Meet Belinda Keller

Today we’d like to introduce you to Belinda Keller.

Hi Belinda, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
I lost my little point and shoot household camera in the snow on a trip to Hawks Nest sometime in 2008 or 2009. Digital cameras were just beginning to become available to the general photography enthusiast and I decided then to buy one. I picked one up at a pawn shop, cheap just in case I didn’t take to it. But I sure did take to it.

I learned everything I know from online photo forums, google searches that started with “how?”, and reversed engineered images I saw and loved. I researched how they were created, and all about the creative ways artists were making images with the settings, lenses, and hour of the day. I was hooked. I am also a part-time actor in theater and film/TV very occasionally, so I had lots of friends who always needed updated headshots, so I practiced on them and soon began a small business charging starving artist fees for headshots made outside of my house.

The white siding of the house made for a great reflector opposite a backdrop stand I put up under a tree that blocked overhead light. Soon I was photographing families, senior portraits, and weddings too. I have in the years since, come back around to shooting headshots for corporate clients, actors, and studio portraits in the studio we created from a one-car garage behind our current house.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I suppose the only struggles were figuring out online marketing, how to get my name out there, deciding the equipment I would need, and of course competition from others who also discovered they too loved photography once it went digital.

But in retrospect, it has been mostly smooth – I educated myself enough to know what this market will allow in pricing, my name started to go around by word of mouth, and I found my groove in working smarter rather than harder. I’m getting older, so the physicality of shooting weddings isn’t practical for me these days, but I still love photographing people in portrait and headshot sessions in and out of the studio.

We have so many lovely locations here: The beach, the huge oaks, parks, the river, downtown, the waterways – it’s all here and easily accessible. I love trying new things in personal works in street photography and fine art as well.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
My work is all about using light, be it natural or studio lights, and feelings to create an image of a person in the most flattering way. Some people – and I am one of them – never take the same photo twice. We are chameleons in a weird way, so most of the time people like us hate our own photos because we never know what we’re going to get!  So it’s this need to have a good, well-lit, nicely angled, and also accurate photo that represents us in the world, especially in this age of the online profile that drives me.

Entrepreneurs and businesses, dating profiles, networking sites, social media, ALL of it uses and depends on imagery. This is how we are seeing each other all over the world. I just believe that everyone should have a good professional, artistically created headshot at least, if not a wall portrait, one that would be updated through the years. Your descendants would be so pleased to see them when researching family history. What sets me apart I think, is the care I take in setting the person at ease with casual conversation and having fun with pretending scenarios that will create the look we want, instead of directing and pointing so much.  That, and in the editing of the face in the resulting photograph. I take a mental image when I see the person, and if there are things in the photograph I see later that I didn’t see before, in person, I edit it out. A photograph is frozen and unforgiving.  In real life, we are moving and talking and certain flaws or shadows come and go from being noticed. So I edit to how I saw that face in person.  I never go too far so as to embarrass anyone, I do keep it real, but if I take your photo you will always look well-rested, hydrated, and sparkly-eyed no matter what you did the night before!

What matters most to you? Why?
What matters most to me is that people are happy with the image of themselves.  I want them to be proud to post it online, use it on business cards, or send it to their agents. If you open your photos and don’t like what you see, come back and tell me where it went wrong and I will reshoot – absolutely.  Look, this world – because it’s so easy today with digital cameras and phone cameras to photograph and post everywhere, every day – is very image-conscious. I just want to help us all look our own best for it.

Contact Info:

• Email: belindakellerphotography@gmail.com
• Website: www.belindakellerphotography.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/belindakellerphotography/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BelindaKellerPhotography