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

Hi Sara, how do you think about risk?
Taking risks has been one of the most important things I have done in my business. Every major accomplishment in my business has been because of taking that extra step. Taking what is expected and finding a way to go one step farther. Either in image creation, marketing, building relationships, or client interactions. Those extra steps, those risks have been the difference. When you think, what do they expect and how can I do more than that. If people are doing business one way in your industry look for a way to be different. Take that risk and stand out.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am most proud of the all female team and brands we have created. I have created 3 photography brands with the help of my team. We have Sara France the high end luxury wedding brand, The Copper Collective which is an all female team of wedding photographers, and Shay Studios an all female team of brand photographers.

Watching the business evolve and change over the years has been my greatest challenge and reward. Just like with anything worth doing it was hard. We went through many years of flex where we opened locations in other states, The evolution of going from one associate photographer and 1 brand to now multiple photographers and multiple brands. All of this took years of trial and error, finding gaps in how we did things and adding new processes to correct those. I think going through Covid was the toughest however, it really helped me streamline the business and get focused on what we could do. Ultimately, surviving it as an intact company helped us to get on the right pass with the right team and a stronger vision of the future.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
There are so many people along my journey that I would love to thank. The first is my mentor. The one that handed me a camera and told me to take some photos. She was so encouraging and really set me on the path that would be a lifelong career. Her name is Monique Feil. 20+ years ago she shot some photos for me and showed me that photography could be fun and energizing and full of love. She was an incredible mentor, boss, friend. She took me on my first wedding as an assistant and stayed an extra hour because I did not want to leave. After the wedding she called me to tell me that the images I took were incredible and that I should become a photographer. That one phone call changed the trajectory of my life.

Second would be a company I worked for early on called Pictage and all the people I met and worked with there. That company offered me so many opportunities to meet incredible people in the industry and really get to know all the ins and outs of the business. The people I met through working for that company really helped to encourage me to move forward in my career. It created opportunities for me to become a leader in my industry. I credit the people I met at Pictage with a lot of the connections that lead to major successes in my career.

In this last 10 year a large majority of my success has been due to the partnership and support of the photographers that I work with. Specifically Jessica Van. She started as an intern with me, then moved to Studio Manager, then she became an associate photographer. Now, she is my true partner in business and one of my dearest friends. She is the co-founder of both of our sister companies The Copper Collective and Shay Studios. She is right there with me side by side through our challenges and through our struggles. We have different strengths that complement each other and I would not have been able to build these teams without her.

Website: www.sarafrance.com / www.copper-collective.com / www.Shay-studios.com

Instagram: @sarafrance / @copper.collective_ / @Shay.studios

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sarafrancephotographer

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/sara-france-photographer-san-diego?utm_campaign=www_business_share_popup&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=(direct)

Youtube: https://youtube.com/c/SaraFrance

Other: https://alphauniverse.com/artisans-2019/france/

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