Today we’d like to introduce you to Daniela Sinuela.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I’m from Chile, I’ve been in Chicago for three years because my husband came to study to the University of Chicago, and we sold everything we had back there to come here without knowing for how long we were going to stay.
I’ve been interested in photography since I was a kid, I learned with an old Nikon SLR camera the belonged to my mom that I brought to every vacation with my family or friends.
Back in Chile, I was a mining engineer (Chile is the biggest producer of Copper in the world), and I used to work in an office, from Monday to Friday, from 9 am to 6 pm.
As I worked as an engineer, I never had much time to dedicate to photography, but with my first salary, I bought my first DSLR and did a small course of basic photography before going on vacation to Southeast Asia on 2010, were I took 7600 photos in three months! My husband (boyfriend at that time) had to be very patient because I stopped in every corner to take pictures of everything that I could.
When I first came to Chicago, I didn’t plan to find a job as an engineer, and I gave myself the opportunity to dedicate time to my real passion. I studied and upgraded my equipment and started to take pictures of friends, pregnant friends, friend’s babies, and suddenly people started to ask me for photography services and that is how my business started 2 and a half years ago. The first year all of my clients were students from the University of Chicago, hiring me for maternity, family or engagements photos. Little by little my business started growing and expanding to people from other places.
Now, I do family sessions, maternity, engagement, newborns, headshots, and sometimes I do events. I also love to travel and make some street photography, but that’s just for me, not part of my business.
I live in Downtown Chicago, I love this city and during my first year here, my favorite thing to do was to walk around the city and take pictures of places, people, and mostly of The Bean. I fell in love with it the first time I came to Chicago in August 2014. It was love at first sight!
This last summer, I did several family sessions at The Bean when it’s nobody there, I think it became kind of my signature, and I love it!
Has it been a smooth road?
Not at all. The biggest challenge has been to start my business with a very limited network of people. This is a business that depends on people knowing who you are and what you do, but when we got here three years ago, we didn’t know anybody.
At first, I mostly interacted with people related to the University of Chicago, so I started telling what I do and offering sessions (even for free) to start building a portfolio and a network. After some time, I joined Fit4Mom Chicago Loop, first taking classes and then as a certified instructor, where I met an amazing new group of moms. From there, word of mouth, social media and some very happy customers has really helped to expand my network.
Another challenge was to overcome the idea that I was not ready to build something from scratch and offer a service of something I was still in the process of learning, and still am. But the constant positive feedback I get from my clients and from other photographer friends has given me a push to continue, keep learning and believe that I can fully dedicate to this.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
My business is called Daniela Sinuela Photography. I’m specialized in family photography, babies, kids, newborns, maternity, headshots… sometimes, I also do events, birthday parties, but what I like most are family portraits, where besides the families, the light is the star of the session. I love natural light and I love to look for the light and use it in my favor.
Last year, I took some pictures of my son at The Bean, with nobody around. Since that session, I get a lot of parents that want that same type of pictures for their “Chicago Babies”. I’ve also made some engagement and family photoshoots in which they have this giant steel sculpture for themselves! And they are so happy with the result, totally worth the sacrifice of waking up really early and be the first one in the scene. But I’m not only about the Bean. I’ve learned my way around the city and have found gorgeous places to have my sessions, highlighting other landmarks of the city as well as hidden gems not very well known.
Something that I do with my clients, is to meet with them and get to know them a little bit before their photoshoot. I think it’s really important for me and for them to have a first impression of each other, it makes everyone feel more comfortable the day of the session, so it’s not a complete stranger in front of you with a huge camera. That could be kind of weird right? And also it’s helpful for me, so I can have an idea of what are they looking for, we can share some ideas of what they like and don’t like. If they have little kids they can tell me about their temper, what time of the day is the best for them, their favorite toys and songs (yes, sometimes the photoshoot includes puppet performance, bubbles and singing, haha). So it doesn’t matter if it’s a couple, a family with little kids or an expecting mom who wants newborn pictures. I try to meet them before. It’s funny, but I’ve even become good friends with some of my clients after their sessions.
I’m proud of how I’ve been improving, and getting people to trust me and recommend my work. I think that’s the best signal! When your clients recommend you to their friends, and share so proudly the images that you took and worked in with such dedication, it means that you’re doing a good job.
I think portraits, any kind of portraits, are really important, to immortalize moments that are never going to happen again. Kids grow so fast! We change so fast, time flies and from one day to another in your family portrait there are 5 family members instead of 3. Or sometimes a member of the family is sick, or very old, and you want to have beautiful memories of them and of how your life is with them, and I think it’s really important to have that moments captured as well.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Absolutely! In the city they are thousands of places to use as location for photo shoots, of any kind. And there is always people looking for photographers, for different occasions and of different styles. We live in such a beautiful city that I think the best you can do is immortalize every corner of it!
Contact Info:
- Phone: 3128741568
- Email: danielasinuelaphotography@gmail.com
- Instagram: @danielas_ph
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/danielasinuela.photography/
Image Credit:
Daniela Sinuela Photography
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