Meet Val & Stephanie Westover, the legendary photography duo from Orange County USA.

We recently had the privilege of interviewing Val and Steph from Val Westover Photography and got some amazing insight into their thriving photography business. Not only do Val and Steph shoot portraits, headshots, weddings, events, celebrities and fine art pieces but they also run a photography academy and a retouching and printing lab!!

These guys know their stuff and are leaders in the photography (and business) game, so if you would like to know how they grew their photography business into what it is today and service over 7000 clients, then check out the interview below.

NINJA: Please tell us a little bit about yourself and your photography business.

Val & Steph: Stephanie and I are a husband and wife photography team. We have built up our photography business (Val Westover Photography) to have over 7,000 wonderful clients. Between the two of us, we have seven children, two dogs, a cat, a cockatoo and a horse. Whether we are holding a camera in our hands or not, Stephanie and I spend every moment of our time together. We have an epic love story but that’s for another time. Besides being award winning fine art photographers, we also specialize in photographing people in our two locations, Orange County, California and Salt Lake City, Utah. In 2008 our business took a slight detour because of an economic dip, which caused us to shift our business to evolve with the times. This motivated me to write my first book, which gave me the credibility to begin teaching photography to our clients who wanted to learn how to take better pictures. Little did we know, that a small online coupon company (Groupon) would ask to feature our photography workshop, which sent us on our way to teach over 25,000 photographers in 25 cities in the US and Canada. After perfecting our live workshops, we developed one of the most effective photography online courses, in which over 8000 people currently are taking. Besides the love that we have for our own photography business, we are devoted to helping other photographers succeed through our photography business coaching program.

NINJA: How would you describe your style and what makes your business unique?

Val & Steph: As each photo session breathes a life of its own, our style is constantly evolving. Our main focus for every photo session is capturing true emotion and bringing out the individuals unique personality. We are not distracted by popular styles or trends, which keeps us true to our very own consistent look. What makes us unique, is that our clients become our lifelong friends. With over 20 years of being in business, we’ve had the pleasure of photographing our clients from childhood to parenthood. Throughout the years, because of association and location, we’ve had the great fortune to photograph many celebrities and their families, making our job even more fun and exciting.

Check out this gorgeous video from Val Westover Photography, proving that his clients really are lifelong friends. He photographed this 5 year old girl on a beach and then photographed her 15 years later on the same beach for her wedding! Just amazing!

NINJA: What gets you jumping out of bed in the morning? What inspires you?

Val & Steph: Stephanie and see every day as an exciting adventure. There are no such things as problems only opportunities. We are inspired by the love that we have for our clients.

NINJA: How did you go from being an aspiring photographer to actually doing it full time? How did you book your first paid job?

Val & Steph: After spending seven years as a regional manager for the nations largest portrait studio, in 1994 I felt it was finally time to open my own photography business. Without having the luxury of the Internet, I grew a strong business within one year through my own telemarketing and direct mail program. With only a modeling background, Stephanie joined Val Westover photography’s mentorship program in 2000. After becoming a certified professional photographer, Stephanie was promoted to running our wedding department. Averaging over 38 weddings per year, Stephanie found her forte.

NINJA: Can you tell us one marketing strategy that is working really well for you at the moment?

Val & Steph: Even though it’s very important to market for new clients, we strive to spend more energy developing relationships with our current clients, rather than trying to get new ones.

NINJA: Can you offer one piece of advice that has really helped you grow your business?

Val & Steph: Our business has prospered greatly with a very simple mindset change. We now approach each new opportunity with “how can we serve you” rather than “how can you serve us”.

NINJA: Which photographers or business people influence you, and how did they influence your thinking, photographing, and career path?

Val & Steph: As an accredited college professor, knowing photography inside and out, I still feel that you can never stop learning. Stephanie and I have three business coaches. James Malinchak’s 25k Platinum coaching, Craig Duswalt’s 10k coaching and Maryann Ehmann’s 10k coaching. The money that we spend with our coaches is a direct investment in our own business, benefiting us and our clients. We pass on our valuable knowledge to our own coaching clients.

NINJA: What would be one tip you could share for building better relationships with your clients?

Val & Steph: As a part of building solid relationships with our clients, we feel it’s very important to send them a hand written thank you card after each photo session. Studio Ninja is an important and integral part of keeping us on track with this relationship building system.

NINJA: If you could go back and do one thing differently, what would it be?

Val & Steph: We value every step that our business path has taken us in, which is the reason why we would not go back in time to change anything.

NINJA: What is your favourite Studio Ninja feature?

Val & Steph: Studio Ninja has become such an important part of our business. The automated workflow and invoicing are just some of the awesome features that help make doing business easy and hassle free, which allows us to spend more time on shooting and marketing. We are so grateful for Chris and the whole Studio Ninja team!

Thank you!

I really hope you enjoyed this interview learning the ins and out of Val & Stephs business! And also, thanks so much to Val & Steph for letting us in on some of your business secrets. If you would like to know more about Val Westover Photography make sure you go check out their website – http://www.valwestoverphotography.com/

If you have any questions, suggestions or feedback about this interview feel free to get in touch!