Meet Harifah Hendrickson of RiFocused Photography

Today we’d like to introduce you to Harifah Hendrickson.

Hi Harifah, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My journey is twofold. I am a traditional graduate student pursuing my doctorate in psychology, but I also love photography. Psychology is my first love, and I am set to graduate next May, but photography will always have a special place in my heart! I want to say photos have always been a thing. My parents always had a disposable camera back in the 90s, haha.

There’s a keepsake box full of photos that my parents had taken of my sister and me when we were babies. Pretty much every memory you could think of was snapped in my childhood. I’m not sure why my parents opted for photos instead of videos, but throughout the years, as I’ve reminisced over them, I realized that they captured amazing stories in just one photo.

In high school, I discovered a film camera that my dad had collecting dust in our basement. I would often go down there and play around with it, not really knowing how even to load the film cartridge or snap a photo, but from there, I started to always look for a camera wherever I was. I would shoot photos for fun, for free. Even though I give credit to a film class I took in college; I taught myself everything I know using DSLR cameras.

People started telling me, “you should charge for your work. It’s really good!” Flashforward to 2018, I decided to get serious with my photography and launch the Harifah Hendrickson Photography business. ( I knew this was a temporary name because, well, it was just too long)

It was the most nerve-wracking thing I had done. I was so worried about ” Are there too many photographers in Nashville, would people like my work, would I even get business, are my prices too low, are they too high, what will I do with all this equipment I bought if it isn’t successful?” I had so many fears taking that leap of faith, but I pushed through it.

I decided that there was room for everyone in this business, and someone WILL love your work, and from there, one client became two, two become more, and so on. Word of mouth is everything! On January 11, 2021, RiFocused Photography was born. It was a play on letters in my name that has become an endearing nickname and my ability to focus on my client’s stories.

I completely rebranded; the traction that my social media got from this rebrand really helped things take off for me and just straight-up learning my craft and allowing myself to be vulnerable with my work. The mission was still the same, “Dedicated to Capturing You.”

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Photography hasn’t been a smooth road. A lot of it was self-doubt. I was just scared of the opinions of my work. There were times when I started that I was doing gigs for pennies. I once shot an entire wedding for under $300. At that time, I was so grateful for that $300 because I felt like my work wasn’t good enough, which was what my work was worth.

I often spent hours editing photos, over-analyzing and perfecting each mistake, and giving clients well over the average number of photos just because I wanted to please them. There were times where I was so tired from balancing editing photos and going to school that sometimes school fell on the wayside. Miraculously I stayed afloat.

I struggled with saying no or setting business boundaries with clients that sometimes I felt run over. One of my biggest obstacles was comparing. I would follow great photographers on Instagram and wish to shoot or edit like them instead of focusing on my individual style.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
There is where I fell in love with the art of photography. Truthfully, I started my photography journey many years ago, when I first began playing around with an old film camera in my basement and took a film photography class in college. Thanks to the encouragement of family and friends, I finally decided to take my art to the next level.

I love to showcase relationships and personalities in my shots. I want my photos to feel alive. My approach to photographing couples, individuals, and events is to tell a story about who they are and showcase their intimate connections. I believe that each of my client’s images should embody their uniqueness, and for this reason, I always take the time to learn about and connect with them.

If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
One of the most important characteristics that I feel is most important to my success is genuineness. In Facebook groups, I would read about photographers who charged a lot of money for their sessions but weren’t very personable. I also looked at many reviews from clients of their sessions with other photographers to get a feel for what they said was missing from their photo session or what they wish they had.

In the beginning, It was a bit of a challenge for me because I often got clients who were camera shy or would consider themselves “awkward” in front of the camera. Still, they would always say at the end of the session, “oh, I felt so comfortable with you shooting me; I didn’t realize that I was even nervous.” So I quickly realized that the more genuine I was, the more likely people are to feel comfortable in front of your camera lens and the more likely you are to capture something amazing that speaks completely to who they are as a person, couple, or family.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.rifocused.com
• Instagram: rifocused