MARIA: Hey, Sue! SUE: Hi maria!
MARIA: I heard you were shooting today, and I wanted to get a behind the scenes.
Do you have time for 21 questions?
Come on in!
MARIA: So, what are you shooting today?
Actually, I've set up a video in a production and a box because we are now preparing our content
for the Portrait Masters Conference Live and Online in September.
And I have to teach all of our instructors how to film their own content.
MARIA: So what type of photography do you shoot?
I am a portrait photographer and I specialize in contemporary portrait.
MARIA: And what got you started in photography?
I just thought it was a pretty cool job. I was 18 years old
and my mum is a professional retoucher.
She taught me, and then I bought a camera that year.
And then I started shooting, and I shot everything that moved.
MARIA: You're a Canon Explorer of Light. Can you tell me what that means to you?
It's kind of like Ferrari asking you to be their Formula 1 driver.
It's an incredible honor.
And after all these years of using their camera it is...
probably the greatest honor you can be given
MARIA: And I know you started in film. What were some of your first cameras, and which was your favorite?
Well, yeah, because I obviously started in 1989.
So, we were medium format Hasselblad 500C.
So, it was the first 12 years of shooting on one of the best film cameras in the world.
And then we started digital at about 2003.
MARIA: And what's your go-to camera and lens now?
My go-to camera and lens now is the Canon 5D Mark IV.
And the 50mm 1.2. That kit there.
MARIA: How did you learn to really perfect your portrait style?
Malcolm Gladwell. Ten Thousand Hours. Practice, practice, practice.
But it's not really about perfection because you never really get to perfection,
It's about finding your joy.
And it's about being so obsessed with it, you just want to keep doing it all the time anyway.
And before you know it mastery is just there.
MARIA: And why portraits and not, say, night photography?
Um...
You know, I dated a landscape photographer once.
Such a boring guy [laughs]
I always joke that the human face for me is the narrative.
I tried shooting everything.
I tried shooting fashion.
I tried shooting landscape.
But the truth is, is a human story
and a human connection is everything I have always loved about portrait.
MARIA: For me, being a woman, I get inspired seeing other successful women in the field.
Why do you think it's important to show representation of women and people of color in photography?
Well women first, I think, because women-owned businesses were definitely important to me.
Representation, diversity because it's real life.
Because when I first came to the US,
and started having conversations, particularly with the black community here,
one of the first things that I was told was
"I didn't grow up seeing women that looked like me in magazines."
And that's--every woman deserves to know how beautiful she is inside and out.
So, it's something that I have pushed into a lot in the last decade.
MARIA: And shooing portraits isn't your only passion, though.
You are huge on education. Why do you think it's important to teach others?
I think that there is a really big difference between being an industry leader or even a speaker,
and then being somebody that is aa actual educator.
I think that if you want to be an industry leader, speaker, influencer,
the opportunity for you to be there is there.
But if you want to truly educate, I think it's a little bit different.
For me, I have an incredibly interesting, fun, successful, profitable, sustainable business model.
I built it myself.
I tailored it to an experience that I knew women wanted. I get paid well.
And I wanted to teach people this business model.
I wanted to retire one day and know that this incredible little business that I created
can be run anywhere in the world
So, that's why I wanted to do it, and that's why I enjoy doing it so much.
MARIA: And, can you tell me what is Portrait Masters?
The portrait masters is a brother company that we created
to extend supervised education for educators outside of me that teach different genres,
that teach things and genres outside of what I teach.
Also, we run our yearly annual in-person conference,
and it's the Portrait Masters Live.
And it's an incredible event!
This year, we're going to be live online.
MARIA: Awesome, and what is your favorite part of your work?
My favorite part is just creating.
I think it's to make anything with my hands.
You forget when you are a photographer you're using this instrument,
but you're still crafting. You're, you know, painting with light.
And you're crafting and you're styling and hands on creating something.
We're creators, and I'm a maker.
And I feel like that is the greatest gift, to be able to make something with my hands.
MARIA: After 30 years in the business, what has been a highlight for you?
[whispers] 30 years...
[sighs]
I think I have achieved levels, like winning international awards are great and being published are great.
But to be truly honest with you i didn't finish high school.
I did not get a high school education or tertiary education.
So, I found my value in mastery, in building a business and mastering photography.
And then, when I felt valuable, I could sell my work,
and I created a business that works.
And when I think of that, that is my ultimate achievement
because I was a poor kid from the wrong side of the tracks,
and I built an incredible business that is successful and fun,
and I want to show up for it every day.
And it was transformative to me as a human being.
MARIA: And what was the most fun shoot you've ever done?
The most fun shoot would have to be Jill in Paris!
So, yes...
Jill had stage four breast cancer,
and she was dying, and she wanted to tell her story.
And, within two days, we had assembled a team of eight female filmmakers and makeup artists.
And we were in Paris, shooting her documentary,
And it was probably the greatest shoot that i've ever done.
MARIA: Wow, that's amazing! And what was the most challenging shoot?
You know I did a commercial shoot once.
I've done one commercial shoot in my life, where I actually--a big shoot.
I got taken to New York by a big advertising agency.
And they laid it all out for me.
And it was in the tens of thousands, and it was the kind of job that you think,
"One day, I'm gonna get a job like that!"
And I hated every second of it!
And it wasn't until I was in that moment that I realized,
"just give me this camera and one woman."
And that is what I want to do all day, every day.
And yeah, I realized sometimes you don't know what you want.
until you go and do it, and then you realize "I don't want to be this!"
MARIA: And, if you could shoot with one lens forever, which would it be?
The 50mm 1.2!
If you said I could only have one,
and I would think about the diversity of it,
I'm going to freak you out and say the kit lens, which is the 24-105.
It's an f/4 lens. It's an L series lens, and it's actually a kit lens,
which means it often comes with the body you buy.
I got the 10D when it first came out.
The canon 10D.
And I built a million-dollar-a-year portrait business on the 10D and a 24-105 kit lens.
I know that lens and camera like the back of my hand.
And I can create anything with it.
MARIA: And, if you weren't a photographer what would you be?
Probably a content creator, a marketing creator, a visual content creator.
I would be creating with words.
Or, um...
It would probably something more in the physical realm.
Just using my physical body, training people or fitness or...
I love moving. I love always being creative.
So it would have to be something that keeps me on my feet and where I'm talking to people
and just out there doing something, always.
MARIA: And, what's the best piece of advice you've ever received?
Oh, that would be "What's in it for me?"
So, I think I got this advice maybe in about 2004 from my then-mentor.
And he said to me, "As you go into business, I want you to always say yes to opportunities,"
"but not until you say in your own mind 'what's in it for me?'"
And, you don't have to say it out loud,
just be mindful that, yes, you can work for exposure,
but someone can always give you something amazing.
They can give you an introduction, a referral. They can give you work.
They can pass you on to a friend. There's always something someone can do for you.
And, when you learn to stand up for yourself in equal exchange,
then you can really get ahead when you're not being paid.
MARIA: That's great advice!
And, aside from your camera, what's your favorite piece of gear?
Oh! It would have to be the, spider holster which I'm actually wearing.
I can't live without it! It changed my world.
It takes all the weight off your neck and shoulders.
And it sort of just keeps it in a good place on my hip.
Um, I love my holster. I think it's versatile.
My phone fits in here.
I've got all the bells and whistles for it.
And it's been the biggest game changer in terms of equipment in the last five years.
MARIA: if there were to be a movie about your life, who would play you?
[laughs]
[sighs]
It would have to be someone that I want to meet, right?
I think I want Sandra Bullock to play me because I want to meet her!
I think Sandra Bullock would be pretty amazing.
I'd like to actually meet her as a person and yeah.
MARIA: That's great. And, who should we interview next?
Ooh...
Karl Ferguson, Jr.
Okay? Karl with a "k"...
"Coral" [laughs]
I say it wrong! Karl!
Karl Ferguson, Jr. is about to blow your mind.
So go immediately check out his Instagram right now.
MARIA: Awesome, I'll let you get back to work.
MARIA: Thank you so much for answering all of my questions!
Thank you. It was a pleasure to have you here!
MARIA: Ok great, bye!