Meet Lauren Ronquille | DFW Photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Lauren Ronquille and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Lauren, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Starting my own business was something that I had been wanting to do for a while. I had been doing photography on the side since high school and absolutely loved it. When I graduated college I went to go work in the corporate world doing Marketing. I loved it but the schedule wasn’t for me – I am not made for corporate life. My fiance was my biggest support system – I told him that my dream was to open my own business and do photography full time. From the second he heard that he pushed me and encouraged me to quit my job and jump into the deep end. I found a mentor to help me get into the wedding industry because I love love and I really thought that that’s where I belonged so Adrean Indolos took me under his wing and gave me the mentorship to create my business and grow. After about half a year of experience with Adrean I finally listened to my fiance and made the scary jump to full time and haven’t looked back since.

I was terrified to jump to full time photography; without my fiance encouraging me every day I don’t think I ever would have followed my dreams.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
I’m a local photographer that specializes in weddings, boudoir, and couples. That’s a very vague statement and to be completely honest that doesn’t even begin to cover it. Yes – I’m a photographer, but I’m so much more. With the risk of sounding cocky I truly believe that I give my competition a run for their money. When I have people out in their sessions I become their best friend, their biggest hype person, and probably the goofiest person out there just so I can make them laugh and feel comfortable. It’s important to me to not only capture gorgeous images for my clients, but to make them feel happy and confident in themselves. At weddings you can usually find me in the bridal suite while she’s getting glammed up making jokes, capturing the candid moments, and throwing out the most heartfelt compliments. I usually tell my brides that I’m their unofficial maid of honor, unofficial hype woman, and unofficial coordinator. I truly do everything in my power to make their day special, easy, and fun. During my sessions, you can hear me making all the weird noises because whoever I’m shooting is an absolute piece of art and my photography reflects that.

One thing that I’m super proud of is my growth. I feel like that sounds so cliche however, I went full time in October and at that time, I had one wedding lined up and really didn’t have a whole lot of clients. I was terrified to jump to full time but when I did, let me tell you it was one of the most rewarding feelings seeing my business grow and hear my clients talk about my work to others. Fast forward to June and I have several sessions and I’m thriving. I’m so excited to see where my business will be 5 years down the road.

I feel like I got lucky with my success – not saying I didn’t work my butt off to get where I am now but I did find a mentor who helped me get to where I am. Without him I truly don’t believe I would be in the wedding industry. I second shoot for him all the time and even travelled to Colorado to shoot a wedding with him this month. Even with his help though, it was not easy. I have had my fair share of days where I feel useless, and like I’m not doing well enough and I freak out over my bills thinking that I need to go back to corporate life as much as I hated it. Without my fiance telling me every day that I got it I don’t think I would be where I am. He’s given me so many pep talks and is my biggest supporter. I honestly feel so lucky to have him in my life.

I’ve learned that you have to believe in yourself as a young entrepreneur. People won’t trust your work unless you believe in yourself and that you can crush their session. I still struggle with that sometimes, I have severe depression and anxiety so it’s important for me to have the right mindset going in to every conversation with potential clients.

I want people to know that when they hire me as their photographer not only will they get gorgeous images but they’ll also gain a friend, their biggest cheerleader, and a newfound sense of confidence. I strive to make sure everyone leaves their sessions feeling amazing and excited for their images to come back.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I think this is definitely dependent upon who comes to visit lol!

My favorite place in the entire world is Thrillvania Haunted House Park. I’ve been working there for about 8 years now and that place is my home away from home so in a perfect world my friend would definitely come walk through a night we’re open. I would also bring them to Rocky Ridge so we can drive through a safari and feed animals because let’s be honest animals make everything better. We’d go to Whisked Away Bakery in Terrell probably every day they’re open for the best coffee and cookies.

If we go more in to Dallas we’d go axe throwing at Whiskey Hatchet and maybe try to find a couple of speakeasies hidden in the city.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I absolutely want to dedicate my shoutout to my amazing fiance, Justin, for encouraging me to make the jump and follow my dreams. I would also like to recognize Adrean for taking me under his wing and helping me build my business.

Website: laurensphotoshoots.com

Instagram: laurens_photo_shoots

Linkedin: Lauren Ronquille

Facebook: Lauren’s Photo Shoots

Image Credits
Adrean Indolos, Alyssa Melton, Lauren Ronquille