Meet Madeleine Schaffner of Mado Photo in Highlands

Today we’d like to introduce you to Madeleine Schaffner.

Madeleine, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
From the second I picked up my first film camera (a Pentax k1000), I became fascinated by capturing photos of unusual yet beautiful locations. My uncle, who educated me in the field of photography, always impressed me with his photographs of forgotten buildings and abandoned houses. My fascination with capturing nature and forgotten places only grew once I started adding human beings into the mix. I became enamored with the expressions on a person’s face while they are at one with nature, and the emotion that a subject exudes. I began offering senior photo sessions when I was 15 years old, which allowed me to photograph a wider variety of people against interesting backdrops that I found while exploring. One day, a friend of a friend asked me to photograph their wedding. This unleashed my passion for not only capturing individuals but couples together. Being able to be in the presence of love, and immortalizing it through film, led me to become a full-time couple and wedding photographer. It has been ten years since photographing my first wedding, and my love for the field has only grown through observing those meaningful moments shared between humans who love each other. I believe we are all expressions of mother nature’s beauty and love is the purest example of that.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It has been a smooth road in the sense that I have never doubted if I should continue to do photography because it truly feeds my artistic soul and I crave it emotionally. The struggles came more from the business side of things in the beginning. I knew I wanted to create and make art, but I wasn’t as excited about the prospect of advertising, taxes, SEO, building a website, and all of those business-related necessities. I had to teach myself how to become a small business owner, a web designer, and someone who knows how to brand and market herself. I sometimes find myself wishing I had studied marketing in college instead, but it has been a fulfilling (and occasionally difficult) process paving this road for myself. The biggest struggle of them all for my business was relocating from Arizona to Colorado in 2018 and having to rebuild my business in a new state, including starting from scratch with getting my name out there and finding clients. However, these obstacles have taught me new ways to problem solve and pushed me to work harder to attain success for my business.

Please tell us more about your work, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
I focus on capturing human emotion in a natural way through the lens of my camera. The areas that I specialize in include weddings, elopements, engagements, and couple’s sessions. I also specialize in LGBT+ couples and absolutely believe that all love is beautiful.

I am most proud of my ability to help people become comfortable in front of the camera so that their inner self can emerge without any fear of awkwardness. Getting a client to express genuine laughter during their session is the greatest gift and always what I strive for.

I aspire to bring out those moments of love in people so that their photographs are filled with authentic emotion, rather than pre-selected poses. There is nothing better than when clients tell me that they both love their photos and that they also felt uplifted after their session with me. I believe what sets me apart from others is my focus on the clients as real human beings, and not simply as subjects for a pretty picture. I want each photograph to be a piece of art that will be treasured and re-lived by its recipient, and remind them of exactly how they felt in that moment.

Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
One could say that from an outsider’s perspective, I have had my fair share of “bad luck.” My first year in business after college, I lost my mom and a few other close family members and felt the world begin to crumble beneath my feet. I doubted if I would be able to get out of bed in order to work. However, somehow I felt the urge to create even more – but not what I was used to creating. I started planning artistic collaborations with models, makeup artists, and clothing brands and ventured into the world of fashion and studio photography. I invested in countless pieces of equipment, backdrops, and lights to build a studio in my living room. My weeks were spent learning editing, lighting, and retouching techniques. I believe this was my brain’s way of distracting itself and taking my mind off of any emotional turmoil.

Something about bad luck forced out a new side of me that allowed me to express myself in a completely new way through photography. It took removed my focus from all of the bad luck that I had been experiencing and allowed me to recharge my passion for not only creating but living. This new form of creation translated into me finding the energy to pursue taking my business to the next level and being a photographer full time. I realized that if something could fill me with so much joy and life even after the darkest of times, then it was what I was meant to do.

Pricing:

• 8 hour wedding package + complimentary engagement session: $2,800
• 6 hour wedding package + complimentary engagement session: $2,200
• Engagement/couple’s session: $325
• Elopement pricing: $325 per hour

Contact Info:

• Website: www.mado-photo.com
• Phone: (928)533-1518
• Email: info@mado-photo.com

 

 

 

 

 

Image Credit:
Photo of myself by Portraits by Annaleisa (Annaleisa Friednash), All other photos by me (Mado Photo / Madeleine Schaffner)

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