Brooke Mayo: Diving Doggies
Coming to MTPPA in April 2011
Brooke answered a few questions for us about her life and passions. As a photographer, business owner and now new mommy, Brooke is a busy women. Recently named #7 Artistic Wedding Photojournalist in the World, I would say this woman has gotten a few things right! She is going to share her passion with us…photographing DOGS? Wait a minute…DOGS?
Brooke has turned her love for these loving animals into a passion and a BOOK! Check out her website to learn more about her http://brookemayoblog.com/
What is your favorite subject to photograph?
As much as I love photographing weddings and families, doggie friends are my favorite! All three of these are high action and so much fun, but dogs give the most unexpected and surprising expressions, ones that you might not notice if you aren’t photographing them, they are so quick and funny!
How is it becoming a mom and managing a business at the same time?
I’m really taking to heart the phrase, “every time you say Yes to one thing, you are saying No to something else.” We’re being pickier about who we work with and when we work, and so far, it’s been a great thing! I started this last year when I found out I was pregnant and I have had the most amazing clients ever this year!!
So far, it’s much easier to work and be a mom than I thought, she stays with her daddy while I’m at shoots or meetings, thank heavens for a supportive and loving hubby!! When I’m doing computer work she sleeps on my lap on a Boppie. I’m sure this is going to get increasingly more difficult as she gets more active, crawls, walks and talks! However, the first couple of months have been amazing so far! I was soooo scared having her the end of April, I was worried I wouldn’t be able to make it to my weddings in May. I had a wedding scheduled the day after she was due in April that my associate, Carrie, photographed for me in Vegas. My first wedding back was May 15th, when she was 3 weeks old. They were happy if I couldn’t make it and Carrie would shoot it, however, I reallllly wanted to go! My mom went with us and watched her while we were working. As hard as we were trying to have a baby in the off season, January or February, it’s turning out to be perfect having her now. I will be much less busy when she is starting to walk and crawl and while she’s so little I can still get my work down without having to completely rearrange our lives. We are thinking we will be able to go the first year without having to have a sitter during the days while we work, which would have been impossible if we had her in the winter. I was super lucky to have such a great pregnancy and birth so I was able to go back to work so quickly.
What’s the best thing you have done to promote yourself/business?
Most of our business is by word of mouth and repeat clients. We send thank you letters the day after the shoot to all our clients and client’s parents (weddings and portraits.) We also send all the vendors we work with a high res disk of all images they helped to create on the day of the wedding so they have photos of their work. We send thank you cards to new vendors we work with saying how much we enjoyed them and what a great job they did, vendors we work with all the time, we send emails to saying how fun it was to see them again. We send anniversary cards to all our couples and include a gift certificate good for $100 off their next portrait shoot that year, as well as email updates throughout the year. We find when we send out an email to everyone to tell them what’s happening with us, we get several bookings or orders from those clients in the next few months.
Do you belong to any groups/organizations where you have fellow photographers to back you up and encourage you? Have they been important to you?
Outside of the fabulous PPA, ASMP and WPPI, I’m in a group called the PhotoGirls. The three organizations mentioned above are amazingly helpful and wonderful, but they aren’t active in our area… the closest place to go to meetings is 3 hours away. The PhotoGirls are a group of about 15 women located all over the country who openly share ideas. We get together once a year for a workshop and a different gal plans it each time. This year we will be going to the Dominican Republic. We were supposed to go back when the earthquake hit but are postponing it until November. We email each other first if we need a second shooter, backup or have any questions or advice to offer. It’s been really helpful since becoming a mom, most the women in it are mothers and offer sooo much support!
What’s your favorite thing to do to relax?
To relax I love to go boat riding, bike riding or swimming, all with wine included.
What are your goals for this year?
My goal for the upcoming year is to channel my experiences in publishing into tutorials and workshops for my fellow photographers. Publishing is a daunting, but rewarding venture, and I would like to create a “roadmap” for future authors.
Do you have a studio or do you work from your home?
I have a home office, I don’t meet clients here as it doesn’t have a private entrance. However, I only meet with 4-5 clients each year. Most of my couples come from out of state and we will have phone dates and email but I usually meet them for the first time during their Loverbuns (engagement) shoot or at their wedding. Especially since having a baby, I have loved having a home office.
How did you get into photographing underwater dogs?
My career as a photographer started with dancers, not dogs. It wasn’t until I trained a lens on my first rescue pup that the picture became clear: these animals make perfect subjects, full of life and emotion.
I got my first dog as an adult, Jay P. Bird from the pound the day after three men tried to break into my house. I went looking for the scariest looking dog possible, I found him. He was a brindle pit/ boxer mix, he grabbed my heart when I walked in. He was the only one who wasn’t barking or bouncing around, he stood and watched me walk up and down the halls and then he let me pick him up. Once we got home, I went to take a shower and he picked up all the clothes off of my floor covered himself in my bed. When I got out of the shower, he poked his head out of the clothes. It was love for both of us. Jaybird was older when we got him and he only lived a year.
Our next pup was Weezy, she is a brindle boxer. We got her when she was 8 weeks old, her first day home, she went swimming. She loved to carry a soccer ball, which at that time, was sooooo much bigger than her! Eventually, she grew a bit larger and would carry the soccer ball into the sound and float on top of it, she’d shove it under her belly and drape herself over it. As comical as it was above water, I wondered what she’d look like from below water. I never got that photo as she hates the pool and the sound is too murky for me to shoot in. From there, I began to wonder what other doggies looked like underwater.
What’s easier to photograph…dogs or kids?
Goodness, they are both sooo different to work with, it’s hard to say which is easier. Kids are easier because they can talk and understand you, you can play games with them and they are generally a ton of fun! They both run around like wild fire and love to be chased, dogs last longer though, you can photograph them through their hyperness until they sleep. Kids will usually “melt down” and while a few crying and screaming photos are sweet and funny, I don’t want too many. Dogs will calm down, sleep, roll over, stretch out and then be back in the game and all these stages are funny and cute in different ways.
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