Today we’d like to introduce you to Abby Clayden Garner.
Hi Abby, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I got my first DSLR camera when I was 15 and used it to photograph my life. I took it on every vacation, brought it to hang out with my friends and shared the images on Facebook. It didn’t take long before people asked me to take their senior photos. One thing led to another and I did my first engagement shoot, and then wedding, although I had no business doing that as a teenager.
As the years went on and iphone quality improved, I left my camera behind. It wasn’t until 2017, when I was 21, when I picked it back up and brought it to the house that I nannied for. I photographed the two year old, Ivy, and from that day on, I knew in my bones that I wanted to pursue photography as a career.
Thank to social media, things happened quickly. My first big year was in 2018. My main focus was engagement and wedding photography and in 2019 I became a full time product photographer for a company that had me crisscrossing the country, photographing pro athletes and models. I realized what really lights me up is photographing families, kids, messiness, life, beautiful everyday connection. It felt full circle – I wanted to get back to that feeling of photographing Ivy in 2017.
For the past six years, family photography has been my main pursuit. Getting invited into people’s lives, watching babies grow up in front of my eyes, and freezing those seasons of life into images that really mean something to people.
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?
Surprisingly, the road has been pretty smooth. I felt friction with everything else I tried to pursue in life other than photography. I assume because I started at such a young age and I associated photography with joy, fun. It was an easy transition picking it back up in hopes to start a business. I feel very fortunate to say that my main struggle is experiencing burn out around the holidays, when my work load is at it’s heaviest.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
My work has evolved over the years. At this point, I’d say that I specialize in artful, motherhood portraits. My sessions almost always include the entire family and capturing candid family life, but I have a particular passion for photographing mothers.
I am most proud of the feedback that I receive from my clients. Verbal feedback after out shoot together, or even energetically. I can feel when my clients lean into the process and trust me, and it’s always surprising how quickly it happens.
In terms of family photography, I believe that it is more important to leave a positive impression and experience for them and the kids to fall back on when they think of “family photos”, rather than the priority of getting the perfect images. Putting the camera down and connecting with the kids and getting to know the parents along the way is an important part of my process. If I leave feeling like a friendship has formed, I’ve done my job.
Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
(Not really – can we skip this one? Haha)
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.abbyclayden.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abbyclayden.jpg/
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/user/127909365?si=8323e49916b64ea4
