Your Name: Patricia Migliore
Business Name: Roselight Studio, an on-location photography service for large organizations
Type of Business: Arts & Entertainment
Business Location: Somerset, New Jersey, United States
Website www.roselightstudio.com
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Roselight-Studio/158510410867425
Reason for starting
After a career as a corporate staff photographer, I decided to carve out my own business in event/portrait/wedding/theater photography in Central New Jersey to work on location. Being self-motived is one of my assets and I enjoy the ability to take my skills to their fullest potential and explore avenues that will take me into interesting new areas. My career has successfully segued from film into digital which has kept the creativity flowing as the new media offers new and exciting opportunities for creativity. The possibilities are only limited by the hours in the day. The ability to work from an office in my home has taken a lot of unproductive time away from my day’s schedule and allowed me to stay focused on my goals. It is this clear vision that I feel is of greatest benefit to my clients, alongside a strong background of experience in an everchanging industry.
How do you define success?
Self-determination is the very definition of success to me since we all have dreams and a vision for what we would like our lives to be. Being able to continue along the path of your dreams is my very idea success and that cannot be measured in money or material items. To wake up every morning and look forward to what you have to do in the day is, to me, the ultimate success. When you love what you do, that feeling comes back to you through the exchanges that you have with the people around you and takes whatever task you are doing out of the realm of being just a job. My career has allowed me help individual record the very special times of their lives and have the important role of creating something that is going to live on for years. To know that your work is going to be cherished through years and generations is incredibly satisfying to me and it has been rewarding to be able to make it my career.
Biggest Success
Of all the things I have done in my career, I would have to say that what I am proudest of is that I segued my business successfully and seamlessly from film into digital. A new technology is not simply a different way of doing the same thing but, like all technologies, the changes reverberate through the industry for years to come and affect changes in related markets. Moving from film into digital did not just mean that photographers began recording their images on a different medium but it opened a whole range of new possibilities and markets that are still evolving. To be a photographer at this time, more than ever, means a constant process of learning and evolving how you relate to your craft and present it to your audience. I have found that moving into digital has kept my craft interesting and offered me endless potential to grow.
What is your top challenge and how have you addressed it?
The biggest current challenge that I see for any photographer is the profusion of picture taking options for non-professionals and how they come to view what we do as professionals as being on the same level with their ability to produce an image. Since non-professionals are capable of recording an image with something as readily available as their phone or a pocket camera, they do not understand the distinction between the simple function and a skill that yields a higher quality result. It is necessary to try and educate people to show them, not just the quality difference, but the reliability factor that comes with hiring a professional. A person’s best friend may have a good camera but when faced with a difficult lighting situation, may not be capable of making the correct decisions that result in a quality image….or any image at all!
Who is your most important role model?
My husband first. He has always exhibited a strength and perseverence that I can hardly believe. After that, my son and daughter. They are bright, intelligent and kind and use their gifts in all aspects of their lives.