Today we’d like to introduce you to Elle Baez.
Hi Elle, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
In 2013 after almost 7 years working as a corporate banking manager for a company I thought I’d retire from, I was truly miserable. Organizational changes in the business had left me in a place where I was no longer happy, yet felt trapped. At the end of that year I had saved up enough to quit my job! I was finally free– but I had no clue what I wanted to do.
On a whim, I bought a camera and figured I’d play around with taking pictures until I figured out my next move. Over the next several months I found myself engulfed in photography. I checked out the entire photography section from my local library and spent hours on end learning and practicing. Three months later, I was hired to shoot my first wedding from a Craigslist ad (so wild!). It was instant love.
My first year in business I shot 18 weddings and I have been a full-time wedding photographer ever since. Today we run a six figure internationally published photo & video company and have captured over 350 weddings!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Starting a business is never easy especially when you don’t have any mentors or someone to guide you. Learning to manage your time and be everything to everyone as a business owner was definitley a challenge for me in the beginning. As a new entrepreneur I made a lot of mistakes– mainly spending money on useless gear and marketing, but you don’t learn without making mistakes!
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?
At Captured by Elle, we specialize in candidly curated wedding photography and cinematic videography. We aim to make our couples feel comfortable and at ease so we can capture images that truly feel like them, not overly posed or forced. At the same time, we are experts in posing and giving direction so that our couples feel confident (not awkward!) and look their very best in front of our cameras. With over a decade of experience as full-time wedding pros, we have seen it all and are able to leverage that experience to make our couples day stress-free and seamless from start to finish. We are proud to have over 60 glowing 5-star reviews on Google and to have been featured in prominent publications such as Insider, Martha Stewart weddings and Disney Fairytale weddings to name a few.
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
I’m a big fan of self-help books and podcasts that help keep me in the right mindset and inspire me as a business owner. My favorite podcast right now is probably Diary of a CEO with Steven Bartlett. I also really enjoy the Mel Robbins podcast for uplifting content. As far as photography goes, the book “Picture Perfect Posing” by Roberto Valenzuela was an early read for me in my career and definitley was the foundation to my mastery of posing couples.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.capturedbyelle.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/capturedbyellephoto
Image Credits
All credits: Captured by Elle Photo + Video
