Today we’d like to introduce you to Gracie Collins.
Hi Gracie, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
Wow. What a journey this creative venture has been. If you had told me I’d be doing photography in Florida and studying cinema 5 years ago I never would have believed you. Before photography, I was your typical kid having a YouTube phase trying to make it big. Little did I know that the same camera I was using would launch my career. Knowing I used a camera for YouTube, my brother asked me to take family photos. I was shocked thinking why would he ask me? I know nothing about photography and I don’t want to do photography. However, with doubts in mind, I took the photos anyways and they actually came out good! That started everything. I started charging $20 for senior photos using my YouTube camera and even my phone, and low and behold it worked! Word spread and networking grew thanks to Facebook’s help and my Iowa hometown. Using that money, I saved up and sold my old camera to buy a camera better for photography. Within my first year of photography, which was my senior year of high school, I was raising my prices slowly, working with families, shooting small weddings, working with seniors, and even a modeling agency. Something I never thought I’d do eventually became my passion and career choice. Of course, I wasn’t the best of the best but I was growing, learning, and people were coming to support me. The support truly was a huge help in helping me believe that this small little hobby and money maker would eventually be something I could do full-time someday. I then after high school moved my photography efforts to Palm Beach Atlantic University in Palm Beach Florida. I always wanted to travel and I loved Florida for the ocean. Moving to Palm Beach only made my passion for photography flourish through the creative environments of creative entrepreneurs, the beautiful scenery, and the people supporting me. When I moved to Palm Beach, I did an obsessive amount of portfolio shoots unpaid to showcase my name, meet people, network, and get work out there to advertise my photography in a new area. I also worked under Christina Cernick who recently worked within the Palm Beach area and greatly inspired my work and helped share my name. She taught me so much! This hard work paid off and I started getting clients slowly and then boom clients popped off! Now I am a sophomore in college finishing a cinema arts degree to pursue video in my personal business. Staying disciplined in college and in my photography journey has been difficult, yes, but it has been a blessing and dream. I hope to finish my degree and soon after graduating pursue being a creative full-time.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Along the way, some of the biggest struggles have been staying disciplined in college while pursuing my photography business. I think it’s easy to get caught up in the passion of my business and forget I’m also a college student. Sometimes it’s easy to feel like I could be doing more. However, I have to remind myself that everyone has a different creative success story and my story may be a bit slower because of college in the way, but in the end, getting my degree is going to be worth it. I know that my time will come to go full-time and that sticking in college may be challenging, but it will teach me technical skills and business knowledge that will set me apart from others.
This year I have also learned the importance of giving yourself rest. As a creative and small business entrepreneur, it’s easy to feel like I have to work 24/7. However, we too deserve to live regular lives and enjoy the simplicity of just being. Creatives need rest too at the end of the day. Even though we love our work and our work often displays our souls, we too need to just enjoy the everyday things like socializing, going on walks, spending time outside, spending time with family, etc. Everything in life needs balance and that’s true for creatives too. One can only work as well as they rest.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
My name is Gracie Belle and I’m a fashion, lifestyle, brand, and wedding photographer in Palm Beach Florida. I am known for my candid and natural-looking photographs emphasizing the beauty of everyday life. My goal is that my photographs capture the nature of just being, of living in the moment and showcasing the simple colors captured in the shot. I like to keep my edits simple only enhancing the depth and vividness of colors brought from the image itself. I think nowadays it’s easy to get caught up with the colors and how much we can change an image. However, I want my images to display what we really see; the true colors of the earth.
I seek to display God’s nature and creation in my images. I want to capture genuine human emotion and God’s nature in a candid way.
What’s next?
I hope to graduate from Palm Beach Atlantic University and go full-time in brand, lifestyle, wedding, and content creation work. I plan to stay in South Florida for however long the Lord keeps me here. I love the people here and the job opportunities!
Image Credits
Gracie Belle Photography
Bailee Cotrone
