Today we’d like to introduce you to Emily Spicer.
Emily, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
About seven or so years ago, I was convinced by a friend to try going to college for photography, even though I had no interest in it at all. I went and I ended up falling in love with it. My favorite part was always working with film and developing in the darkroom.
I realized that it was a magical feeling to take a picture of something whether with film or a DSLR camera and be able to turn it into something amazing. I loved doing the projects and discovering another way of seeing the world and the people in it. It was a few years later before I got brave enough to venture on my own into my own business. We lived in a different state at the time and I focused primarily on birth photography and did some maternity, fresh 48, and family portraits when I wasn’t on-call. I absolutely loved being given the opportunity to take pictures of women having their babies.
I also enjoyed capturing families and their special milestones as well. Due to a mixture of things between military changes and more I had to close that business and wait for a while before I could do photography as a professional business again. In-between that time I would still take pictures for the joy of it. I was also busy having more kids, as I am not only a military wife but also a mom to five kids. My husband moved to the Nashville, TN area in September of 2019, and the kids and I followed behind him in December 2019 just a week before Christmas. During this time, I was also pregnant with our youngest (our 5th baby).
We spent a few months in temporary housing before finding what has been our home ever since in Columbia, TN. We moved to Columbia in April of 2020 right at the beginning of everything going on worldwide. Between being in my third trimester of pregnancy, what was going on with the world, and doing repairs on our house, I wasn’t even thinking about opening up photography again. I gave birth to our youngest in June 2020 and after a bit of a rough and at times scary birth we just spent time focusing on our small farm and watching the economy. By the time April of 2021 came, I felt confident enough that the economy and people in the area felt safe enough to be willing to get pictures done again.
So by May 2021, I opened up what is now Indigo Country Photography. My husband and I both own it, however, he is more of a behind-the-scenes type guy while I am the one that meets with clients, takes the pictures, and does the editing. I get to do a lot of photoshoots capturing families in my mini and full photoshoots. I also have been given the unique opportunity that I have never had before of photo shooting models. I recently got to work with Christian Music Artist and Joshua Fata during a model photoshoot. I still offer maternity sessions but due to restrictions and more, I don’t offer births of fresh 48’s anymore. Instead, I decided to venture into something a bit new for me which is engagements and weddings.
I have been asked off and on in the past several years to do weddings, however, due to the nature of being on-call for births or moving for military, I was never able to commit myself to it. Now that I am finally in a place where I can commit to it, I have been excited to finally offer it. Since I am still new to the area and newish to weddings and engagements I have even been offering a special discount for anyone needing their engagement or wedding pictures done between now and March 2022. I also offer a discount for engagements if someone books their wedding with me as well. I absolutely love what I do and I love that I can do so to help support my family.
Since I could never work a normal part-time job due to odd schedules this was something I could do to help provide for our household. I love working for myself and I love giving others the pictures they dream of.
I also occasionally go to events to share about my photography. I am all about my community and helping promote it. Whether it’s taking pictures of the Spring Hill Spider-man for him to show kids or it’s going to vendor events in Brentwood and Franklin. I love to support them in any way possible. I always try to visit my fellow small businesses and am part of my local Chamber of Commerce called Maury Alliance. I am also part of the Professional Photographers of America. Learning the local Nashville area has been so fun and I love continuing to learn it and take pictures of people in multiple outdoor locations.
I am working on getting a studio set up but do not yet have a date on when it will be finished. When I am not taking pictures or editing, I am taking care of our farm animals, or spending time with my kids and husband. My goals are to not just provide for my family but to continue to grow as a person, business owner, and photographer. I try to make anyone that I am capturing in a photoshoot as comfortable as possible.
I try to keep the mood light and the laughter going. I never put anyone in a risky situation and always tell them that if they are even uncomfortable to let me know. I love my communities, I love the people in this area and I can’t wait to continue to grow my name around here. I capture families, engagements, and maternity in the middle TN area and I offer weddings throughout the state of TN, parts of KY, and parts of Northern AL.
I always tell my clients and potential clients to never be afraid to ask questions. I love to answer any and all questions.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It hasn’t always been smooth, between having child care issues when I was doing birth photography, and moves and more there were a few bumps in the road. It has been very much a learning process and I always say that I am always learning and finding ways to improve.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I specialize in what I call my special life moments, high school senior portraits, maternity, engagements, and weddings. I won awards in our previous states for my maternity, family, and birth photography pictures. I am hoping to do just as well in this area. I am most proud of my dedication to giving my clients what they want.
I also just love what I do and that helps immensely. I think what sets me apart from others is that not only do I strive to give a personalized experience to all my clients, but for packages like my weddings I offer things from discounts for military and more, plus I offer payment plans as well. I am also willing to travel and I know not every photographer can do that. I travel for weddings to Kentucky, throughout the state of Tennessee, and to parts of Alabama.
Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
Being such a supporter of my community, I always offer to collaborate with local businesses. Whether they need some pictures of products or they need some updated images of their building or employees. I love to collaborate or work with them in many means. I also say that people can help support me by sharing my name or recommending me to others.
They can find my page on Facebook and Instagram under my Indigo Country Photography handle, they can also find me on Pinterest and on my website www.indigocountryphotography.com. If anyone is ever interested in working with me on something but isn’t sure if I can help them or not I always say just reach out and ask.
Send me a message or a text on my phone number or shoot me an e-mail. I will happily reply and it will always be me that replies no one else.
Pricing:
- Weddings Discount if Wedding is happening between now and March 2022 $150+ per hour
- Engagements start at $180
- Family Start at $175 for a 30 minute photoshoot with up to 15 images
- Maternity starts at $180
Contact Info:
- Email: indigocountryphotography@gmail.com
- Website: www.indigocountryphotography.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/indigocountryphotography
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/indigocountryphotography
Image Credits
Indigo Country Photography
