Rising Stars: Meet Dinnia Quiros

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dinnia Quiros. 

Hi Dinnia, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
My story started around 9 years ago, I was living in my home country Costa Rica, where I decided to study Photography because it was something that I was always interested in. Although I could never be a full-time photographer in my country, I would practice it when I had free time as a hobby. In 2017 the opportunity to move to the US came up, I moved with my husband looking for a better life. I sold my camera in order to buy the flight ticket. This decision was difficult because I thought I would never be able to do photography. From 2017 to 2020 I worked full-time as a housekeeper, however, when COVID hit I lost my job, I felt very overwhelmed and hopeless. During quarantine, I tried a million options to distract myself from this situation and make some money. Some of the options that I took was selling cakes and doing doordash with my husband. One day while doing doordash my husband suggested going back to Photography, at that moment I thought it was impossible because I had no idea of how photography in this country worked, I called a friend who had been living in this country for a long time, to ask her if she thought it was a good idea for me to become a photographer, her answer was that it wasn’t a good idea. Although she was not positive, my husband told me we could buy the camera to start and we would see how it worked out he said “what is there to lose? If the business works it would be great, if not you can stay with the camera.” So, we bought it, I was taking classes for 2 months to refresh my mind with what I learned back in Costa Rica. I asked my friends and my daughter to be my models. In September 9 of 2020, I had my first paid session, after that session, there was a lot of clients reaching out to me, I was all booked. At the time I had a really small apartment but I managed to make a little Christmas set where I took Christmas sessions and everyone loved it. I promised every client that the next year I would receive them in a studio of my own where they could be more comfortable in. After this, my business was a success. In December of 2021, I was able to rent my first studio. This year an important brand of photography started a partnership with me. Now I can say I’m my own boss and my business is doing amazingly 

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
At the start, the biggest challenge was that I shared my plans with some people and most of them had negative comments, but I was focused on going on with it. Another challenge was that I had to start from 0 in a different country with different ways of working that I didn’t know of, also a different language. But I got close to some business women that helped me a lot with building my business 

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I make memories that last forever, I specialize in portraits, I also do pregnancy sessions, family sessions, couples, senior pictures, etc. I’m known because I try to give the best service, I put love and effort in every single session. I don’t do simple pictures, I capture people’s souls, I try to get to know my clients and I make them feel like they can trust me. I know that when my clients come to my sessions, they feel nervous and excited that is why I try to make them feel comfortable and I give them my 100% 

The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
Due to COVID, I learnt that when things get tough you have 2 options. Wait for everything to fall from the sky and do nothing to change the bad situation, or you can get to know how capable you are of doing big things and this you only discover it during tough times. This Is why the pandemic helped me find my path and have the courage to go back to the job I love. 

Contact Info:

• Website: Tica-Photography.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/ticaphotography_?r=nametag
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ticaphotoartist/
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@ticaphotography?_t=8Wap3v4fKeJ&_r=1

Image Credits
Tica Photography