A successful female leader and role model in Colorado
Please celebrate with me! I was just featured in the Voyage Denver Magazine as an Inspiring Female Portrait photographer, leader and role model… A TRAILBLAZER! I can’t even describe how I feel.
If you are interested in learning more about my journey of how I’ve become an inspiring female portrait photographer please read the this amazing article:
Voyage Denver Article -04/30/2019
You can read the full article here: http://voyagedenver.com/interview/conversations-inspiring-edina-clagett/
Today we’d like to introduce you to Edina Clagett, an inspiring female Portrait photographer.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Edina. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
My love for photography started in my twenties when I backpacked through over 50 Third World countries where I had captured the portraits of fascinating people & their unique cultures. My dream at the time was to combine my passion for travel & adventure and become a National Geographic photographer.
Then, life happened. I met my husband, who’s a chef, and we got into the restaurant industry and started a family. It wasn’t until the birth of my twins in 2010 that I picked up the camera once again and decided to start my photography business Beyoutiful Portraits in Portland, Oregon.
Seven years into my business, at the end of 2018 my family relocated to Fort Collins, Colorado, where I currently live and run a beautiful Portrait Studio.
I continue to travel between the two cities and serve my loyal existing clients in Oregon while relaunching and making new clients in Colorado.
Has it been a smooth road?
As a mother of 4-year-old and newborn twins, my first biggest challenge at the beginning was juggling my role as a mother, a wife, and a business owner.
If you are launching a business and facing similar obstacles, I think it’s important that you set realistic goals and prioritize what’s most important in your life!
I, for example, knew that in order to be successful in the long run, I had to set up my business for success and not burn out too early. In the beginning, I focused on learning not only the technical side of photography but the business side too. I was able to build my business part-time while raising my boys for the first five years and THEN when the twins started kindergarten, I was able to focus all my attention to taking my business to the next level.
I faced the 2nd biggest challenge when we moved to Colorado in late 2018.
“Leaving behind” six years of network and client base was pretty scary I’m not going to lie. But I believe that these are the types of challenges that will help me grow more as a person and as a business owner. I knew I had my brand “ironed out” and all the marketing materials were printed. So once my studio was ready, all I had to focus on was getting out into the community and building a network.
Now, I’m proud to say that I not only have the Portrait Studio of my dreams and a loyal clientele in Portland that I continue to serve, but I’m thrilled to introduce my brand to a new community of women here in Northern Colorado, whose lives I can’t wait to change!
So, let’s switch gears a bit and go into Beyoutiful Portraits story. Tell us more about the business.
At the beginning in 2011, I photographed newborns, weddings, families, real estate, products… you name it, I photographed it.
BUT I didn’t just want to be the girl with the camera. I wanted my brand to be about a lot more. I dreamt of changing lives, of making a difference. So, with each shoot, I was looking inside… and waiting for that special sign that told me “Yes, this is what I want to shoot for the rest of my life.”
It was my first beauty session that gave me that revelation. This new mom’s reaction to her photographs (she was in awe & discovered that she was still a woman inside!) that gave me the goosebumps, the a-ha moment I had been searching for. I realized that I was touched by her testimonial because I related to her. As a woman in her 30’s, a new mom and a wife I felt just as unhappy and disconnected from myself as she had been prior to her shoot. And if we felt the same… Well, I know there were millions of women out there whose lives I can help change. So, I started specializing in Women’s Portraiture in 2014… and I never looked back!
I had absolutely NO interest in photographing models. Beyoutiful Portraits is all about empowering everyday women and offering them a well-deserved “celebrity Photo Shoot” experience of their own with hair and makeup and beautiful clothes. It’s the most special experience women enjoy as a gift for themselves or to share with their daughters, mother or their loved ones. It’s the perfect Girl’s Day out experience where I prove to them that they can look like those women in the magazine too!
My mission statement has been all about convincing women to step in front of the camera and celebrate their special bonds with their loved ones NOW! I want to help women overcome their fear of the camera and exist in photos WITH their children, FOR their children TODAY and not when they lose those 20 pounds.
My ultimate goal with each session is to create the most beautiful photographs a woman has EVER seen of herself. I want her to look into her own eyes and finally see the beautiful woman that I, her children and her loved ones see when we look at her. I want to give her the chance to reconnect to her true essence once again and embark on a journey of self-love & self-acceptance… wherever she is in life!
Beyoutiful Portraits offers women something that is way more than just a photo shoot experience. It’s a true TRANSFORMATION!
This article has been such an honor! To be nominated as an inspiring female Portrait photographer, a role model in Colorado has been an incredibly humbling experience! THANK YOU!
Contact Info:
Website: www.beyoutifulportraits.com
Phone: 503-866-0256
Email: edina@beyoutifulportraits.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/beyoutiful_portraits
Facebook: www.facebook.com/beyoutifulportraits
