Small Business Spotlight with Mosaic Marketing

Do what it is that you do best, e-commerce to lifestyle photography.

May 18, 2021 Marcel Blanchet Season 1 Episode 3
Small Business Spotlight with Mosaic Marketing
Do what it is that you do best, e-commerce to lifestyle photography.
Show Notes Transcript

Small Business Spotlight with Mosaic Marketing Episode 3.  Host Marcel P. Blanchet, Director of Digital Marketing talks to guest commercial, business photographer, Mary Quinn, of A Bear with Thumbs.  Mary tells the audience about her trendy photography business and her experiences ranging from e-commerce photography, i.e., cosmetics, handbags, masks, electronics, apparel, jewelry, commercial and business photography, as well as restaurant food photography to lifestyle photography. Mary gives some advice on how she built her business and how she has supported other businesses in her community. You will love her stories of surviving the downturn during the pandemic of 2020 by sewing masks and selling them online and adding this to her own line of products to help her photography business. Marcel and Mary go over what you need to know to have a successful photography business including gear, personal style, how to prepare for a photo shoot, and why Macro Photography is a growing trend in advertising.


 0:08  

From mosaic marketing, this is a small business spotlight show that gives small businesses a spotlight to what they do.

 

  0:18  

Yeah, today is a great day. And I am so excited because I have a wonderful business photographer. She's from the Manchester Connecticut area. And she's got a great, interesting company that I want to talk about. The company is called a bear with thongs. Isn't that a cool way of saying, I am here. And I want to introduce Mary Quinn, photographer. Hi, Mary, how you doing? Hi, I'm great. How are you? I'm doing great. It's great to have you here on our third episode of small business spotlight with mosaic and welcome. Your number three is my lucky number. So I'm feeling even better now. Okay. You know, interesting how people have this thing with numbers. And I like number three? I do. But you know, one of my favorite numbers, which one is nine? I just love nine. And that's actually divided by Are you gonna say? Yeah.

 

  1:29  

So we're gonna talk about what you do in what a beer of thumbs a beer with thumbs is, and, and what you

 

  1:39  

do with your small business. And but the biggest thing is, you're a photographer. And you specialize in business photography, correct? Yes. So tell me a little bit about business photography, and why you pick that specialty? Well, I think, first and foremost, I enjoy photographing people. So anytime that I can get involved with any kind of community business, or, you know, just people where they're living and where they're at. That's who I want to be involved with. So

 

  2:18  

whether that is in restaurants, or in schools, or in, you know, my chiropractor's office, I want to help them support me just as much as they want to help me. Yeah, sure. So how did you get into it? Sure. So I've always been a creative, I'm a very creative person, always wanting to do something with my hands. When it comes to capturing images. I think that came when I was a little bit older, I received my first camera when I was probably about 10, or 11. Since then, I haven't been able to sell it yet, because it's still close to my heart, but always at a young age, professionally, or started my business a bear with thumbs, LLC, we're coming up on our one year mark, which is really exciting. So in June, it'll be a year that I've been doing this professionally. But I'm 28 years old. So it's been a long time that I've that I've dabbled with my camera and photography. And all of my experience in those years have have led me to this. So when it comes to working with businesses, you got to find your your right community. And as much as I love, I love to work with people personally, of course. But sometimes with the businesses, it's fun, because you always get a little bit of advice along the way too, which is really important to me, to help each other out. Well, you know, when you're growing, it's really important to understand that, hey, you don't know all the answers. And when there's people that are willing to help you along the way. It makes it so much better. It's always best to be transparent, so they know exactly where you are. But just like anything else, you learn from your mistakes, and you pick yourself up and you just keep going. I've seen many of your photographs, and your work and TV commercials you've done and some of the other things magazine, photography, food photography, businesses, you wouldn't know that you've been doing just

 

  4:19  

telling me I'm sitting here right now. And it's kind of really overwhelming. Sometimes you sit back and you say all those things, and it's like, you're right. You're right. And I tell people a lot. You know, I think that Manchester specifically has just given me a big hug. Whether you're from Manchester, right? No, I'm not. No, that's why it's not in Manchester, originally from Western Westfield, Worcester,

 

  4:44  

Massachusetts. But, but yeah, but Manchester. Yeah, Manchester has given me a big hug. I mean, you know, I sell my masks, which is another part that you know, we'll get to but the place that I worked, he's helped me a bunch of times, and I've produced a commercial for him.

 

  5:00  

Some television commercial, you know, correct. And then and then like I also said, you know, the chiropractor that I go to that's literally within walking distance. I do a chalkboard there. And he also purchased masks for his staff there. So okay, let's talk a little bit because, yeah, sorry.

 

  5:17  

People may be like, confused. There's a couple of things couple of layers to Mary Queen.

 

  5:24  

Okay, a beer with thumbs. You started as a small company. First, what selling masks. It's founded on photography. That's why we started there. And then and then yes, I started stumbling into the various tributaries was part of the pandemic, right, it was a way of survival. So you're a photographer fresh the business, the business was formed because I was laid off from my job. I was put on furlough because of the the COVID pandemic I've spent. Prior to my my career. Now, I spent over a decade in the hospitality industry, working in restaurants, working positions from working my way up, you know, from a dishwasher to a bartender to a bar manager.

 

  6:05  

XYZ learned everything that I that I need now from, from that experience, hands down, couldn't do it without meeting the people, especially that I've met throughout the industry, who now helped me in all sorts of ways. But yes, I was put on furlough.

 

  6:24  

At the time, my family was going through a lot. My father was terminally ill, which was unfortunate, but given the time off from work, I was able to be with my family. And that was very true, that was very important for me. So for a lot of people, you know, the pandemic was a very, very terrible thing. And, and I understand that, for me, it was helpful to have that time off specifically. And also to reorganize my mind, because at the time, you know, I was working a lot, I was very stressed. I wasn't very happy. And given that time off the passing of my father at the time, you know, that all helped me realize, you know, what am I doing? What am I really doing? I have this time, let's figure it out. And thankfully, It's bittersweet when someone you love passes away, because, you know, he was able to leave me with a little bit of something to help me start my business. And that's kind of how it started. And then he had some seed money from dad had some seed round blessing. Right, exactly. And so it's been just kind of you just keep going. And some people have gotten seed money from lots of different places. Oh, yeah. So I was receiving unemployment, too. So you know, my first stimulus I bought, I bought my camera. I bought, I bought my brand new updated camera from the one that I had received when I was like, 10. Cameras are like computers, they age shoot in months. So this again, this is all recovery from the pandemic, right? And what happened? And right so so I had always wanted to do something on my own. What could I do? My sister's always been the one you need to do something that with your creative side, and she's, she's my accountant. She's kind of my, my, my strong arm, right. And it's always great. It's always fun to build a business, about something that you're passionate about, right? Because that makes it more exciting, right? I think I think I think a bear with them is really sits strong on my camera, and my sewing machine. And those have always been my very go to create creative things, my creative side. And when the camera hit the camera was pretty much an obvious photography was obvious. You know, people need photographs, where you're going to go with it, I don't know, your fate, you'll figure it out along the way. And that's kind of what happened. And then on the other side, when, when everybody was needing masks, you know, I was thinking, Well, I have so much extra fabric. I've been doing this since I was a kid, go buy some elastic, which I actually ended up having downstairs and I kept my very first mask that I ever made, just because I thought it was cool. And I just started started making masks. And since then we are two designs later. And you know, making it improving it getting it better the process better opening up a website, putting the masks up and down Main Street in Manchester, the businesses who have supported me to do that. So that's kind of the other side is with the sewing machine now where that's going to go with all these new mandates. Who knows, but that's always been in my, in my mind, I've always known that, you know, someday these, these won't be a thing. So you'll always keep creating, well, you've got the sewing, you've got the technique. You been playing around with the types of fabrics, looking at things. So it's just an evolving thing. Right. And then you've got your photography, which is also been involved evolving, right. And let's talk about the photography part. Sure.

 

  9:54  

So well I guess this past week was really exciting. It was really busy. I was

 

  10:00  

assigned to photograph a school program in elementary schools in Manchester. So I was able to go in and meet some of these kids and, and kind of brighten my day and see some some people who are innocent. Yeah, hold with it three to eight, I believe Okay, so they're probably pretty excited about a photographer coming around. And the preschool was my favorite preschool was my favorite. The kids were so excited. And once they learned that, you know, they could come over and say hi, and take a picture of me. And you know, I took a picture of one of the kids coming down the slide. And then it was like, one after the other they all wanted.

 

  10:44  

Okay, Mom and Dad, listen, you want to buy some photographs of your kids? You know, talk to Mary Queen right now, what school was it? I was at Bennett. I was at Highland Park Elementary, I was at Waddell and then the Early Learning Center in Manchester. Okay, so what are they gonna do with these with photographs? They're updating their website, which is awesome. Okay, so this is digital digital marketing. So you're doing business without afraid that people can actually use their photos on their websites, right. And it's always great when you're building a website to use personal photographs in some way. There's a lot of people that use stock photos, and so on and so forth. And if people don't know what stock photos are, what a stock photos you can hear. They're just they're just photographs that are everywhere. I mean, you can purchase them and or, you know, some of them are free if you can find them. Right, right. They're just filler photos. Or, you know, some of them are really good. Yeah. I mean, I've seen some really great ones. Yeah, someone's getting paid for it. Someone someone's doing it. So, but it's always great to have Todd for go out. Do a shoot. So let's talk a little bit about shoot. Alright, cuz Yeah.

 

  11:57  

It's fun. All right. I love it is super fun. Yeah. First of all, let's talk about your personal style. Okay.

 

  12:05  

Hmm. I am a very colorful person. And that is that is definite. You know, for instance, I think of things that I'm not I think sometimes, you know, and not to say that it's bad necessarily, but you know, I like to go find places that are fun and exciting. I don't, I don't have to have a golden hour. If it's not available. I like to I like to I like when other people are inspired. So if you're come to me with an idea, and you're like, hey, these are my earrings. I love them. I make them. They're so cool. Would you photograph them for me for my website? Oh, yes. Somewhere along the way. I'm getting a set of earrings. You're getting some really cool pictures. And now I have a new friend, my style. The only thing that I can really define it as his colorful,

 

  12:48  

colorful style. Yeah. Well, I've seen some of your stuff. And he and people can go to your website. It's a bear with thumb's calm. Yes. And they there's a whole gallery right there. Right. Yeah, you can you can go to the gallery from from that website. Yes, yeah. And you can see what her personal style is. And it is very colorful, and she's got something funky, sometimes.

 

  13:11  

trendy, or trend setting, I should say. Yeah, yeah, I would say that me and my friends, one of my friends, Melissa, specifically, she'll come out with me and do whatever we want. So the only thing that hinders us is time? How do you prepare for shoot? lots of ways.

 

  13:28  

Specifically, where are we going? What are we doing? I asked a lot of questions, even if the person that I'm working with doesn't have all the answers, and that's okay, a lot of the times I have had the answers. But my first question is, where are we going? You know, what are we doing? What are we celebrating? If it's a person, you know, I like to bring them somewhere that really reflects them. So you know, I like to know where they grew up. When I do this mapping, I have a consultation ahead of time. Okay, so you have a consultation. And right now we're talking not only businesses that you just do portraits and writing in and anyone with the business, you want to talk to them high school graduation frame, for seniors and stuff like that. So you have to have some type of communication with the client, right? and establish something in the way of, Okay, this is what we're going to do. They may have ideas what they want to do, and you will have ideas to write Yeah, basically, you want to get on the same page and have one common goal. That's pretty much it, the journey can be fun and exciting. That's what it's all about. But at the end of the day, you need to be on the same page. Otherwise, you know, you're not on the same page. But you know, like some people like I said, are really specific you know, some people are really want a shot where I'm doing this or I'm in this spot or you know, and those are the that's your that's their opportunity to tell me that. But if they don't know that, that's totally fine. They want me to you know, Mary, take the wheel. All right, like Let's go then. I'm taking the

 

  15:00  

We'll and then when you do like a magazine, because you do magazine shots, right? There's usually an editor or assignment person that's giving you some type of instructions, what what are some of those things like, generally it's it's putting products within a shot somewhere or use that utilizing something that wants to be highlighted in the article. You know, we've done t specifically that that wanted to be a part of the the photoshoots. For magazines, it can be different, it can always It can range. But again, it's always just about communicating, you know, you want to make sure that you communicate with each other and ask those questions. I've learned that throughout the my experience at this point is not everybody's going to tell you the answers. So you also have to know what you need, making sure that I asked those questions, hey, are there any branded products that need to be a part of this? Sometimes it's up to me to do that, and that's okay. But knowing that that needs to be a part of it, is important. And it's only going to help you want to include as many people or, you know, things as you can, in certain circumstances, because it's only going to help supporting other businesses, it's only going to help right now and especially locally, with with everything that our that our community in our world is going going toward, sometimes it's even sometimes it's even a trade like I was saying with the earrings, sometimes it's a Hey, can you do this for me? If If my service lends a service for you? Of course, of course. So communicating, I think is the key to that probably strangled along a little Yeah, no, no, I get it. It's when you're when you're growing, and you're developing your, your own brand and who you are, personally, and you reaching out to your customer? And then you want to work with that customer? And sometimes, yeah, it's, there's a situation where you work in trade, I've known that taking trade for parking spaces and tickets to concerts. And no, I mean, that's not to say you should find your business on it.

 

  17:04  

You know, you know, sometimes it's like, Okay, well, you know, I can give a little to get a little, I think that's what it's really all about, and especially now with the the end of this pandemic, and everybody's just trying to get back. Not everybody's got a book, right times, you got to lend a hand just just to, you know, help help anyone, right. So those books will come. And sometimes they will, you know, really will fall from the sky. And sometimes you just have to wait and be patient, as long as you can afford to do that. Yeah, it's one of those things when you're also getting an assignment for sheep. What are some of those assignment create a commercial for a restaurant or a small restaurant? photograph? Some some food for them? While kind of doing that? The magazine? You know, it's that seasonal? So it's, it's very focused on? What are the colors of the season? That's interesting. So those are guidelines. Yeah, those are what they call assignment guidance. Sure, or even or even, like, if they don't request something specific. It's the negative to you know, we don't want we don't want blue or like that wintery color, we want it to be red, because it's more Christmassy you know, it's something it can always it can always come in different forms. But that's how something can be assigned as well. What was your favorite photograph that you've ever done? There's, there's three that come to my mind. And one of which is of my nephew's hands when he was baptized, and it has a rosary beads around it. That was from my dad. So that's just very personal to me. And I just really liked that photograph. It's just very warm, lit and very pure, because obviously, it's a child and there's a lot of white and creamy colors going on. The second and i think i think they all three kind of reflect me a little bit. So that one is kind of, you know, the soft side of me, I would say that my second favorite is of a waterfall in New Hampshire. And what I did very simple photographer trick, leave your shutter open a little bit longer than you normally would. And instead of the water being captured, very crisp, it comes out in very white streams, but it just creates like a stream like a very soft light. And that's my second favorite photograph just because I love nature so much. And then I think my third favorite, currently, which will probably change is a photograph of a friend of mine who I photographed for her birthday her 18th birthday, but she was just very girly, very pink. She had a tiara on and she's got her hands kind of underneath her her face and people who who it's on my Instagram.

 

  19:57  

But she just looks so cute. The sunset

 

  20:00  

It was in her eye. So if you look really close, which not a lot of people would, but again, it's kind of one of those things that mean the client both are just like, that was awesome. And it was just a beautiful photograph. And she looks so happy. And the time was fun for me. And I know she had a great time. And I think each of those kind of represents me kind of, kind of, well, it's fun and exciting, you know, almost like pink and flirty, and then earthy, and you know, that kind of strong vibe. And then the soft child almost, you know, is always wanting to be Yeah, I could tell, I could tell by your facial expressions and the way you're describing each of these photographs, how they really enlightened you as a person, and that you captured part of yourself in the photography, or in the photo, I should say, in the trust that the clients give to me to, you know, the trust that they give to me to capture things like that, in the trust that I give to them. Like, I'm like, Oh, you look great. Right now, you know, the confidence that gets built throughout all of that is it you know, the reaction of a mom or you know, a family member just to a photograph? That means a lot to them? That's that's what it's really all about at the end of the day. Yeah, well, some of those photographs are a keepsake of a story. You know, yeah. So I mean, it captures a moment. And it's, you know, it is something that's really exciting at this at the borders important. And it's a beautiful story, and which is important to capturing that moment. And as a photographer, you

 

  21:31  

get an opportunity to actually grab that millisecond. Oh, yeah. And change in a way that it's everlasting. You know, because you're catching a moment. And that moment might have been something that was missed. And you saw, or your camera saw.

 

  21:51  

Sometimes the camera sees it before I do. Yeah, it's right. It's cool. Right? And it's an emotional journey that you're taking candy. Oh, yeah. Oh, my boyfriend knows it.

 

  22:04  

What's up? Well, I Well, I guess, I guess, personally, it's it for him. You know, I spend a lot of time and he works full time he works two jobs, you know, man, it, it warms my heart sometimes. Because, you know, at one point, he said, because I see him coming home tired and things like that. And, you know, I was like, Is it worth it? You know, what are we doing this for? You know, you got to recheck yourself sometimes, and he's like, Well, no, we like you're doing this, like you're making this work. So of course, I'm gonna work hard to because you're doing the same thing. And, you know, that's a good partner. Yeah, I know. I know.

 

  22:38  

That's another thing about businesses, especially small businesses, a lot of family. Yeah, business is good sides. And there's bad sides. Yeah, because there's days that I'm down there in the studio. And you know, because I have my studio in my basement. And you know, I'm down there editing or, you know, there's sometimes we're dinner, dinner doesn't get made or whatever. And, you know, he has to be forgiving of that. And he has to be forgiving of the time and the emotional energy, you know, like we were just talking about to other people sometimes, and it's like, I'll come home, and I don't, you know, really want to do much or anything, or we're both tired or whatever. So, you know, you have to keep working on your personal relationships, too. You can't always involve yourself in client, you know, relationships forever, you got to remember that you have the ones at home to

 

  23:23  

last as important, if not more. Yeah, definitely. One One of the things that we were talking about was a specialty that is happening in advertising. And that's called macro photography. You know, it's all about making small things look larger than life. I think it's very cool. It's a it's definitely a way to bring that image to life in a magazine, or an ad. It's an eye that the normal human doesn't have. So when they see it, it fascinates you, inevitably. And yeah, I love macro photography actually was deciding between purchasing new lighting or purchasing a macro lens and I went with the macro lens. Okay, let's talk a little bit about gear just a little bit. Sure. What kind of gear Do you expensive

 

  24:15  

when you get to a certain point, yeah.

 

  24:18  

So I am a huge cannon supporter. I'm a big cannon fan. I love all kinds of media, but canon is close to my heart. So I use canon, but my lens is very like for instance, my macro lens, the Tamron, which is a different branch entirely. The other thing too, that people don't think about is the computer. And now I can't I'll admit I can't even really tell you too much about my computer because I had a gamer friend

 

  24:43  

hooked me up with it because it really needed to be at gaming speed to be editing and doing all the things that we do that is crucial. And I have had friends of mine who have purchased cameras since I've started my business and they're like what do you do with with your with your computer? How do you even once you get the photo

 

  25:00  

What do you do to edit it? And I'm like, oh, trust me. Yeah, it's worth it. It's worth it. So So what are you talking about a gaming? We're talking about? A very fast, lots of memory, lots of memory and then the monitor needs to be HD. Okay, HD. Yeah, so all the equipment is important. I'm not it's not necessary. But I do think if you're going to produce it and have a business, it is necessary. Okay. That's pretty cool. What else? What else here? How about lighting? lighting? Oh, man, lots of lighting flashes. If you want like colorful lighting, too. You know, I mean, depending on again, what kind of experience do you want to give? Is there? Is there colors? Is there not? Are you outside? Are you inside, I have one light that I use for a lot of products because it's very movable. I can just go around with it anywhere. And it's if they keep going keep putting my fingers apart from him to show him the length of it. But it's like a strobe bar. 1618 inches, strobe light, led type of thing, right? How about light boxes? You ever use light boxes? That's the next investment. Okay. It was a pretty penny. Yeah, I can go outside my camera can conquer the world. And inside, it's fine. I've set up a small studio in my basement so that can I produce, you know, simple headshot three to photography out of there. And that space, hopefully that space. For me, the goal is to have that ready and up and running and able to have clients in there professionally, by the winter when the weather gets cold. Now, you talked about your Instagram, what's your Instagram handle? It's underscore a bear with thumbs, underscore, underscore, a bear with thumbs. underscore, have a beer with thumbs. Yeah, so my nickname in high school was mayor bear. And it kind of stuck with me. And I've always been kind of a wild child and think of myself as a bear at times, you know, especially when I'm hungry. So that kind of followed with me. And then I figured, well, if a bear could do anything, it would be me. But if because it's me, I can be better than a bear because I have thumbs. So bear with thumbs LLC it is and that kind of stuff.

 

  27:02  

So I don't know if it'll evolve but I love it so people could actually reach out a beer with thumbs calm is your website and underscore a beer with thumbs underscore

 

  27:15  

on Instagram or you any other social media, Facebook, you can find my facebook at a bear with them. Everything. Everything on social media is a bear with us. That's the other cool part about it is that it was so weird. Nobody had the tags already. Nobody had the URL name. Okay, so there's a hashtag out you're a bear with arms. Yeah, there is. So you can go up here with thumbs. Well, you know, this has been fabulous. Thank you so much for being a guest here, small business spotlight, third episode. And I'm really, really, really appreciating this. And I learned a lot about you and the photography that you've done. And it's a pleasure. You're a nice person that has a wonderful small business and they are helping other small businesses. And that's really important. And I really, really want to thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you, everybody for listening in. We're here to help others and we love doing it. Thank you