Today we’d like to introduce you to Irene Ayala.
Hi Irene, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Originally, I picked up photography purely for fun and creating memories. I was definitely one of those girls that carried a compact digital camera in her purse at all times. Whether it was taking photos of friends, animals, or nature I found that I enjoyed taking pictures. During college, I took classes in multimedia design and learned how to use Photoshop. I loved the software and really enjoyed doing photo manipulation projects. In 2015, I started to invest a little more into my photography hobby and purchased my first DSLR camera. I used it to take photos at family events and while traveling but would rarely share the photos outside of my friends and family.
I had always wanted to learn more about photography but was always too afraid to use manual mode on my camera. I had no idea what the different settings meant or what they did. I started taking an online photography course which helped me learn the ins and outs of photography. I got to learn more about my camera, composition, lighting and started practicing using manual mode. The more photos I took, the more comfortable I became.
Enter 2020. I was in very demanding a job that I wasn’t happy at and knew something had to change. While I was making a good income, I didn’t want to keep working jobs that didn’t bring me fulfillment for the rest of my working years. My husband and I had many heart-to-heart talks about what we envisioned for our future. We knew that we wanted a business of our own and we knew we wanted to do something creative. My husband had a passion for skateboarding and enjoyed capturing and editing videos of friends during their skate sessions on the weekends. With me diving more into photography, he had an idea…
“What if we started a digital media company?” I’ll be honest, I looked at him a little sideways. But he had a vision of him being the videographer and me the photographer. We would not only capture photos and videos for individuals and families but also help small businesses with marketing their businesses. After hearing his vision, I was sold. He gave me the push and support I needed to take my photography more seriously and start offering photography services.
After leaving my job in 2020, I was able to take the lead on starting our business. In 2021, Project Circulo was born. With new camera equipment, I started offering portrait photography and my husband would join me on projects to capture videos. We initially wanted to focus on the word-of-mouth business rather than dedicating a lot of time and money to social media ads and marketing strategies. It has worked! It is amazing to see the organic growth and reach through using your existing networks of supportive friends and family. The growth has been slow and steady but I think it is a great strategy to avoid burning out too quickly.
When new projects come my way, I am excited about the opportunity. I love that photography gives me a way to express myself creatively. I am able to capture memories for my individual clients and help small businesses capture photos for branding and marketing.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Honestly, there are challenges and struggles each day. Some of them are internal struggles while others are external. As a creative and a perfectionist, I find myself either comparing my work with others or seeing opportunities where I could have done better. Meanwhile, I have clients that love the photos they receive. Also, since the focus was to start with word of mouth business, business is not always consistent which means money is not always flowing consistently.
I have to continually remind myself to celebrate the small wins and see how far I have come. I learn something new each time I shoot which keeps things exciting. My husband also reminds me to try to stay positive, optimistic and push fear aside. It’s easy to fall into a negative spiral and think things won’t work out but you’ll be surprised what shifting your mindset can do for you and your business.
My advice is if you’re on the fence about something, ask yourself two questions:
Will my future self regret not taking action and not knowing what the outcome would be? OR Will my future self regret taking imperfect action with the possibility of succeeding?
And remember, even if you fail, at least you gave it a shot!
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Project Circulo?
Project Circulo currently specializes in photography services. We capture families, couples, portraits, and more throughout the greater Orlando area. We pride ourselves on providing professional, friendly service and high-quality photography. Our goal is to help bring our client’s photography projects to life and to make them feel comfortable throughout the whole process. We are proud to have happy clients that believe in our work and vision.
We love taking on creative projects! In the future, we are looking to officially expanding our service offerings such as videography and multimedia design projects. We have taken on a few graphic design and web production projects but aren’t officially adding them to our offerings…yet. 😉 Stay tuned!
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
Growing up, I was known as the shy, quiet girl in class that got good grades in school. I was the middle child between two other siblings and had plenty of sleepovers and play dates with my many cousins. I enjoyed playing with toys ranging from Barbie dolls and Disney movie figurines to Star Wars, Hot Wheels cars, and video games. I had a creative imagination and always enjoyed being artistic. Anything that involved being creative such as arts & crafts and drawing would make the time pass easily. I would find myself being so immersed in what I was doing.
Throughout my schooling, I took all kinds of different art, drawing, and design classes. In middle school, I got involved in music and played the flute for three years. In high school, I did dual-enrollment at a Westside Tech for architectural drafting. Then in my early college years, I went to an art school and pursued multimedia design. While I didn’t complete my architectural drafting certificate or degree in multimedia design, I did graduate from Valencia College where I obtained my A.S. Degree in Computer Information Technology.
Contact Info:
- Email: projectcirculo@gmail.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/projectcirculo
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/projectcirculo
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCp8Sg6Y5olhbjOv0vf4GunQ/featured
