Today we’d like to introduce you to Meri and Martin Duarte.
Hi Meri and Martin, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
We are Meri and Martin, a husband and wife photo and film team. Our journey began five years ago when someone randomly from church asked us to shoot their wedding. We had previously only owned a camera (DSLR) and we were just getting to know the camera and shoot photos. We never considered to do this as a job; Martin just loved capturing candid moments at our church; it was just a hobby for him. After weeks of going back and forth with this person that had asked us to shoot their wedding, we agreed on shooting it. We felt to say yes only because something inside of us told us to do it. We were a bit scared; we didn’t have the proper lens or even a laptop to edit these photos. But we knew God had given us the green light. March 5 of 2016, we showed up to this wedding feeling more lost than anything else, but nonetheless very excited. We began with the getting ready of the bride and groom, first look, ceremony, portraits, and finished with the reception. Somehow we felt like we were at the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing.
After twelve hours of constant running around, helping the bride and groom and taking photos, we felt full! That day we fell in love with capturing love! We knew this was the business that Martin and I had dreamt off for years. That same year we were able to book seven other weddings; we continued to grow our business, we purchased the right equipment, laptops, subscription, registered our small business, and continued to book weddings. After five years of being in the industry, we have had our highs and very low moments. In the beginning, it was very hard because we were just growing our confidence and comparison was a major issue. However, we endured and pushed through and God gave us the identity we needed to grow confidence in our own brand. After two years of only shooting photos, Martin began to capture videos and I took the lead in photography. Now, we are both able to take the lead in photo and video and be able to provide our couples with two services. Our small business is a gift from God that we do not take lightly. We have not only been able to make our couple’s dream images become a reality but have helped so many other photographers with their business by providing mentoring sessions and sharing tips and tricks on our Instagram. We know we still have so much more room to grow and we are so excited to continue to capture more couples, weddings, families, and babies. We love what we do and our only hope is for it to show through our images and videos.
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?
The road has not been smooth. At the beginning, we lacked a lot of confidence and identity in our brand. We would compare our work with so many other photographers. It was a major issue that for some time did not allowed us to grow. But with time that changed, we gained the confidence and identity we needed as small business owners. We began to work with what we had, educate ourselves, think outside the box, and pushed through it.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We specialize in all things couples and weddings. I believe what sets us apart is that we are a marriage that genuinely loves capturing other couples. Our attention to detail and customer service has been our number one goal. I know that our previous and current clients appreciate the amount of detail, time, and excellence we put into our images and videos. What we are more proud of in our brand is that we have always been able to put God first and Him be the foundation of our business., which shows in our brand.
Martin and I absolutely love and enjoy every second of a wedding day, from the rush to the little hiccups that may happen, we love to solve all the issues that may occur, our goal is to always provide our couples with a smooth and blissful wedding day. It brings so much joy to our hearts knowing our brides and grooms are enjoying their day and capturing images that will last a lifetime.
Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
We love to do collaborations and style shoots with other brands in the wedding industry! Community over competition is always a must for us! The best way to support us is by following us on IG @meriandmartinphoto, engaging with us through that platform, sharing our page and posts with others.
Contact Info:
- Email: info@meriandmartin.com
- Website: meriandmartin.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meriandmartinphoto/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/meriandmartin
- Youtube: Meri Martin Photography – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfWh3i8mGOurBB1clLOEOHA
