A new blog feature every so often! Meet the women of the Rachel Vanoven Photography eWorkshop Group! There are so many talented and amazing individuals who are a part of this group, I thought showcasing one at a time would be a great way for the other members and blog readers to “meet” them! So I sent a mass questionnaire for them all to fill out and I’ll be posting one photographer in the order that I received their emails! Here is the first one!! 

Well hey! How ‘bouts you insert a picture of yourself right here, and tell us your name!?

Business name? Erika Marie Photography

Website? www.erikamariephotos.com

Fanpage? www.facebook.com/erikamariephotography

Spouse? Significant other? Kids? Pets? Special stuffed animal? I have an amazing boyfriend who has supported me the whole way. I’ve been dating him since I was 16 (I’m 21 now). I also have 4 amazing dogs, 3 golden retrievers and a boxer. They are my kids and I would do drop everything for them 🙂

How do you eat an Oreo? I don’t because I’m vegan. And now this just reminded me that I miss Oreo’s A LOT. lol.

Any hidden talents? Competitive swimmer is a talent right? Lol. Oh and I can also make my shoulder blades stick out to look like chicken wings (it’s rather disgusting to most, I find it hilarious)

Most embarrassing moment in high school? Getting hit in the head with a flying golf club in gym. 11 stitches, horrible! Lol

When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up? I wanted to work with animals. I wanted to work at the zoo, at Sea World, any place that would let me interact with animals 🙂

How long have you considered yourself a photographer? I have considered myself a photographer since 2009, so 3 years.

What started the photography “bug” with you? Was it when you were small? A relative? Having your own kids? Having your own wedding or family pictures done? Or something else? My parents and I were just talking about this. The moment it hit me that I learned I could capture something in different ways was during a family vacation to New York, New York in 2008 when my dad and I were waiting for my mom to stop shopping I was playing around with my point and shoot and was taking pictures of the rain drops on the grass and then I saw a pigeon walk by so I got down to his level and took a picture and when I brought my camera back up to look at it the bird looked like it was MASSIVE and walking through New York City. At that point was when I realized that I could take pictures and see things in a whole different perspective!

 

We all start somewhere? Care to show us a peek at where your photography was at 2 years ago? This was my first “photo shoot” of my friend Tiffany in my garage with my lights up and a white sheet. lol

1 year ago? A newborn session from 1 year ago.

What inspires you?  Kids in general inspire me. I don’t have any of my own but they are why I love photography. Kids show real emotions, real personality, real goofy faces. 🙂 They are so innocent, they find interest in everything around them and I love that. I love their free spirit and I love to capture that in my pictures.

Biggest photographer “crushes” (i.e. who do you stalk on the most regular basis)…can be more than one! Well first I super mega love Rachel Vanoven and stalk her page regularly and I also stalk Jaiden photography as well. Between the two of you guys the inspiration is endless! 🙂

If you could photograph ANYONE, who would it be? Mmm… that’s a hard one! I would have to say I would love to photograph the Gosselin kids from Jon & Kate plus eight!! It would be so crazy but they are beyond adorable and hello, kids galore?! 🙂

Favorite lightbulb moment from the RVP eWorkshop? The HUGE lightbulb for me was the editing process actually. With composites and how much more simple you made them seem compared to what I was previously doing.

What about in the actual group? What’s your faaaaavorite benefit? My favorite benefit from the group is having an awesome support system I can turn to. I can ask questions, post pictures for critique, and vent about the photography business when things aren’t so great and have a group of people being there that know exactly what you’re going through.

Where do you see yourself in 3 years? In 3 years I will be 24. I hope that my photography business has flourished even more. That I have a client base that loves my work and that I truly have amazing connections with. I’m on that path now and LOVE the clients I have I just want to make my business bigger and even more successful. Oh and I hope by then there is a ring on my finger. LOL. 🙂

30? Retired. LOL. Kidding, sort of. I want to continue to be doing what I’m doing now. Photographing children with whatever the newest technology will be then! 🙂

Anything that I didn’t ask that you’re dying to tell the world? I’m so excited to be able to do this interview and I would like to say that, while typing this up I realize I use WAY too many explication marks and smiley faces. Sorry. I’m not yelling, just happy 🙂

More information on the eWorkshop here: http://rachelvanoven.com/blog/eworkshop/