Today we’d like to introduce you to Becky Dean.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Becky. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I saved all my money and bought my first camera in elementary school, and have loved photography ever since. I joined a photography mentoring group led by a local professional photographer in late middle school and was captivated by the idea of capturing feeling in images. I started photographing a bunch of friends, family, buildings in my neighborhood, and places I visited. My photography hobby grew into a small portrait business that I ran on nights, weekends, and summers when I didn’t have school. One summer night during college, my best friend (now husband) came along to one of my photo sessions after being shocked to find out I ran a side hustle photography business he had never heard about. He came along, held my bags, and watched as I photographed a family. When we left, I’ll never forget the look on his face when he told me that this side hustle was something special. He convinced me to take a college photography class with him, and he’s been coming along to photo sessions ever since. After years of portrait photography experience, we photographed our first wedding together in 2014 and launched our joint photography and design business, Pen and Lens. As our business has grown, I’ve found my sweet spot and deep love for photographing relationships, for having the privilege to make people feel comfortable and beautiful in front of my camera, for showing through photographs the journeys people have been on together, and for capturing the intimacy and joy they share with the people they love most.
Has it been a smooth road?
Running our own business hasn’t always been easy. Since launching our business, we’ve moved several times, including a big move from Chicago to North Carolina for a couple years, then back. With each move, we’ve had to re-establish our client base and it always felt like we were starting from scratch. Without being settled in one geographic location, it’s been hard to let our business grow roots. The other challenge has been balancing our business with my day job. At times during the last few years, it was so difficult to deal with the reality of giving my best working hours to a job that wasn’t as life giving for me as photography.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
My husband and I run a photography and design business called Pen and Lens: “Pen,” for the sketchbook process and artistry that takes place when Kaleb takes his ideas for branding, design, and entrepreneurial ventures and puts them on paper, and “Lens,” for the way my artistic and relational heartbeat come alive when I work with clients and capture their personalities and relationships through my camera. But for us, it’s not just about design and photography. When it comes down to it, our hearts are for people. And when I photograph engaged couples or couples on their wedding day, I get the unique privilege to choose which moments and interactions will remain in photographs and influence others for generations to come. I love to create images that make people feel something.
I run the day to day operations of the photography side of our business, and we specialize in wedding, engagement, and anniversary photography. Most people only get married once. They don’t know a ton about wedding photography and they’re worried they might be kind of awkward in front of the camera. I’ve been there, but I also have a hostess heart and professional experience making people feel welcome and loved enough to be themselves. So I love to educate my clients and guide them to a place where they feel prepared, confident, and comfortable enough for me to deliver beautiful wedding images of them and their tribe. Kaleb and I use our “opposites attract, best friends” personalities to have a blast with our clients on their wedding days and give them images that bring them straight back to the emotions of their wedding day.
Among our wedding photography clients, we’re known for our killer reception dance moves, my ridiculous jokes, and our party trick of taking large group portraits while I sit on Kaleb’s shoulders!
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
The city can be a hard place to start a photography business, especially with the overwhelmingly large network of wedding professionals that already exists. The fun part about a wedding photography business in Chicago is that everyone does it differently. It’s so rewarding to work with clients that connect with our style and business regardless of the amount of options they have for a wedding photographer. If someone was just starting out as a wedding photographer, I’d recommend that they explore and clarify their style and values before they take on Chicago. With such a large pool of wedding photographers in the area, I think we could make a difference in the industry by being more open to mentoring aspiring photographers!
Pricing:
- Your Wedding Investment with us begins at $2795
- Engagement & Anniversary Sessions are $295
Contact Info:
- Website: penandlens.com
- Email: b.dean@penandlens.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/penandlensphotography/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PenandLens/
- Other: www.penandlens.me
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