Today we’d like to introduce you to Meredith Paulcheck.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Meredith. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I have always been into the arts. In my youth, I loved to paint. It was the biggest passion in my life growing up. It served as a great medium to help me process my feelings. As the years went by, my interest in my artistic side waned as other priorities began to take precedent. Once I entered my 30’s, I went into a new phase in my life, Motherhood. The greatest adventure I have ever been on. I thought everything would be perfect, just like a photograph… boy o’ boy did I have on rose-colored glasses. Once I had my first child, I fell off the “deep end” into the land of postpartum. It was truly one of the most challenging experiences in my life. I have never felt such a suffocating darkness all around from me. In addition to seeking out therapy to help me cope, I decided it was time to pick up a hobby so I could process my thoughts and feelings.
From my experience, I knew that there was no better way to mend a broken heart than with art. So I went to a pawn shop, bought a cheap film camera, and enrolled in classes at a local community college. At that point, the only time that I had picked up a camera was to get a quick shot of my friends or my family. The experience of learning to take pictures on film was truly awe inspiring. The part that I enjoyed the most was be able to develop my own film. When you take a picture on film, one has to take great care because you can’t see what you have captured until the picture is developed. With every roll I developed, it felt like Christmas morning! Each image I was able to capture began to be more and more artistic than the previous one.
One of my last assignments for my course was develop images that could convey or capture feelings. Due to everything going on in my life, I had a lot of different emotions and feelings that I could capture and put into my work. I decided to take everything I was feeling and put it into that roll of film. Everything that I had inside of me, the sadness, regret, happiness, anger, just started to come out of me and the more pictures that I took, the more that I could feel these feelings emerge from me and my camera.
I put all of my energy into this final assignment. To me, this was more than just taking pictures of my child or a landscape. My whole thought process changed to consider how to convey what it was that I was feeling and how I could manipulate the light and my subject to capture that feeling. As I began to methodically go through steps of that the process, the results were amazing! My professor reviewed my work and suggested that I enter my final assignment into an end of the year showcase showing off all of the talents of those attending the school of art. Not only was I able to capture my feelings and evoke feelings from others, I also received first prize in the showcase and received many accolades from my peers and the faculty. I remember feeling so proud because I opened up a piece of me to the world that I was trying to hide. It helped me pick through the pieces of what was going on both internally and externally, and helped to bring perspective to what was going on around me. This culmination of my thoughts and skills, became a part of who I was. I realized at this point that I wanted to capture these special moments not just of my life but of those around me, so I became a photographer.
I started off with a select group of clients that were close personal friends and helped to capture the special and happy moments in their lives. It became so rewarding and fulfilling to give myself to clients and share their joy, so I kept going forward and expanding the reach of my business. I feel like it’s not only been transformative for me but it has lead me to meet some fantastic people and has made me a better person overall. I absolutely love what I do!
Has it been a smooth road?
The road has been filled with twists and turns. My biggest struggle is telling people, no. There eventually came a point where I realized I was not spending enough time with my family. I quickly realized, that my photography was more about the art that trying to fill up my spare time. As a result, I stopped advertising and became a referral only business.
We’d love to hear more about your work.
I specialize in maternity, family lifestyle and childhood photography. I think what sets me apart from other photographers is that I am able to really connect with my clients and capture the moments of joy and happiness of that moment in their life. I see them for who they are and bring out the best of their personality. I try to not just give clients snapshots but pieces of art that have a little piece of myself woven into them.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I think the photography industry will always have a place in people’s lives. With everyone having the ability to take high quality photos at their fingertips, you will see more and more photographers being successful that take photos as an art form and not just merely capturing an image.
Taking family portraits can be stressful. The challenge that most people do not think about is how to manage all the components that goes into capturing the essence of each individual in that family. Often times, children need to be distracted by someone different from their parents. Even parents need someone to make them laugh during a session to get through the challenge of their children not listening to them or looking all over the place except into the lens. One thing I always make sure to share with my clients, is that taking pictures of my own children is even more challenging that taking pictures of theirs. My two boys always keep me on my toes.
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