1. Having gotten married recently yourself, did anything in particular strike you while you were on the opposite side of the lens?

This is one of the best things I could have done for my business! Not just because now my husband, Nate [at right, with Michelle], is also my forever second shooter but because I got to be my own client, feel what they feel, and to be honest, I really only was a bride who wanted to look and feel beautiful, and have the best angles taken for my frame. 

It also made me value the first look even more. I did one with my three mothers (my adopted, my birth mother and my mother-in-law), one with my bridesmaids, one with my little girls (who are 5 and 8 years old) and then one with Nate. I wouldn’t say everyone needs to do that many, but it slowed the day down and gave me pockets of time with the groups of people that mean the absolute most to me. Just two months later I lost my adoptive mother, who raised me from when I was three days old. Those pictures are literal gold. 

2. What was your favorite part of your wedding?

Being in the industry makes weddings feel different because you have to make a conscious effort to keep the bride hat on and the vendor hat off. My favorite part was that every person there—and it was an intimate wedding, including the vendors—were my people. Having a room full of humans that love and support and know me to celebrate was the best.

3. You balance quite a few client offerings with educational outlets for photographers. How do you stay on top of marketing everything and making sure you’re reaching the right people?

For a long time, I did everything on my own. I was claiming that each of my tasks were “Michelle-only” tasks. When I took the time to break things down, I realized that I had given away so much of my creative mind to back-office items and tasks, so I started outsourcing. 

Now, I have a full team behind me in different channels of my business, like a marketing director for my Hustle in Heels conferences, an executive assistant for my M Harris Studios planning, scheduling and contracting, and a virtual assistant for my Laila Chanel Studios. This allows me to do the things that only I can do like shooting, styling, creating content, focusing on my groups (shout out to my Hustlers!!!) and big-dream thinking with the confidence that my team is handling the step-by-step. 

4. What’s something that few people know about you?

Few people know how I got to where I am so fast. I purchased my first camera in January 2015! Now I have two photography businesses, both with teams between 5 and 15 people, an ongoing photography conference and a strong educational platform. 

I am a huge believer in mentorship. I had one by the name of Ben Hartley and he kept me accountable, pushed me and basically laid the foundation from which I could reach high during the first few months in business. Mentorship is why I launched my Book Brides Bootcamp, a 12-week program where I hold photographers accountable for their lessons, their homework and their steps. It’s about a mindset shift, rebuilding their habits and deleting their self-sabotaging ways. 

5. What is the coolest part about living in Washington, D.C.? The weirdest?

The coolest part about living in D.C. is definitely a total tossup between the monuments and the food. Shoots at the monuments give such a romantic feeling in all seasons, whether the dead of winter, cherry blossom season or in the summer heat. And once the session is finished, you can find me at some of my favorite food spots!

The weirdest, or the most trying, is the traffic. If I leave the house at the wrong time, it can take two or three hours to get somewhere that would take 30 minutes in the middle of the night. 

6. What’s your favorite office supply?

Legal pads. Hands down. I write everything on them. They are the backbone of my business. At any given time, I have about eight going: one for current clients, one for previous clients, one for live events like the Hustle in Heels conference, one for virtual courses like Posing for Profit, one for groceries… The list literally goes on. M Harris Studios is sponsored by legal pads! [laughs]

7. Your “Client for Life” offering is unlike anything we’ve seen before. Can you describe how you built that and what you get out of it?

I was inspired by a few courses when I first started that really honed on the importance of true, genuine and authentic connection with clients that shows you are more than just a day. 

When I started as a newborn photographer, I would then get asked to do mini shoots for the first or second birthday, and I saw the same clients inviting me back to their homes year after year, trusting me with these life moments. I started joking that I would be with them for life, and it was built from there. 

From a purely business standpoint, it has been one of the leading pieces of my marketing and a reason to connect with my previous clients to obtain referrals. 

8. What are some of the pain points you’re seeing in wedding and engagement posing among photographers?

The biggest pain point I see is a lack of confidence and fluidity. It’s as though photographers have rehearsed the steps without the practice of moving from one into the other, causing some awkward freezing and moving of the clients. It causes them to lose their stride and it makes the clients feel like they are doing something wrong. Posing and its art form is something I will never stop teaching, and it takes more than an hour to master! I actually built a course on it, Posing for Profit, due to the amount of questions I was getting. 

9. What do you do in your morning routine, evening ritual, weekly or monthly habit that helps you personally recalibrate and reset?

I wasn’t always a schedule-driven person. I like to say I used to “live in red pen” where I was going from one emergency or urgency to the next. Now that I have Nate and my team, my days have a bit more structure. 

I start my day with creamer with a side of coffee, always—this is a constant. 

I just mixed in some meditation, and I think I am going to keep it for a while. There is so much power in the words we tell ourselves and think in our minds. When I focus first thing in the morning, it’s like I am setting the stage for my day. 

As a photographer, conference creator and educator, the “meat” of my day always looks a little different but it ends on the couch with Nate watching The Office with my phone on Do Not Disturb.

10. Your Hustle in Heels conference is aimed specifically at female creators. What was your motivation in reaching this group of photographers in particular?

This conference makes me emotional when I really think about it because I identify with each and every attendee. They come looking to fall back in love with their business, get out of debt or find their unique voice and value in such a crowded market place. My online courses and community are my world—I love them—but you can’t see their pain or struggles virtually the way you can when they are sitting in the front row at this conference. 

It came from a place of wanting to continue helping the single moms make six figures, the girl who decided not to go to college to show up in her life, the woman trying to leave the 9-to-5 she can’t stand. It is about photography, shooting and posing, business-building and bottom lines, but it is also about taking back your life and building what you have dreamed for yourself. When I dream big, I take big action, and that’s how this conference came to be. We just hosted our second one at the MGM National Harbor in Maryland, just six months after our first, with double the amount of speakers and sponsors, a rooftop pool party, a course book and take-home bags. This time next year, it could be in Vegas…or Paris! 

Michelle Harris is a wedding photographer and educator based in Washington, D.C. At WPPI 2019 earlier this year, she taught a class on engagement and wedding posing.

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