Today we’d like to introduce you to Haley Webster.
Haley, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I was an elementary school teacher here in town and I loved it. My mom was diagnosed with ovarian cancer when I was in college and had been battling it for several years and it was obvious to us that the medical options were coming to an end when my dad was diagnosed with stage 4 colorectal cancer. Very suddenly, it seemed, I lost them both. I continued to teach for about another year, but I think I just felt like my heart wasn’t in it. As all teachers know it’s not just showing up and doing the job, you are emotionally invested in your students and I just thought I needed a little time for myself.
I decided to do something I had always wanted to do which was take some photography classes. I had when I was younger, but I was incredibly rusty. I had always loved photography and I wanted to just do something I enjoyed. I took some film photography classes at Glassell and loved it. While I was there I ended up trying to put some of my pictures up on a free website I had created and reached out to a local photographer to ask if he would be willing to let me tag along for free I would love to help in exchange for learning. He let me tag along for nearly 2 years. It was amazing. His wealth of knowledge and patience while he answered so many of my questions was never-ending. I am forever grateful to Todd.
Somehow I also ended up starting Three Smudges (named for our 3 springer spaniels who were forever leaving their nose prints on our front window). I never intended to start a business and now here I am. I am going on 8 years and it’s been slow growing, but that doesn’t bother me. I have an amazing husband who has always supported me having my own business with my unique business model of trying to be easy, convenient, and cost effective. I realize my clientele is busy moms. So, I know that they don’t have time to come in and sit down and do a meeting to sign a contract, then a meeting to look at all the photos to decide on a package, and then a meeting to come by and preview and pick up their photos… I don’t even have time for that with my two busy boys. What do moms want? They want great family photos that capture emotional milestones of their families in an affordable way so they can do it every year and they want ALL the images so they can tuck them away and know they don’t have to hunt me down later when their kids get married and hope I’m still in business 🙂
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I have had many learning curves along the way.
Equipment failures and technology not going your way are always some of the most frustrating things that can happen. Some things are just out of your hands. I once had an external drive that went corrupt on me and lost half of the images from a shoot I had just done. It was a hard lesson learned because I had not backed up the drive. It was early in the business and I learned from that mistake.
Another thing I am constantly working on is working with many different personalities. I have met some of the most amazing people and many I call friends today. I love getting to grow with the families and THANK YOU to the families who have stuck with me! I have learned so much from when I first started… it’s embarrassing! The hard one for me is working with parents who try to control what’s happening on the shoot. I try to get kids to relax and sometimes to do this I ask them to do silly things. I often will have parents behind me asking kids to stop doing the very thing I am asking them to do. I have to work with all these different folks to find ways to make it work for everyone to get the end results… it has caused me to really work on those communication skills. We can all use a little bit of that in life!
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Three Smudges Photography – what should we know?
Three Smudges Photography is probably something I am most proud of in my life because it is the one thing I think I have done completely all by myself. I don’t mean without the support of others, because that I have certainly had, but I just mean deciding I was going to go to film classes, get an apprenticeship, figure out my little business and then slowly build it. It was all just me slowly grinding away at it.
What I like to think I specialize in is capturing the moments between the smiles. We are all so programmed to look at a camera and smile. It’s very challenging to pretend like that camera is not there- which is my preference. I prefer to spend time with kids/families and get to know everyone and then I like to disappear or if I can’t make that happen I talk to everyone. Once I get a conversation going and we have a relationship you begin to see a softening of the shoulders and the face and you relax into a more natural pose and facial expression. I chase the moments that matter, the ones where you are laughing about something that happened as you tell a story or are reacting to something your kids did. I’m looking for that because that is when you become you and you can always sense it and those are my favorites. I am no longer there and it’s not about me anymore- it is about your family.
I think what sets me apart about others probably starts with my pricing and the fact that I have no issues with selling my images.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
Todd Parker with STP images has been a HUGE mentor. He is also a great friend.
Barrett Webster- Spouse and silent partner (joke on that)
Sandy Wagner- after I botched all my tax stuff she took over and handled it for me and got me all straightened out- she is a god- send!!
Carrie Vallone- she owns Molasses Candy stationary- I wouldn’t be here without her. I was sitting on her couch trying to figure it all out when she told me, “You need to figure it out.” She and I partner together every Christmas. She has an amazing business and she is one of my best friends. I adore her.
Pricing:
- I have two packages you can choose from.
- 425.00 is al a carte- 200.00 for sitting fee and the rest is for prints and jpegs
- 550.00 is full package- 200.00 for sitting fee and the rest is for a thumb drive of all the edited images
- I offer same packages for baby shoots and an additional baby prop shoot at home with a 150.00 charge.
Contact Info:
- Address: 3208 Huntingdon Place
Houston, TX 77019 - Website: www.threesmudges.com
- Phone: 281-731-9381
- Email: haley@threesmudges.com
- Instagram: threesmudges
- Facebook: Three Smudges Photography
- Yelp: Three Smudges Photography
Image Credit:
Three Smudges Photography
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