Today we’d like to introduce you to Abby Straub.
Hi Abby, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I shot my first wedding as a 6-year-old flower girl. I used every disposable camera at the reception and relished capturing everything I could (back when disposable cameras were on every table at weddings, let’s bring that trend back?!). However, I first picked up a more “real” camera as part of an extracurricular I was in during my freshman year of high school. For the next year, I begged for my first camera and got a beginner DSLR for my birthday. I immediately dived in and learned how to shoot in manual with my friends being my models and muses. I continued shooting friends and seniors throughout high school, but really lost touch with it as I entered college. As luck would have it though, my college was hiring a student photographer and I knew I had to apply for the position. That job definitely made me remember why I loved photography in the first place and showed me how great event photography is specifically. That led to me shooting my first official wedding in the fall of 2018 and by a few weeks later I had filled my shooting schedule with 2019 weddings while juggling being a college student. I took my business full-time in the fall of 2020 and turned it into a 6-figure venture within a year of that. It’s been a very busy time, but I get so much fulfillment from making photography a fun and stress-free part of a couple’s wedding day. Every busy moment is worth it to be able to archive these memories for my clients!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
There are always struggles on the entrepreneurial road to success. Burn out and imposter syndrome specifically afflicts creatives on the daily, as so much of our work involves comparing ourselves to competitors and filling our schedules to the breaking point to balance having an off-season. For me, those times I’ve felt burnt out or have gotten lost in the comparison game are minor compared to the joy shooting a wedding day brings.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a wedding photographer and entrepreneur based in Minneapolis, MN. My photography business, Abigail Ann Photography, normally captures 40+ weddings/year in and around the Twin Cities. I think my clients would say I’m most well known for my upbeat attitude, awful jokes, saying the word “Perfect!” WAY too much when shooting, and for being a wedding day timeline master. I’m proud of always putting my clients’ needs, wants, and priorities before anything else on a wedding day and most of all, I’m proud to make people feel beautiful in their photos.
Legacy Bridal is a new venture of mine, focused on helping brides make a statement with their wedding day look(s) through amazing veils, capes, and other accessories. This grew from a life-long love of fashion and from seeing firsthand the shortcomings in the bridal accessories market. Stay tuned for our launch in Summer 2022!
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
I’d say luck has had less of a role in my business success than saying “yes” to myself has. Before the very first wedding I second shot, I almost didn’t throw my name in the ring to be hired by the main photographer. But I said “yes, you can do it” to myself and I shot that wedding, confirming for me that this was a career I was meant to pursue. It’s been hard to say “yes” and give myself permission to believe in my skills and dreams at several crucial points in the progression of my business, but my husband was always there to support and say “yes” for me at times where I couldn’t because of self-doubt or other reasons.
Similarly with my new business, I had to give myself permission to pursue that dream without hesitation. No luck involved, but instead overcoming my tendency to say “No, the timing isn’t right” or “No, I’m not good enough to do this” and switching to “Yes, I can do this” and “Yes, this opportunity was meant for me”. Personally, this was a very difficult but also very liberating mental shift.
I really don’t believe much in luck aside from that “luck” is inherent with privilege. I have luck in that I was born white and middle-class. Otherwise, I think much of what we attribute as luck truly is the outcome of hard work and maybe some extensive networking. In woman-owned businesses especially, I feel that it’s easy to chalk up success to “Oh, she was just lucky” and not praise the hard work and ingenuity it takes to run a business. No one looks at a business owned by a man and says “Oh, he was just lucky”.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.abigailannphoto.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abigailannphoto/
