Your photographer better have some style, or she won't bring out yours.

​Some people have  a job where everyone is happy. This makes it fun, makes the days rewarding, and you love getting up in the morning.  Being a wedding photographer is one of those jobs.  Marina Fridlyand is a wedding and portrait photographer. The stories she tells light up her face.. For instance, It was right before the wedding, yet the flowers had not yet arrived.  Everyone was getting nervous.  Finally, yay, the truck with the flowers arrived, with the wrong flowers.  Everyone thought the bride was going to lose it.  But no, she was happy, she was getting married, it was ok. She hoped the other bride liked the flowers that she had chosen. This was  a lovely outcome of what could have been made into a tragedy. Another bride who she had been speaking to for two months,  getting to know her, to make her comfortable for the shoot, said to her, "don't take this personally" , but what is your name?  She had listed her in her contacts as "photographer." 

With almost no experience and a lot of determination, Marina opened her photography business. She had been at the mercy of big business, working as a programmer,  When business was good, she had work. When bad, she was fired.. It was a roller coaster existence. She decided she had to have something of her own.  At the beginning, it was all word of mouth.  But slowly the business began to grow. The brides she had photographed then wanted maternity photos showing off their baby bump and modeling different maternity clothes. After their baby was born, they wanted photos of the babies and, then as they grew, they wanted more pictures. Talk about having a client for life..  

Marina started this new career with absolutely no knowledge of photography or of her own strong creative capabilities. She set out unaware but fierce, sure she could learn all that she had to, about this exciting new endeavor. Little by little, by referrals, her book of clients grew. and she realized that she had a viable business. Marina's perfect client is someone to whom family and tradition are important . She expects her subjects to  listen to her advice before they come in for their sessions. She asks them to wear certain things and to show her what they will be wearing.  Every once in a while someone does not pay attention. They  wear completely different clothing than they said they would, and this messes up the results. This is a rare occurrence, So, if a client is not happy, it is always because they did not listen. They did not pay attention to Marina, the 'director'.

Marina loves to show people how beautiful they really are. She says that the prettier the person the less attractive they think they are. Sometimes when she presents the finished photo, her subjects cry, They cannot believe the wonderful result. This, to Marina, is everything

Marina is a single mom. She has a sixteen year old daughter and a fourteen year old son. They are, for now, her second career!

Marina Fridlyand
Reflections Studio
Photographer
1494 Westgate Drive, Fort Lee N.J07024
(201) 675-6195
[email protected]
www.portraits.reflectionstudio.net

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