Wedding Photographer Margarita Shut On Challenges & How To Overcome Them

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Wedding photographer Margarita Shut talks about passion, challenges and what it takes to make people happy on one of the most important day in their lives:

Margarita, describe yourself in 50 words or less.

I am Margarita Shut, a passionate photographer. I am actually from Russia, but I’ve been living in Austria for 15 or more years. I started my “artistic” career as painter, then I moved on to film photography and now I am here, shooting weddings and I must say, I really enjoy my job.

What are you currently working on?

I am preparing for the wedding season 2016, do a lot of marketing, posting and I also have styled shoots on a weekly base. I take over the organization of the project and get lots of people together, most of them are startups too, but very professional people: models, wedding planners, make-up artists, but we also organize the wedding cakes for the shootings as well as locations. But… this is all the silence before the storm, wedding season starts soon and I can’t wait.

What led you to this?

My father enjoyed photography and we even had our own photo laboratory in bathroom. I always had passion for this profession: as a kid I loved the camera more than everything else. The reality is: there are no pictures of me, but lots of my family, friends and other things 🙂

Describe your typical day from waking up to going to bed.

I wake up, go running (if it’s not winter), shower, drink tee and spend some time on my laptop (yes, at the moment I spend much time on my laptop editing pictures/writing blogs or simply do marketing) then I have breakfast, make some calls before having my lunch break. After that I often meet peple from the wedding industry, have shootings, go home, spend some time in lightroom, write my plan for the next day, watch tv or present my shootings to my husband and finally go to bed.

What’s driving you?

I guess it’s the want to make people happy. I started with this feeling. I wanted to show people how beautiful they are. It doesn’t matter if someone doesn’t have the perfect skin, body or something else. I even lerned how to do professional make-up for my photo sessions to make the effect stronger and pictures even more attractive. Now, my goal is to make people cry with tears of joy – to catch the true atmosphere, to freeze time and preserve these memories.

7 years from now: Where do you see yourself?

I still see myself as wedding photographer, for sure but I am working not only in Austria, but around Europe and have around 20-30 weddings per year. Most of the time I shoot weddings in New Zealand and Switzerland (some other photographers have inspired me, so I wish to go there to shoot weddings). At the moment I am working on my wedding journal and I hope very much, that in 7 years, this journal becomes very popular and I am helping people to get more inspiration for their weddings or businesses.

Tell us about your best idea and worst execution.

Oh my gosh, yes there is a story. I organized a project in a forrest with a team of at least 10-12 people (designer, decorator, two wedding planners, wedding dress atelier, make-up artist etc). There were three models (a couple and a girl) and I thought I can get more pictures from that wonderful place. The place was perfect, but I didn’t count in the make-up time. I planned with 1 hour to get ready with hair & make-up, but I failed. It took around 2,5 hours, there was almost no light and I had to shoot with flash, which I truly hate. The problem was: because of the trees the flash could not or hardly reach the models. My photo assistant tried her best, I tried my best and we did it, but I was not happy at all and since then I am very careful and schedule my shooting time very properly.

Tell us about your worst idea and best execution.

That’s a hard question. I have just scrolled back to this one – it’s my last one. I had many bad ideas in my profession, but there are a couple of photo shootings, which I can’t watch without being teary-eyed, but the colors and the light are just perfect. I know it’s not that special or funny, but it’s true.

What trends would you bet your money on? And how will they influence everyday life?

I am not betting for money at all, but if I had to, I would bet it on heathy lifestyle, fitness and social activities. Everything what has been forgotten over the last couple of years is the “new trend” now and I think many people can feel it. I like it. I came from Siberia – everything I ate when I was younger was bio, everything else was too expensive (kind of funny now!) and I hope my children will have the same real food I had before I left my country.

What seemed to be the most important thing in the world to you when you were 10 years old?

When I was 10 years I did theatre and light athletic. In theatre I was always used to be the protagonist, but not Romeo or Juliette, I was a rabbit or some other kind of animal. I wanted to grow up and play more serious roles, instead of the nice ones. Regarding light athletic, I was one of the best ones and I even wanted to go to the Olympics 🙂

What day is a perfect day for you?

When I am totally tired after a wedding photo shooting, my husband is driving the car and I am sitting right next to hin and looking through the photos on my camera. We talk about our impressions of the shooting, how many details we have could capture and that the groom finally cried (one day I took an image of a crying groom, this has been my wish for a long time). We also talk about how happy the people at the wedding were and in my head I still play the moment when the bride walked down the aisle on repeat.

Who is your hero and why?

I have many heroes, they are my family. My grandma, mother, sister, husband and his family. Sure, I could always say a name of another photographer but I would lie. The people around me are true heroes, they have done things in life and they went through horrible days and they are still full of love. They make this world a better place. I look up to them and I wish I will be the same one day but in my own way.

What advice would you give first time entrepreneurs?

  1. Be quick, the market is not waiting for you.
  2. Don’t be afraid of anything, everybody started small. Self-confindence, knowlegde & goals will lead you where you want to be.
  3. If you fail, don’t give up. Failures are the best and quickest way to learn and to make decisions out of that. Change concepts, make something better, create something new, find another partner or even start with something else. Believe in yourself!

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