BRI Featured Artist
Spencer Boerup
How long have you been shooting pro?
I have been shooting professionally for about 5 years, full time around 3.5 now.
Describe your education & training in photography.
I never had any formal education (or even informal) about photography. I always thought as a teenager in High School how cool it must be to be a photographer. I lived in Brazil for 2 years, and during that time I took thousands of photographs on my small point & shoot Canon digital camera. I'd peruse my photos and determine which ones were the best, and why they made the best one. I basically taught myself what was good and what was bad. After I returned to the USA, I bought my first digital SLR and jumped head first into photography. I lived, ate, and breathed photography for months before I did my first 'gig', some headshots for a local business owner. After that, it started a slow snowball where I did portraits and weddings on the side while I worked as a graphic designer full-time. Thanks to my awesome employer (my dad!), I was able to take time off when needed for portrait sessions. Unfortunately it just got too busy and I had to quit my full-time job and go at this. It was the easiest and hardest decision that I made, but it was only uphill after that.
What challenges did you face early in your career?
Developing my own style, and understanding my value. I'm continually trying to improve my skills and craft, but early on I was always critical of the jobs that I did or did not accept. It took time to develop my vision and style, and thankfully now that is what attracts my customers.
What is your secret to balancing your
photography business and your personal life?
Personal life? That's a good question! One of the very few rules I have made in my personal life that I brought over to my career in photography was to never work on Sundays. Being a wedding and portrait photographer, I thought this would be a challenge, but I rarely getting inquiries for Sunday weddings. I'm a work-a-holic, so in my spare time I'm always working on something in regards to my business. It takes a true vacation with my wife to shut my brain down long enough to relax and enjoy.
Define your photography style.
My style is definitely a hodge-podge of modern, abstract, traditional, quirky and raw. I definitely aspire to photographs that are very raw, realistic, nothing contrived, created or trendy. I don't like the polished and perfect images, but the imperfections are often what make the 'zing' that I'm looking for, like hair in the wind or maybe an image that is slightly out of focus, sometimes those are my favorites.
What inspires you artistically (a person, place, movie,
you name it!)?
I genuinely feed off of my clients personalities. The more excited they are is when I produce some of my best work. I don't really look at other photographer's work, nor do I look at magazines much. I do like great fashion work, and probably a lot of my style comes from great Hollywood cinematography.
When going into a session, what motivates you?
I'm motivated to never take the same shot twice. I'm always pushing myself to do something better. I have a tendency to shoot at locations that I've already been to, so I'm always striving to put a new twist on it.
When working with your clients, how do you evoke the
perfect expression
and pose?
A lot of times I have to show my clients what I'm thinking, this means posing, getting on the ground and acting like a complete goof. This helps break the ice and gets them laughing a bit. I always assure them that they will look better doing it than I do, which is definitely the case :) When I'm looking for a certain expression, I'll help them understand the mood, the message and the concept behind the photograph, and then let them interpret it however they think it is. Most of the time it's their own interpretation that makes the photographs even better.
What business tip would you give the new photographer?
Nothing will push you forward as a business except a tremendous amount of hard work. A lot of patience, risk-taking and all-around good persona are something that I think are required to be successful in this business. You are fighting an uphill battle in a very saturated market, but with hard work, ingenuity and fantastic photography, you can succeed.