Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Vendor Spotlight: Chelsea Anderson Photography



Hey friends!  I’m so excited to introduce you to one of my very favorite vendors in the area, Chelsea of Chelsea Anderson Photography!


Chelsea and I have worked together on numerous projects over the past year and I’ve loved getting to know her a bit more.  She’s so crazy talented and such a total sweetheart.  She spoils her couples like crazy and has a way about her that always makes people feel like they’ve met a lifelong friend.  I just love her to pieces and can’t wait for you to meet her!

Tell us about Chelsea Anderson Photography!  How long have you been operating and what made you go into photography?
Chelsea Anderson Photography began as Chelsea Batey Photography in January of 2012.  I had been photographing since 2006, in love with the idea of photographing people and landscapes while writing about my adventures.  In the process of interviewing someone in college who was employed as a photographer at Virginia Tech, I realized that working for National Geographic wasn’t really in the cards {they have a very small photography staff}.  Therefore, I knew I could possibly make a career by photographing people, and eventually, weddings.  I actually photographed my first wedding in 2009, but photographed my first wedding as a business owner in 2013.  I fell in love with weddings, the couples, and their stories and realized that this is where my heart was.  I wanted to photograph people and tell their stories for as long as I could.  The craft of photography was my first love, but led me ultimately to photographing weddings, which is my current love.



How would you describe your style?
I would describe my style as authentic, colorful, and joyful.  Visually, I love images that have high contract and beautiful colors that could also be described as “art”.  I also try to use morning or evening sunlight as much as possible in photographs because I believe sunlight brings out the truest and most beautiful colors.  I always pose couples to try to get to know their personalities best and display them on camera, leading to the “authentic” nature of my style, but also LOVE capturing those genuine smiles that communicate how happy and in love the couples are contributing to the “joyful” part of my style.


What’s the most memorable event you’ve ever contributed to?
One of the reasons that I fell in love with my husband was because of perseverance and his life story.  One critical part of his life story is how he lost his high school girlfriend to a car crash.  It was totally unexpected and out of nowhere that he lost the girl that he loved.  I heard him tell that story and how he overcame grief through his belief in God during my freshman year.  What I didn’t know is that he had since become estranged from the family for some silly reasons.  Three years later, we fell in love, and got married.  Last year, my husband {who is usually my second shooter} and I got the honor and privilege of photographing the wedding of the little sister of his high school girlfriend.  It was amazing to be reunited with the sweet family, hear how much they loved Scott, and worship with them.  It was a huge testimony to God’s goodness, my sweet husband, reconciliation, and the beauty of marriage bringing people together.  Want to read more on that story?  You can visit: http://chelseaandersonphotography.com/2015/08/cody-emilia-are-married/


What are your top 3 tips for couples choosing a photographer for their wedding day?
  1. Do your research!  Make sure you are not only familiar with a photographer’s style, but also their personality and previous reviews.  I’ve had friends hire wedding photographers just because of their style and price, but actually not get along really well with them and it’s caused them to remember their day with a little negative light.  Your wedding photographer is the one person that you’ll probably spend the most time with on your wedding day, so it’s worth it to spend the extra time either making sure you are a good match in a meeting or even just reading reviews to make sure that other brides have been happy with choosing them.
  2. Don’t completely eliminate photographers who are above a certain number pricing wise.  Your photographer will probably be one of your biggest investments in your wedding day.  Keep in mind that a mom, grandma, aunt or uncle may be up for helping you afford someone that you really are in love with.  Also, most photographers can work out some kind of payment plan to make the cost a little more manageable.
  3. Start looking and inquiring as soon as you have a venue or wedding date.  Photographers tend to book up almost as quickly as venues!  Make sure to ask your favorites their availability as soon as possible.  If you have ONE photographer in mind, go ahead and ask them before you pick your wedding date!


What has been your proudest moment as a small business owner?  What’s your biggest goal?
My proudest moment is honestly whenever my clients are served and happy after the wedding day.  Customer service has been extremely important to me ever since my very first job as a coffee shop barista!  What is the point of selling a product if you’re not going to ensure that your client is happy?  I try to ask each of my clients if there is something that I could do better or improve upon for future clients, and make sure the clients and their families are happy to the best of my abilities.  I have two big goals I’d like to share, the first one being to impact someone’s marriage in an extremely positive way.  I’m not sure if that would be through prayer, through photographs, through a relationship with wedding or anniversary clients or something else, but I honestly want to make a difference in a positive way in the marriage of my clients.  As a business, my biggest goal would be to eventually be at a place financially where I could support my family and work from home so that I can watch my baby grow up rather than have to look for childcare.  Being with my family is extremely important to me.


What kind of future do you see for Chelsea Anderson Photography?
As for the future, I don’t have any crazy things like a goal to be nationwide, or a popular destination photographer, travel to Europe or anything like that.  Those things would be fun, but the future that I would be happy with is a stable business that serves marriages through beautiful and timeless wedding images or anniversary images.  I would love to have half of my bookings come from anniversaries and for the general population to believe that anniversary images are fully worth the investment.  I believe this with my own heart, and have already invested in anniversary photography myself!

Chelsea, thank you so much for sharing!! And thank you for being such a wonderful, kindhearted friend. <3 font="">

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