Check Out Sara Herkes’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sara Herkes.

Hi Sara, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I grew up around photography. My dad is a professional videographer and, as part of that job, was part of the photography world. He, himself, did photography and was surrounded by photographers.

It wasn’t until college that I started to play with the idea of photography myself though. I decided to take an elective in black and white photography. It was in that class that I started to realize I was different. I had always understood good composition and what good photography looked like and I didn’t realize until that class that I was unique in that ability. I now assume that growing up around photographers gave me that skill.

I finished out with a major in Biological Anthropology at George Washington University and then moved back to my home, the Big Island of Hawaii, after graduating. Within a month I was working as a photography apprentice at a local portrait company. Within three months, I was a lead photographer and the main videography assistant. Within a year, the main videographer retired and I took over that position as well. Additionally, I helped to manage the business, led photo crews, and ran the professional printing lab.

I loved being behind the camera. It was a high-volume business though and I quickly got burned out. After three years, I didn’t want to give up all my weekends and evenings any longer. I also had never planned to go back to Hawaii and I wanted to leave again.

I have come to realize that my professional life has been built upon a dichotomy of art and academics. And I swung to the other side of it for the following ten years. I moved to Colorado to pursue a graduate degree in Classics with a concentration in archaeology. I had planned to earn a Ph.D., but within a year of my master’s degree realized that a faculty position wasn’t the right fit either. So I graduated with my master’s and started a nearly decade-long career in higher education administration. I loved working with students and loved being surrounded by the academic world. As someone who has studied everything from Latin to instructional design, I find myself most at home surrounded by academics. However, eventually, the bureaucracy of higher education took its toll, life circumstances changed, and so I looked back to photography.

I opened my current business in 2018. Learning from the lessons of my past, I built a business that is based on the boutique model. Instead of working on 1000s of photoshoots a year, I limit it to less than 100. That way I can give the attention and care each of my clients deserve. I focus on maternity, newborn, and family photography. I’m in love with these genres because I am a mom. Becoming a mom was the single most transformative experience of my life. It showed me a strength within myself that I never knew I had. I love showing moms within the context of their families. Because I truly believe that moms are a force to be reckoned with. They are the backbone of our society.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Becoming an entrepreneur is one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done. And I’m someone who moved 5000 miles from home to a place I had never set foot in my life at the age of 18. And someone who did the same thing for graduate school, moving from an archaeological site in the middle of nowhere in Egypt to Boulder, CO site unseen, and starting graduate school all within a week, along with two suitcases.

Becoming an entrepreneur was difficult in a different way. It tested my grit and perseverance. And it required a change in my core makeup. I am an achiever. I was always at the top of my class in the world of academics. I have always strived to move up and be at the top of my field. But being an entrepreneur requires you to become intimate with failure. You have to want failure and seek it out. Because it is only through failure that you learn and grow. It is only through failure that you become successful in the entrepreneurial world.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a maternity, newborn, and family photographer that captures your pregnancy and family amidst the Colorado wilderness.

Before I switched to this genre of photography, I was a wedding photographer in Hawaii. Wedding photography is filled with couples and brides surrounded by grandiose scenery. I feel like maternity, newborn, and family photography should get the same treatment. We live in a place that has magnificent backdrops and many of us moved here or stayed here because of it. We love the outdoors as Coloradans and are proud of our beautiful state.

What I am most well known for is capturing pregnancy within this setting and combining it with designer and couture gowns. Typically you find higher-end gowns in the world of studio photography. But I felt that a mom-to-be shouldn’t have to choose. She should get to wear the beautiful gown and get the jaw-dropping scenery as well.

What would you say has been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
The most important thing I have learned as an entrepreneur is that I am the only one that limits myself. As long as I am open to learning and growing as a professional, the sky is the limit.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.saraherkesphoto.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/saraherkesphoto
• Facebook: facebook.com/saraherkesphoto