Today we’d like to introduce you to Ana Pineda-Ponce.
Hi Ana, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I had always had a passion for cameras and recording special moments. When I was 14 years old my mom got me my first digital camera, and I would force my siblings to dress up and take pictures. I just thought it was so fun to create a whole different world through a picture. It wasn’t until I was about 16 years old I was able to buy my first DSL camera. I bought a Nikon and the camera was so big and bulky that it made me feel so professional. Although I did not know much about this camera, I started to learn about it I read the whole manual and I just realized one day that I had this cool official gadget, and that I should take advantage of it and take it more seriously. One of my friends asked me to do his senior photos and he asked me how much I was going to charge, that was when I realized I was going to get paid doing something I loved so much, it felt so UNREAL! I charged him 50$ and I took so many and I edited them on pic monkey, a whole little editing app that helped me so much. Fast forward to college, I had a couple of friends ask me to shoot them and I never charged. One of my friends pushed me and said my work was so good that anyone would pay me for pictures like the ones I took. So in 2016 I took the chance and launched, “The AR Media”. I was so shy to tell everyone that from now on I was going to charge and take photography more seriously, but fortunately, everyone supported me 1000% percent. It soon became my passion to create art and showcase everyone’s true beauty through pictures. I started obsessing over people’s reactions to my work. Today, I am very lucky and blessed to be able to showcase everyone’s beauty, because I truly believe we are all art, and my job is to show you and prove that to you.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Some struggles I’ve had along the way have been not being respected or taken seriously because I am a woman. I’ve gone to countless of parties for event photography where men question my professionalism, and question if I am actually a photographer or not. Another struggle, which I am sure any photographer can relate is people wanting your services, but not respecting your pricing. In the beginning, if I felt like I was going to lose a customer, I would often decrease my price, or make exceptions. But throughout my experience and my professional journey, I have realized my work’s worth. You don’t go to a store and say, ” I really like this shirt, I want it, but I do not like the price. Give me a discount”, so why would I let anyone do that to my work. I feel like at the beginning i was more lenient because I needed experience, but today I feel like you are paying for an experience and if you are booking me, it has to be because you are giving me a chance to make you into art. Not to say that till this day every session teaches me something new, but I feel like I have a good set of skills throughout all this time.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am The AR Media, the name comes from my name Ana Ruby, and I did name it media because although photography is my speciality, I also do content creation, and social media marketing. I think what sets me apart is I do not have a uniform edit style, I kinda just do whatever the vision of my clients are, and if they do not know what they want, we talk and share and bounce ideas until I feel confident that both parties are fully content. I think another thing that sets me apart is my personality, if you are shy if you are nervous, you can definitely count on me to take those “nervios” away! When I work from my home studio, I love to set the tone by playing music and lighting candles. When I am outdoors, I love to introduce myself and take some time to let my clients know that I am there for them, even if it takes us a little longer to feel confident in the poses that is my priority, my clients feel themselves! I feel that as photographers our job is not only to get the right shots and edit, but also to make sure we make our clients feel the most special and dedicate time to setting the vibes so that they are good ones, so we can reflect those vibes on the pictures!
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
I think the biggest risk I have taken are saying no. I think at the beginning I was eager to grow my clientele and I was okay with being “low balled” and being treated poorly, and I put money first. But it quickly started to bother me to the point that it started to make me dislike doing my craft. The biggest risk was saying no to the people who did not want to pay my prices, or that demanded a discount, I was always scared I wasn’t going to get more work if I didn’t let them pay me less, but respecting myself and my work allowed me to see that people that really do want my work will not be difficult. And when I say being treated poorly, I mean sometimes when I would get booked, yes I got paid well, but the people’s ways of doing things created a toxic environment, where I wasn’t able to feel like I could do my work at its full potential. My biggest risk was no longer letting them book me and respecting my mental health and craft. Whereas before I was just going and letting them book me even though I knew we weren’t compatible.
Pricing:
- Graduation Photos: $190
- Couples Shoot: $270
- Editorials: $350
- Headshots: $100
Contact Info:
- Email: ceo@thearmedia.net
- Website: TheARMedia.net
- Instagram: instagram.com/thearmedia
- Facebook: facebook.com/anarubymedia
Image Credits
The AR Media
