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Tamara Lackey
Igniting Passion in all Aspects of Her Profession
By Christy Rippel
Tamara Lackey is a study in contrasts. The Durham, NC-based photographer's talent
as an artist is plainly evident in her portfolio. Her photographs are inspired—and
she commands rates that only the most elite photographers in the business can. But
talk to Tamara and you quickly understand that this artist is whip smart, and as
fiercely driven and analytical as any top businesswoman. Tamara's talent, coupled
with her business savvy, has catapulted her to the upper echelon of the photography
world in a mere six years.
In 2002, Tamara was living in her hometown of San Francisco with her husband. She
had experienced success in the business world, having worked at Accenture, a consulting
firm, and in executive recruiting. When she became pregnant with her first child she
took some time away from her desk to re-evaluate her life's direction.
"I recognized that photography was what I really wanted to be doing," says Tamara.
She was ready to turn her hobby into a career, and went about it the way she does
everything else—with steadfast commitment. "I read every book about photography that
I could find, anything that I could get my hands on," she says. She ran the numbers,
and knew a move to a less-expensive city would give her the time she needed to get
her business off the ground. She and her husband settled on Chapel Hill, NC a move
that proved right on the money.
Building a Studio and a Team
When she arrived in Chapel Hill, Tamara worked from a studio on the third floor of
her home. She soon found she needed more space and took over another bedroom for
framing—then another for client meetings. "I eventually took over the whole house,"
she laughs. "When I was dealing with dog hair in frames, I knew it was time to go."
Her growing pains coincided with the opportunity to rent commercial space in one of
nearby Durham's most desired shopping centers. "I recognized the tremendous marketing
opportunity [of the location]," Tamara says. "I pulled the trigger on it immediately."
Tamara began hiring additional photographers, one at a time, and now has a team of
primary shooters, including senior associate Rachel Garrison, who has been with the
studio for about three years. Each photographer has his or her own package rates,
based on individual level of experience. Tamara also hired Lisa Walter, the studio's
director, whose increasing role in the day-to-day logistics, client relationship
management and business operations has allowed Tamara to do more of what she loves.
"I've surrounded myself with smart people, who have freed me up to be more creative,"
she says. In addition to employing a strong team, Tamara is constantly evaluating her
processes in order to work smarter and more efficiently. For example, she recently
married her blog and Web portfolio into one easy-to-navigate site:
www.tamaralackey.com.
For clients and friends, it's one-stop shopping. And for Tamara, it's less work than
continually updating two separate sites.
Efficiency was also a top priority when Tamara worked with a professional organizer
to create her studio space. "We designed it to be exceptionally open, so none of us
felt isolated, and so we could communicate easily," she says. While the open feel
fosters a team environment, each photographer edits one day per week from home to
provide necessary uninterrupted time. In addition to the photographers' workspaces,
there are the portrait and natural light studios, a framing room and client gallery.
The photographs of the space on Tamara's website say it all: no detail was left to
chance in this handsome studio.
Master of Many
While many photographers gravitate toward one genre, Tamara could be called many
different things: a wedding photographer, a portrait photographer, a child photographer,
an editorial photographer—and her work has been lauded in all four of these arenas.
Tamara says she loves the mix, and that it keeps her interested and creatively fresh.
"I only shoot 10 weddings a year, because I love it and put everything into it but I
don't want to burn out by doing it every weekend," she says. "Editorial work allows me
to meet interesting people, so I can't let that go… and children's photography is where
my heart is."
Tamara travels the country to shoot weddings with Hawaii and Florida recent
destinations. Her wedding clients come largely by word-of-mouth; Tamara says her
ability to continually book her top wedding packages, even when she raised prices,
gave her the confidence that she'd "made it" in the business. Her success afforded
her the freedom to pick and choose her wedding work, as well as gave her the time to
take on other projects of interest to her.
One such project was her recent book, The Art of Children's Portrait Photography
(Amherst Media, November 2008), which was released this past fall. Tamara spent a year
writing the instructional book, carving out chunks of time from her busy schedule,
often working into the wee hours of the morning to get it finished. The book immediately
sold well, and the personal response has been overwhelming. "I've been floored by the
effects," says Tamara. "As an example, a 43-year-old ad executive from New York wrote
me an email after reading the book, saying he told himself he would never be a
photographer, but now he's quitting his day job and going for it."
The book's healthy sales provide another perk--Tamara is able to contribute to two
charitable causes that are near and dear to her: the Worldwide Orphans Foundation
(www.wwo.org) and Save the Children
(www.savethechildren.org);
all of Tamara's profits from the book are going directly to these charities. Tamara's
passion for helping children is also intensely personal—she and her husband adopted
their son from Ethiopia and their daughter from Ecuador, bringing the total number
of kids in their busy household to three. Tamara's dual role as mom and studio owner
keeps her on her toes, but one gets the sense that this multi-tasking maven thrives
under pressure—and that she succeeds equally well at both jobs.
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Surviving and Thriving: Tamara's Take
While the economic forecast for 2009 remains bleak, Tamara's studio looks to have
another healthy year. "We just had our 2009 planning session, and the year is already
booked out so beautifully," she says. So, what advice does she have for other
photographers on how to weather the storm?
"It comes down to how you market," she says. "Our marketing approach has always been
that this isn't a luxury item, but an important aspect of life, an emotional need."
That said, Tamara has some other sage advice for newer photographers looking to make
a mark. "A lot of people, without realizing it, spend a lot of time making sure they
are perceived okay. As a new photographer you might think, it might be embarrassing to
jump off the ground, or lean in at this angle, or even to ask this question. Strip
yourself of that as much as possible… and you'll up your game times 20," Tamara says.
"Connecting with subjects and relating to them is everything. Take the extra time,
effort and energy to find out who they genuinely are so you can draw that out, and
capture them authentically."
Don't miss Tamara Lackey's WPPI program, "Captivating The High-end Children’s
Portrait Market," on Tuesday, February 17th, 2009 at 6:15 p.m.-8:15 p.m. in Room #311
at the MGM Grand during WPPI 2009.
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