” Running a business is hard. So give yourself some credit. And also just try and show up as yourself.”

LEESHA WILLIAMS

Listen to episode 138 on Buzzsprout

Building a photography business means deciding how you want people to see your work. It also means thinking about how people see themselves within it.

Will a couple feel welcome when they visit your website? Can they trust you to photograph their skin tones accurately? Do they have a sense of the person who will be spending their wedding day with them?

In this episode of the Grow Your Photography Business Podcast, Leesha Williams joins Sally Shaw to talk about representation, authentic marketing and the realities of running three creative businesses while managing ADHD and being a single mum.

Drawing on her experience as a Black, queer photographer and filmmaker, Leesha shares why being open about who she is has become central to the way she works, connects with clients and protects her energy.

Key takeaways

If you’re short on time, here’s what you’ll learn from this episode:

📸 Why accurate skin tones are an essential part of representing your clients

🤝 How meaningful inclusion goes beyond visibility

💬 Why showing your personality helps clients understand what working with you will feel like

⚙️ How systems and automation support Leesha across three businesses

❤️ Why boundaries deserve a place in your business from the beginning

Representation starts with helping people feel seen

For Leesha, representation is personal.

As a Black, queer creative, she understands why someone might feel more comfortable booking a photographer whose identity or experience connects with their own. Being open about those parts of herself helps prospective clients recognise that her business could be a safe and welcoming space.

Earlier in her career, she questioned whether she needed to describe herself as a Black or queer photographer. Other people questioned it too.

Over time, she became more confident about why it mattered. For the person looking for someone who understands them, that information can make a difference.

The same consideration applies to the work photographers share. Couples need opportunities to see people like themselves celebrated in wedding imagery, and to feel confident that their own relationships and experiences will be treated with care.

Accurate skin tones are part of the client experience

Leesha’s commitment to accurate skin tones comes partly from having her own photograph taken and seeing edits that did not reflect how she actually looked.

That experience informs the promise she makes to her clients: their photographs should look like them.

Many of the couples who approach her are from different ethnic backgrounds. They want confidence that both partners will be photographed and edited well within the same image.

For photographers developing this skill, Leesha puts particular emphasis on getting the photograph right in camera, then practising and refining the edit. Relying on a preset without understanding how it affects different skin tones can leave clients poorly represented.

She also highlights the value of inclusive workshops where photographers can gain experience working with people of different ethnicities.

The responsibility extends beyond creating an attractive portfolio. It means developing the skills to deliver work that reflects the people who have trusted you with their memories.

Meaningful inclusion requires consistency

Leesha speaks candidly about the increased attention she received during the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020.

There were features, lists and requests from publications that had previously shown little interest in her work. While greater visibility brought opportunities, some of that attention felt tokenistic.

She recalls publications requesting particular weddings because they featured Black couples, even when those weddings did not fit the publication’s usual style.

Her experience raises an important question for the industry: does inclusion remain a priority once the initial attention moves elsewhere?

For Leesha, meaningful progress involves sustained awareness and recognition. It also means remembering that one person cannot speak for every Black photographer or every queer creative. Each person brings their own lived experience.

Photographers, blogs and industry organisations all have a role in making representation part of their everyday decisions.

Let clients meet the person behind the business

Leesha wants couples to know who they are booking.

Her personality, values and everyday life appear in the way she presents her business. By the time she arrives at a wedding, clients already have a sense of her energy and approach.

That familiarity helps everyone feel more comfortable.

Wedding photographers spend hours alongside their couples, often during emotional and intimate moments. Feeling at ease with each other matters.

Leesha is equally clear that the relationship needs to work for her. As a Black, queer photographer, she wants to feel safe in the spaces where she works, just as she wants her clients to feel safe with her.

Showing up honestly gives both sides a better opportunity to understand whether they are a good fit.

Sometimes that means sharing photography. Sometimes it means sharing a funny moment making pancakes with her daughter. Those glimpses of everyday life remind potential clients that there is a person behind the portfolio.

Build systems around how you actually work

Running three businesses involves plenty of moving parts. For Leesha, managing ADHD has meant learning to build a working routine that supports the way her brain works.

She describes moving away from the idea that she had to run her business in the same way as everyone else.

Templates and automation in Studio Ninja help her manage tasks she might otherwise struggle to remember. She also batches and schedules social media content, reducing the pressure to create and post throughout the week.

These systems give recurring tasks a reliable place in her workflow.

Leesha also recognises strengths in the way she thinks creatively, while being honest about the demands and potential for burnout. Her experience is a reminder that understanding your own working patterns can help you make more useful business decisions.

Start with the tasks that repeatedly drain your energy or slip through the gaps. Consider where a template, an automated step or a more realistic routine could help.

Protect the life your business makes possible

One of Leesha’s clearest boundaries is her Monday out-of-office.

That is time for her and her daughter. It might involve making pancakes or eating ice cream in the park at two in the afternoon.

She has built a career that gives her that flexibility, and she wants to enjoy it.

Protecting those days has gone alongside accepting that she cannot do everything herself, all the time. She also limits how much other photographers’ content she consumes, particularly when it creates pressure to keep up.

It is easy to look at somebody else’s output and decide you should be doing more. Leesha’s experience shows how helpful it can be to pay attention to what your own business and life actually need.

Asked what she would change if she started again, she points to two things: bringing her current confidence into the business earlier, and putting supportive systems in place from the start.