Today we’d like to introduce you to Laura Morsman.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Laura. So, let’s start at the beginning, and we can move on from there.
Being a self-taught photographer/business owner, I really never meant to start a business and never imagined being a photographer! I went to college to study psychology and art therapy for young people going through trauma, and up until my senior year at university, that was where my mind was at as far as where my career direction was! I actually ended up leaving my senior year due to the sudden loss of my closest childhood friend, and after leaving the school and moving back to my hometown, I had no idea what my life would hold for me in the years to follow!
Shortly after leaving college, my parents adopted my baby brother and sister in 2008, I couldn’t help but step in to document their beautiful lives as thoroughly as I could, and that’s where it all began! It was a source of emotional healing for me after losing my friend, and in the process, I began to learn photography and image editing without realizing it while photographing my brother and sister, Macy and Solomon.
Without the loss and then the new life brought into my world through my brother and sister, I am not sure I would have ever thought to have picked up a camera and document this world. Experiencing the contrast of loss and life in such polarizing ways really helped me begin to heal from the experience of sudden loss and the inevitable grief that would follow.
I approach photography as a bystander/documentarian, recording your moments in the way you authentically remember them as non-influenced, natural, moments. I have always loved working with people, coming from a psychology background as well as a customer service background, photography never felt like a job, it felt like a moment connecting with the rest of the community around me in a truly life-honoring way.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Since starting my business full time, I have always lived with a mentality that is commonly referred to as “imposter syndrome,” meaning that you are waiting for others to “figure you out” or for others to realize that you truly aren’t qualified to be doing what you’re doing. Of course that’s often times not true, and although it can be translated into someone who possibly doesn’t see themselves as being qualified, or someone struggling with confidence, I don’t connect with either, but rather that I really can’t believe that I get this opportunity to do what I do, and have it be something that supports me.
I think in order to maintain a healthy, (mostly) non-anxiety inducing mental perspective of my business, I treat it as something that is a passion, a privilege and not a permanent identity for myself. Staying in that mindset has helped me keep a balance between being fully enveloped in what I love and connecting with my clients on a deeper level, without going down a bit of self-doubt and despair at the thought that if I didn’t get to do this forever, I would no longer have a purpose.
Don’t get me wrong, I would absolutely love to be photographing people’s lives forever, 100%, but for me personally, it helps my soul not to feel like I have nothing else to offer this world but my abilities in photography which in turn adds to the love put into what I do that goes beyond the images produced from it. I have always said since the beginning that it’s more about people than the images, and that’s still true today.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Laura Morsman Photography takes editorial aesthetics and applies them to whatever we photograph- be it a wedding, a family session, a branding session for a large or small company, we approach it with a high-end and stylistic approach and feel.
We are known for our fashion photography, our street fashion photos at New York Fashion Week, as well as our portraiture of children and families!
Something I take a lot of pride and love within my business is that our clients often times become people that are in our life forever. We value them, and we cherish their stories. We get the opportunity to watch a life cycle and watch people grow as families, as businesses, as business owners, creators, and as friends.
Photography can empower, bring together, and connect us, or even help connect us to emotions that are hard to channel at times. It is truly the best feeling to connect with your clients on a level that goes beyond the images.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
One of my favorite memories from childhood would be when my father took me to New York and Europe when I was in middle school/early high school.
Being homeschooled through my sophomore year of high school, I had the flexibility to go on business trips with my father. Getting that chance to see the world at such a young age truly affected my perspective of my little world. The experience of other cultures, other norms, other people was vital in my life perspective moving forward.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.lauramorsmanphotography.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @lauramorsmanphotography
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/lauramorsmanphotography
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