Rangefinder Magazine
March 2006

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Profile: Angela Carson Peter Kotsinadelis
 

“It’s all about relationships!” If there is one thing you learn talking with Angela Carson, it is that she believes this adage is the key to her success. Of course, once you see Angela’s images, you quickly realize that her talent plays a large part in her success, as well. This down-to-earth photographer holds a degree in photography, but is quick to point out that her style is more a result of the school of hard knocks than anything else.

Early in her career, Angela was busy photographing weddings and various events while learning what she could about portrait photography in her free time. Before long Angela made the shift from primarily photographing weddings to photographing children and families. She truly enjoys working with children, meeting people, and building relationships, something she attributes to her upbringing. “I grew up in a large Greek family, not much different from the one in the movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding. I build relationships with my clients, and they become part of my extended family.” This so-called extended family has undoubtedly benefited Angela—70% of her annual clients are returning clients.

Angela’s approach to the business of photography is simple. “Are you building the business you want to have or simply just doing business?” This is the question she asks almost daily in all aspects of running her studio. Her growing business and award-winning portraits are a testament to this maxim. She built her studio because she wanted to have something that truly suited her style. Angela Carson Photography resides in a large, renovated, 100-yearold Victorian home located in the business district of historical downtown Northville, Michigan. The studio provides some 3200 square feet of space distributed over three floors. On the first floor are Angela’s camera room and a wraparound porch she often uses for portraits. The second floor is a custom-designed natural light room for photographing, while the third floor—“The Loft” as Angela prefers to call it—is a portrait studio occupied by her husband, photographer Steve Post. “It’s a very cool space for photographing high school seniors,” Angela says.

She and Steve met through a mutual photographer friend. After dating for two years they started working together and six months later they married. Angela notes, “Steve had a studio on the other side of town and since the third floor was not completely renovated, the timing was perfect.” A computer programmer in a previous life, Steve wrote the studio’s management and database software. He has also taken his programming knowledge and developed a digital workflow program called Backup And Burn. And although Steve originally developed the software for personal use, after showing it to some colleagues, he found that they wanted it too. More information about the software can be found at www.back upandburn.com.

Creating value is another key component to Angela’s success. She believes that attention to detail in properly marketing your services is fundamental to a studio’s success, something she readily speaks about in her seminars. When black-and-white portraiture began regaining popularity, Angela quickly noted the trend and included it in her portrait discussions with her clients. She also made sure that her website was updated with quality black-and-white portraits. As Angela points out, “The value is in the details.”

Angela’s photographic style has earned her portraits a number of awards. Discussing how she developed her style, she points to some of her biggest influences: Monte Zucker, Joyce Wilson, Bruce Hudson and Lizbeth Guerrina. “Each of them has a style of his or her own, and understanding those styles helped me in creating my own.” Angela’s portraits are what she likes to call “casual classic,” meaning classic in style, but casual in appearance. Angela’s unique approach to photographing children is one that seems to bring out a child’s individual personality. “Hey, I am a big kid myself and really enjoy children. They are just so real and honest in everything they do that photographing them becomes more fun than work.” Most of Angela’s portraits are taken with a Bronica SQ and 150mm lens on negative film. Her assistant is always present to lend a hand and help get the right expression, allowing Angela to concentrate on capturing just the right look. “Sometimes you can’t do it all alone,” she says.

The studio uses Art Leather albums exclusively. Angela believes that image is everything, and you should always put out your best. The Art Leather products have a consistent quality that never disappoints Angela or her clients. “Many of our clients invest in albums to display our portraits of their children as they grow. All appreciate the high quality, knowing the albums will still look good year after year as they add new portraits to them.”

While Steve and Angela shoot primarily on film, they have found digital photography ideal for some of their newer products. “Digital works well for our ‘day in the life’ series of portrait albums for children and families. It is also perfect for birth announcements, holiday cards, and our personality panels where we print several different expressions.”

Angela believes that the more she gets to know her clients, the better her portraits will be. “It’s all part of the relationship. The better I know the person, the better I see them photographically.” And the more Angela’s clients get to know her, the more they like what they see.

Angela Carson will be presenting a program at WPPI 2006 entitled, “Be the Expert,” on Sunday, April 9. Her program will be in BALLY’s in the Las Vegas Rooms 5–7, 8:30–10:30 a.m.