Naja Lerus Delivers Baby Fever Like You’ve Never Seen
Meet the International Newborn & Maternity Photographer Every Mom and Mom-to-Be is Drooling Over.
Naja is an international newborn and maternity photographer and teaches her Art around the world. She is passion driven by what she does, and this is what she has to say about it:
“As a mother of three, I KNOW how important those first pictures of your new baby are. The most beautiful, and perfect being you have ever laid your eyes on. You have never known a love like this before – it is incredible. This is the reason I chose to photograph newborns. I strive to capture all of the love you have for your new baby through my lens, and to provide you with images that you will cherish for a lifetime.” | Naja Lerus Photography
By now, if you’re been following me over the years, you already know my story. I was forced to deliver my baby girl three months early and just a month shy from capturing my own pregnancy memories. After spending nearly an hour talking to the international photographer extraordinaire, I realized just how precious seizing those moments can be.
Here’s her story…
I’m a mom of three. Three kids. I have a husband. My husband is French. I grew up in France, that’s actually how I met him. I have both French and American nationalities and yeah, so that’s kind of my story. I grew up in France and my husband and I moved to the States in 2000. We wanted to try the ‘American Dream.’ I lived over there [France] all my life so, coming back to the States was… I had the experience of kind of seeing it through the eyes of a non-American even though I am American. So, we were like, you know what, let’s just try it and it ended up working out. We stayed.
I’ve always really liked photography anyway. I found that I really fell in love with it after my first child, my son. So like wherever I went, I had my camera and it stuck with me. Everywhere I was go, I was known as the ‘Camera Lady.’ After the birth of my third child, my little girl, I decided to be a stay-at-home-Mom. My husband and I had discussed that maybe I should go back to work and I was like, I really don’t want to. I’m like a free-spirited person. The working in an office, nine-to-five is not really for me. So he was really supportive and was like if you really like photography, let’s just try photography. At first, it started off as just extra pocket change and it really ended up turning into a career.
After realizing her talent was much more than talent, but a gift, Naja took a shot and started her new journey in photography. The thing is, she was looking for something deeper and simply stumbled upon it and then created a brand that she dreamed of.
I do maternity and newborn. I started by doing everything and it’s by actually doing everything that you can kind of see what you like and what you don’t like. I gravitated towards newborn photography. I allowed myself to explore other genres in photography, which is maternity. The type of maternity photography that I do, I couldn’t find. I do artistic, nude, semi-nude. That’s what I wanted when I was expecting. I wanted to celebrate my maternity body and couldn’t find a photographer that did that. Once I established my business as a newborn photographer, I said, I couldn’t possibly be the only mother that wanted that type of photography so I started doing it and women just loved it.
An honor and a privilege it must be to have the ability to use your gifts to impact the lives of families for a lifetime. Just like an entrepreneur-minded being, Naja knew exactly what she was looking for and decided… since I don’t see it, I’ll create it. Although there was confidence, there was also the sting of stepping out on faith.
The most exciting and scariest by far was when I decided to open a studio, because at first when I started photography, I went on location. I went to people’s homes. I carried all my stuff… it was just really a lot then after, I worked in the basement of my home, so I had people come to me. After I was hired by a few celebrities and athletes, my business really got big and I was like, I can’t have these people coming to my house anymore. I was trying to open up a professional space. It was exciting, but very, very scary. I don’t ever remember being that scared, but three years later, it was the best move to make and so I’m really happy.
Being a business owner is sometimes, well, the challenge is… it’s slower than others where you have other seasons where it’s really, really booming. In general, thank God, I’m usually busy. At the beginning when I started and opened my studio, it was almost as if I was kind of starting from scratch, because I had things to pay for. I had the studio to pay for… the electricity to pay for. I was kind of in panic mode. The lesson in that was you really have to hold on. You may go through a rough patch, but you have to patience and faith in your vision that it’s going to work out.
If you talk to any entrepreneur, one of the most challenging issues can be the price of your work. If you’re a new business and just starting out, some may underprice themselves, while others overprice. When I asked Naja about the touchy subject, she had this to say…
I price myself at where I felt work should be. Now that I’ve been doing this for eight years, my prices are relevant to my quality of work. I wouldn’t say my work is expensive, I would say, you get what you pay for. You get quality. Most importantly, I have faith in my pricing and faith in myself. Some people, I’m out of their price range, some people, I’m in their price range. You have to be sure and confident within your own pricing, because if you don’t believe it, then nobody else is going to believe. You have to be sure of what you can offer and your clientele will reflect that. They will respect your pricing and you will attract the clients for yourself.
And there you have it. When pricing your work, don’t lack on the price just to get a client. Let your work speak for itself and allow the quality of your work to bring in the clientele you seek.
Naja’s outlook on perseverance and pushing herself to be better also allows her to share her knowledge of her heart-warming artwork with others willing to learn.
What I do now, is I teach master classes. So I’ll be back in Paris this October. I usually go back to France once a year to teach my photography over there. The fact that I grew up in France, it allowed me to have broader culture. I really can blend in. It’s really broaden my whole spectrum. I offer maternity workshops in the States, I just haven’t had one in a while. In 2019, I’ll open my calendar more for mentoring in the U.S., but for now I’m busy with clients.
My work is art. Not because I think I’m more whatever… I think it’s art because I pour my heart and soul into each and every person’s session. When I have newborns coming in, I tell the clients, ‘Your baby is my baby, I’m going to take care of your baby and give you the most precious and beautiful memories you’ll ever have.’ I listen to the person. I listen to what their fears are, what they don’t like, what they are saying… like their complex may be her arms or her chin… I just vibe with the person.
I strive for my work to be timeless with a little color pop. I do like white and black, but I also love vivid colors. That’s my style. What I’d really love to do is transfer my energy.
Yes the quality is great, but how’s the experience? That’s what we all want to know when sharing something as precious as our newborns or even the most intimate moments of our pregnancy with a photography. I wanna feel special and exquisite, and uniquely stunning. I don’t want just another maternity photo… I don’t want my baby to have just another newborn picture… I want what Naja is presenting…
I want them to take with them the experience. It’s not about just giving them nice pictures and you go on with your day or your life. I want this to be a whole experience, so I really do believe that… they will remember forever how you made them feel. I’ve had celebrities come through the doors. I treat them with the red carpet. I have non-celebrities come through the doors, they are treated the exact same way. You come to my studio, you’re going to leave believing you’re Beyonce. I made you feel that beautiful in that moment. When you’re pregnant, you don’t necessarily feel like you’re beautiful – some do, but others don’t. Even though they want nude maternity pictures, they still have a little complex. I take the pictures and then I’m like, ‘damn, look at this,’ and I show them the back of the camera then they’re like, ‘oh my God, I can’t believe that’s me!’ It’s just all this energy going back and forth. That’s what I really want them to do is just remember the experience.
Simplistic, yet complex, Naja Lerus Photography just gets it. She is giving you baby fever like never before and godly-like images that speak splendor, virtuousness, and wonder. Support this amazing photographer and book your session today!
FACEBOOK | https://www.facebook.com/NLerusPhotography/
INSTAGRAM | @NajaLerusPhotography
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