I started FosterPowellPDX.com because I wanted to get to know the people in my new ‘hood and learn how to support local businesses. To that end, I’m starting this new series of FoPo Biz Interviews featuring local business owners. Our first subject is Carrie O’Callaghan, the proprietor, artist, and all-around nice gal behind O’Callaghan Photography.
Carrie’s been an advocate for FoPo for years, it seems. Back in 2007, the Portland Tribune offered a portrait of O’Callaghan and her family in a story about the changing face of Foster-Powell. Since I’m ga-ga for this neighborhood (and anyone who helps it grow), I’m happy to offer this interview with Carrie, just in time for Mother’s Day! (Hint, hint… what better gift for Mom than a photo shoot, so she can remember her little munchkins in their fleeting youth?)
FosterPowellPDX.com: Tell the story of how you got into photography.
Carrie O’Callaghan: I discovered my passion for photography while living in East Africa. My passion for the people, their faces and the stories their pictures told quickly overshadowed everything else. There I learned that the process of capturing a photo can build a connection in a way that words or gestures fail to. This process continues for me even today as I connects to a mother-to-be, new mother and father or child while photographing them.
FosterPowellPDX.com: How do you help your subjects feel co
mfortable enough to show their true spirits during your sessions?
Carrie O’Callaghan: HUMOR! I am one of the more sarcastic people you’ll meet and I like to deflect tension with my laid-back demeanor. I also think it really helps that I’m a mom and have been through the experience before so I’ll make jokes about how my son wouldn’t even look at me if I had a camera in my hand from about 6 months old until just recently- now he’s discovered that he can see his photo and, of course 2 year olds are about as vain as they come so thank goodness for digital cameras!
FosterPowellPDX.com: What’s your favorite part of the job?
Carrie O’Callaghan: My favorite part of photographing women and their families is connecting with my clients and philosophizing about pregnancy, birth, and having children. For most of us, having a child is the most important thing we will do in our lives so it’s not difficult to find a common connection with people.
FosterPowellPDX.com: What’s your least favorite part of the job?
Carrie O’Callaghan: Talking money with people.
FosterPowellPDX.com: How did you come to specialize in mothers & family photographs?
Carrie O’Callaghan: I began seriously working with pregnant women, babies and children after the birth of my first child, when I realized my passion for motherhood and childbirth. Demand for my work grew as I formed bonds with other new mothers and they began requesting that I photograph their children.
FosterPowellPDX.com: Since you’re a mother yourself, what are you hoping for as a gift this Mother’s Day?
Carrie O’Callaghan:
World Peace… just joking… not that I don’t want World Peace, but I’d rather that come on another day… like tomorrow, but not Mother’s Day. I guess, for Mother’s Day, I would like to spend the day with my family riding our bikes around Southeast Portland, window-shopping and ending up at Hopworks, sitting by the play area while my child plays for an hour without needing anything so my husband and I can drink a pint together and discuss how we’ll solve all the problems of the world. So basically, I’d like a miracle for Mother’s Day… just joking!
FosterPowellPDX.com: Make up a question & answer it.
Carrie O’Callaghan: My question would be, “What has helped you gain the most experience as a photographer?”
And my answer: Having a child of my own to practice on and learning in Africa to just take a deep breath and ease into the situation- nothing is more intimidating than going into the local fish market and trying to take photos of people gutting fish while simultaneously trying to keep your lunch down.
FosterPowellPDX.com: What one piece of advice would you give to amateur photographers who want to take better pictures?
Carrie O’Callaghan: Practice, practice, practice and value yourself, if you don’t value what you do then you cannot expect others to!
Brilliant advice, Carrie, and thanks for the interview and use of your gorgeous images. To learn more, or schedule a session with Carrie, visit her website at ocallaghanphotography.com, and click on “contact.”
FoPo Readers: Are you a business owner who would like to be interviewed? Or are you a resident who’d like to learn more about a certain business? Comment here and let me know– I’ll do my best to interview according to your requests. Alternatively, you can also email the site at FosterPowellPDX@gmail.com, which I swear I will do a better job of checking.
