Today we’d like to introduce you to Smitha Mantha.
Smitha, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I started my podiatry private practice just about two years ago, right before Hurricane Harvey. I never actually intended to own my practice. For the longest time, I saw entrepreneurship as an unnecessary burden where I would spend more time worrying about the behind the scene issues rather than actually treating patients. However, when I was let go from the multi-specialty group where I had created my own position by introducing the idea of an in-house specialist in 2017, I had to take a long look in the mirror and make some tough choices. Many times joining an established group as a new provider means that you have to take on a lot of the work that the other providers don’t want to do – activities that included a lot of nights and weekends.
At that time, I had a 9-month-old girl (now I have two girls aged 3.5 years and one year) and I needed to find something that would give me some flexibility. After a few interviews with practices where I just didn’t see myself flourishing, I made the decision to go out on my own. I didn’t really do it on my own, of course. Behind every entrepreneur, there are so many influencers, both mentors that inspire us and give us a kick swift when we need it and the encouragers who give us a hug and urge us to get back on our feet. And then there are the haters. Sometimes they are the ones that give you the hottest fuel to succeed just to prove them wrong! Currently, I see patients in two locations in Houston – one on the southwest side right across from the memorial Hermann southwest hospital, and one in the south loop close to NRG stadium.
Physician burnout is a hot topic nowadays, and just about every one of my colleagues in medicine has something that they do on the side – sometimes totally unrelated to healthcare. For me, photography is that- an escape, a chance to use the left side of my brain, a way to stimulate a different part of myself using art rather than science. It started, as I suspect many photography careers do, with the desire to catalogue every moment of my kid’s life. My husband and I had hired the most fabulous photographers for our wedding and for my maternity and newborn shoot with my first kid. They cost a pretty penny, but to me it was worth it. After all, what really is the cost to preserve for a lifetime the most fleeting but important times of our lives? When I lost my job, however, it pushed me to do the milestone shoots for myself. So that’s where Vibrant Palette Photography started, planning both a studio and a beach cake smash for my baby girl who was turning 1! From there, I started getting requests – other cake smashes and milestones to start, but also maternity, newborn, family, holiday photos, fashion, events and most recently- Boudoir shoots! OOOH, I love the boudoir shoots! Shooting strong women who are confident in their own skin – what’s not to love?
Has it been a smooth road?
Being your own boss has its perks, but it’s rarely a smooth road. With my podiatry practice, one of the largest hurdles (besides getting patients in the door) was getting credentialed with all the major insurance providers out there and just learning the nonmedical part of running a practice. Generally speaking, most doctors don’t get a lot of practice management experience during medical school and residency – we’re mostly focused on trying to get as many cases as we can, to learn as much as we can. It took me a while to get my head out of the sand and realize that to run a business, I would need to be more involved in the non-medical aspects of a medical practice. I hired some great people, and let the experts do what they do best. You’ll still find me staying late in clinic though, verifying insurance benefits and going over claims. I try to keep my finger on the pulse of my practice.
With vibrant palette photography, the growing pains stem largely from the inescapable difficulty in trying to grow two businesses at once. That, and also the disbelief I get from interested parties when I tell them I’m a doctor slash photographer. I used to try to use my words to explain how serious I was about photography. Nowadays, I just use my pictures to show that my commitment to my photography clients is the same as to the patients that I treat. It’s also difficult with a full-time job to do a shoot for clients who also have a full-time job! I don’t have my own studio – my first love is to do shoots outdoors in natural light, but I also will set go and do a full studio set up in a client’s home to get a different feel.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
As I was saying before, I do a lot of work with my own private practice. Frequently I will be the one that speaks to the patients on the phone, I will be the one verifying the insurance benefits, I will be the one writing the prescriptions, taking the X-rays, explaining the X-rays to the patients and doing all the fittings for braces and boots. In the current climate of our American medical industry with reduced reimbursements from insurance companies, doctors are forced to see more patients in less time to stay ahead of their overhead. This makes quality time with your provider more and more of a rarity. Taking care of the smaller details myself means that I have more face to face time with my patients, which also cuts down on miscommunication and leads to better patient outcomes.
When I was shopping around for a maternity and newborn photographer, I found that most photographers have a very strong style- bright, moody, vibrant. You looked for the photographer that matched what you wanted. I found, however, that I had a knack for creating and bringing to life the vision that my client wanted- whatever scene that may be. I’ve shot sunny glamping style cake smashes in the park and crisply artistic studio setups that I created and brought to the client’s home. I’ve shot overcast and light-bulb lit holiday scenes at a local pub and moody boudoir shoots at an industrial loft. I love the idea of sampling different ideas, playing different parts to bring to life what my clients want. I also make an effort to bring my bedside manner as a physician and apply it to my skills as a photographer. I get to know my clients, their wishes and ideals and try to put them at ease to bring about a more relaxed and natural shoot.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Houston is such a diverse city! It’s ginormous and sprawling, but at the same time niche professions are small worlds and everyone seems to have at least heard of everyone else. I think one is the most important thing is to start with a teacher, a guru, a mentor – someone who has inspired you and knows the trade…maybe they’ve even been burned a couple of times but came out out fire successfully.
I also think it’s important to have two strong qualities:
Adaptability
I had a teacher in residency that who would love to say that “nothing in life was as permanent as change” He was talking about life in medicine, but I feel like its a statement that can be applied to photography, and any other profession for that matter. I was so reluctant and fearful in the beginning to strike out on my own. If I hadn’t been laid off, there’s no way that I would have started my own podiatry practice… or even started exploring photography as a profession either! It felt such a misfortune at the time, but when that door shut it opened not one but two windows for me. The difference between a good photographer and a great one rarely comes down to the better camera or equipment (although that helps too!) It’s often a matter of perspective. When an exposed brick wall suddenly appears on your road to success, will you give up? Or will you find someone to take a few headshots of you in front of it, maybe even set up some lighting and find a model to do an industrial photoshoot?
Authenticity
Oscar Wilde said, “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken”. It’s such simple advice, but it can be quite difficult to follow. It’s very important to me to be honest to myself, about myself. In medicine, this boils down to transparency and education. I always encourage patients to have a login with their insurance carriers so that they can stay on top of their EOB’s (estimation of balance). I also start the discussion part of a consultation with an anatomy lesson that addresses the underlying problem rather than just the symptom. With photography, I do find myself playing a role for a client, usually to get them to feel the mood of their chosen shoot. The enthusiasm I show, though, is 100 genuine! At the end of the day, I have to remember that I am a role model and one of the biggest influences in how my girls view themselves as strong women. And after all, monkey see monkey do!
Pricing:
- Advantage Foot Care of Houston – insurance fee schedules apply. For cash pay patients, an initial consult is $250. Procedures may be extra.
- VP Photography- full packages (1.5-2.5 hours) start at $450. Half packages (45 min to 1.5 hrs) start at $250. The package pricing will vary with quantities of prints released.
Contact Info:
- Address: Advantage Foot Care of Houston
1. 8313 southwest freeway
suite 105
Houston, TX 770741. 8968 Kirby Dr.
Houston, TX 77054 - Website: VP Photography – www.vibrantpalette.com; www.footcareofhouston.com
- Phone: AFCH- 832-835-1442; VP Photography 214-335-7585
- Email: AFCH- doctor.mantha@gmail.com / VPP~ smitha@vibrantpalette.com
- Instagram: @vibrantpalette
- Facebook: Vibrant palette photography
Image Credit:
Vibrant palette photography
Suggest a story: VoyageHouston is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
