Today we’d like to introduce you to Sara Beth Hall
Hi Sara Beth, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Looking back at where I was with photography 7-8 years ago, I would have never believed I was working as a professional photographer today, much less a wedding photographer, but here I am! From as far back as I can remember, photography has been a huge hobby of mine. I think I was in middle school begging my parents for a DSLR camera. I got my first DSLR right around the time I graduated high school and started doing photos for fun here and there. I went to college at Mississippi State and continued doing photos more as a hobby – I’d photograph things for my sorority, etc. But what really kicked off my career was a small business owner in Starkville who decided to trust me and hand me a lot of responsibility. I walked into the store George-Mary’s in Starkville one day (at that point, it was pretty much just a pop-up shop) and just asked if they needed any help. This was my sophomore year. Long story short, I was one of their first employees, and by the time I graduated, I had been doing all the photos for their Instagram and website for 3 years. I got so much publicity from this, and I truly owe so much to this job and the owner who helped me get my name out! Because Starkville is a small town, my name got around fast, and I found myself photographing lots of graduating seniors, families, etc. I graduated, moved back to Memphis, got married, and started a new job all in 2020 and I thought that meant photography would take a back seat. I was wrong – an old family friend trusted me to photograph their daughter’s wedding as my first wedding to ever photograph in 2021, and the rest is history! I quit my other job to go as full time as possible with photos, and now I am proudly full time stay at home mom *and* photographer – and I love it!
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?
Anything but smooth, but are you really an entreprenuer if it’s been easy?
My career switched gears around the time of covid, which made things interesting, but the Lord totally provided in ways I didn’t even expect. I also found out I was pregnant just 3 months after quitting my job and going all-in with photography. Now, I have 2 children, and I’ve learned the key is to stay flexible. Give yourself lots of grace. I have had difficult pregnancies which have most definitely affected my work as a photographer (including being put on bed rest while pregnant during busy summer wedding season). But I have the most amazing and understanding clients, and the photographer community in Memphis is SO tight knit and wonderful, so I have had so much support along the way!
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’ve dabbled in different areas of photography, but I specialize in weddings and families and photograph from a documentary approach. I absolutely love photographing both weddings and families, but my heart has grown a couple sizes for family photography ever since having kids. I also photograph on film as well, which sets me apart a little as a photographer. Film truly is a lost art and I am forever in love with how timeless film photos look. Whenever + whatever I am photographing, I have two cameras on me always – my canon film camera and my canon 5d mark iv. My clients get a full online gallery of edited high-res photos that contain both digital images as well as film images! I love getting to shoot both ways and experiment with both. Especially with families and weddings, film will never go out of style! I have a documentary style of photographing, which is what I like to think of as both a “step back” and a “step in” approach. I step back to notice little details, candid moments, and take a bit of a fly-on-the-wall position. I step in to get a real feel for the messy, imperfect, rawness of all of it. I won’t spend very much time posing; I’ll guide my clients and pose just a little, but mostly I just want to document in the most authentic way possible. At the end of the day, that’s what you want to look back and see in your images from your wedding or of your family.
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
It’s a big small town. Meet a stranger and it won’t take long to find out you have half a dozen mutual friends. I’ve lived here my whole life so it really truly is home to me. I love how people are really passionate here – especially when it comes to seeing Memphis flourish. My least favorite thing is that it’s not 75 degrees and sunny every single day, ha!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.sarabethcreative.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarabethy/
