to shoot a forgettable golf tournament, how would I feel about shooting moments like those?
The answer was: amazing.
For the past 5 years, I’ve captured exactly that: thespian productions, graduation ceremonies, college decisions, weddings, and much more. I am honored to have become a familiar face in the Metro-Detroit community and to have given more than 500 clients their own most treasured souvenirs.
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Involvement.
Photographer & Videographer
May 2016 - Present
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Projects.
Shoot over 500 clients through portrait and event photography, currently acting as the Musket Production Company Resident Photographer
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Tools.
Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom,
Premiere Pro CC
First Steps & Branding Myself.
Like most small towns, Grosse Pointe is all about networking. That means that the same few photography businesses have dominated the community for the last 50 years, cycling through entire blood lines and graduating classes while providing a level of accountability that new businesses cannot yet offer.
I knew that breaking into the scene would require a competitive edge.
Step 1: Pricing
Because there are so few businesses, they have the privilege of choosing extremely high prices. An average senior shoot in Grosse Pointe costs between $500 - $5000. To allow for competition, gain a client base, and be more inclusive pricing to lower-income families, I positioned myself must lower. Over 5 Summers, I’ve gradually raised my pricing from $50/hour to $115/hour, what I believe is a respectable wage while still offering a competitive presence.
Step 2: Style
These established businesses are extremely traditional, meaning they shoot mostly in-studio. From my own limitations, access to a studio was not an option. Though I found an advantage to shooting solely outdoors. While studios offer a staged, classic look, outside allows for running, jumping, large-scale props, pets, and a more colorful, fun style. Through growing this niche style of photography, I’ve positioned myself as offering a fresh look to classic portraiture.
Step 3: Personality
The most important element to me is that I am a young girl where all other business owners are middle-aged men. The majority of the cliental are young girls, like me. Though these men are all professional and appropriate, it is natural for girls to tense up being alone with older men, and the photos show their uneasiness. Shooting with me, however, allows them to relax, laugh a little more, smile a little more, and create candid shots that further create a fresh style.
Marketing.
Ah, marketing. As mentioned before, the network within metro-Detroit is very strong which means most transactions are completed by recommendations and word-of-mouth. Because most parents were familiar and comfortable with the same few businesses, I decided to reach the kids instead.
Not only are kids reached through different ways, but they also have different needs. Whereas parents generally want traditional, studio portraits, young people want fun photos that capture their personality, show their silly side with friends, and allows for a great Instagram profile picture.
Making my Instagram was crucial. Seen at @miaturcophoto, I began posting highlights from each client’s shoot with their consent. It allowed for an easy portfolio to point interested clients to while pushing my name to community members through the service’s built-in algorithm. I additionally work ask clients to tag my account if they post my work, which further publicized the account. As of today, the account has grown to over 450 followers.
While focused on the young people themselves, I still wanted to make a presence to the harder-to-reach parents. I worked through Facebook groups, making posts introducing myself with varied images for a mini portfolio.
Though these tactics worked, the most successful has been word of mouth. I am fortunate to have a community that supports young people and their business ventures. People were extremely willing to tag me in their posts, give credit when asked, and recommend me to others. If I had one shoot, I had five. And the cycle continued.
Moving into web.
After a few years using my Instagram to manage clients, I decided to create a website. Not only would this be more professional, but take the scheduling and answering FAQs off my place so I could focus on other things.
There is a separate page on my portfolio website dedicated to designing the Mia Turco Photography website.
Closing thoughts.
I feel very comfortable with my business in present day. Even more than a business venture and resume booster, these weekend and evening shoots have provided me with some of the most valued career lessons, including how to navigate an industry as a young woman, which lends itself to my next career adventure in technology.