Rising Stars: Meet Elena Loeffler

Today we’d like to introduce you to Elena Loeffler.

Elena, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I am an award-winning photographer and specialize in portrait photography and in creating visual content for professional branding. I moved to Raleigh around 3 years ago and have previously lived and worked in Germany, Russia, Brazil, and Spain.

I am originally from Russia and have a Master’s Degree in Political Science, Languages, and Economics and have worked in Germany in the area of Executive Education and Marketing. In the past, I didn’t see myself as a creative person and didn’t have much interest in doing photography. I was concentrated on academics, my career, learning languages, and discovering the world.

My passion for photography started when my husband and I moved for his work to Brazil and I had my first child. Becoming a mother made me see and feel many things differently. It made me slow down and move my focus from the big world to a small world within my family. It made me realize how fast time goes by and how important it is to keep our memories. This was the moment when I took the camera in my hands.

I didn’t have a work permit while we lived in Brazil, so I had time to discover my creative streak. I decided to go to a photography school in Sao Paulo/Brazil, and my journey as a photographer began. There were three years of practicing, experimenting, training my eye, and expanding my skills while traveling internationally to the workshops of the photographers whose work inspired me.

Three years later we moved to Spain where I finally decided to turn my hobby into my profession which I continue to do until this day, now living in the US.

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?
The main obstacle in my photography career was myself. It took me a while until I accepted photography being my profession and not just a hobby. Having two Master’s degrees and speaking five languages I always felt the pressure from myself to get back to the corporate world. At the same time, I knew that it would be hard to combine a corporate job with my family. My husband’s executive job required frequent international travels and from time-to-time relocation to other countries. My kids needed me, especially when we were relocating to another country, and they had to transition to a new environment. Finding my passion in photography seemed to be perfect for our unusual family situation but it took me some years to start taking my photography skills seriously and transforming them into a business.

My photography business is mostly built on recommendations and happy returning clients. Moving to another country was every time challenging and meant giving up my whole client base and my network. When we moved to Spain, or later to the US, I had to start everything from zero in a new place, building a new customer base, and operate my whole business in a new language and new cultural environment and legal framework. These experiences were very enriching, but also challenging.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I specialize in portrait photography and creating visual content for professional branding. I work with my clients on location and have my photo studio located in North Raleigh in Brier Creek. I also travel extensively for my international clients. Besides family, maternity, and newborn photography I like to create contemporary portraits that present my clients from their best side and show their personalities. They are not just headshots taken in a studio. They are portraits that tell stories about the person. Some clients request them to show their unique personality as business owners or as creative people, others for their private portrait collection as an act of self-love.

Contemporary portrait photo sessions require detailed preparation. I need to get to know my subjects, their personality. We plan together their look and the style of the pictures. These photo sessions are in high demand. Many of my clients say that the whole process is therapeutic and seeing the results strengthens their self-esteem.

My branding photo sessions are for entrepreneurs who want to grow their online presence and get equipped with engaging and convincing visual content that reflects their brand. It’s a targeted way to attract ideal clients, gain trust and stand out in a saturated market. Prior to the branding session, I do detailed briefings with my clients: get to know their personal brand, target audience, message to transmit, and, after all, develop a strategy for the visual content.

Branding sessions are one of my favorite sessions because they allow me to be creative and combine my photography skills with my knowledge in marketing and my international experience. Beginning this year, I became a certified member of the international branding agency MIA Agency that proves my expertise in this area.

Throughout my career, my highest priority has always been to develop my skills. My big advantage as a photographer is my international experience. I fluently speak Russian, German, Spanish, English, and Portuguese which gives me access to international resources and allows me to attend masterclasses and workshops all over the world offered by international photographers in their native languages. I follow, network, and work with photographers in different countries and stay always informed of the newest trends in the international photography world. My intercultural experience and interdisciplinary knowledge shaped my creative style and enabled me to develop my own vision through the camera.

Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
What I like about living in the Triangle is the family-friendly atmosphere, the cultural diversity of the people, and the general feeling of progress, development, and growth in the area. This dynamic of the area is very inspiring. We enjoy a lot living and raising our children here.

I moved to Raleigh three years ago from Madrid, Spain. Madrid is a very vivid and dynamic city with a rich culture. A big part of life happens outside of people’s houses: you walk on the street, see people, and talk to people. The contrast to Raleigh was strong. In the beginning, I was wondering about empty streets and people spending a lot of time either in their houses or in the car. Over time I got used to it, but I still miss the energy of the city life and the ability to walk outside while running quick errands. Here you drive by car even for short distances.

Even though the population of the triangle is very international I wish the area would offer more choices for children to properly learn and practice foreign languages. We are raising our kids since birth quadrilingual, speaking German, Russian, Spanish, and English. After we moved to the Triangle, we ran into the problem to maintain and develop their language skills because of the lack of appropriate activities. I am especially surprised about Spanish. Having such a large Spanish-speaking community we still haven’t found any classes for advanced Spanish-speaking students in the area. Schools start offering foreign languages at a very late stage. I think that the importance of learning foreign languages at schools but also in society, in general, is greatly underestimated. I see many families involving their kids in 3-4 different sports activities, but not in learning a foreign language.  I like living in the Triangle a lot and look forward to seeing new educational opportunities coming to the area in the future.

Contact Info:

• Email: lena@loeffler.com
• Website: www.elp-photography.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/elena.loeffler.pro
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/Elenaloefflerphotography