Meet Bridget Stephenson | Adventure Wedding and Elopement Photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Bridget Stephenson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Bridget, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I took an intro to photography class in high school and I quickly fell in love with it. I am a very competitive person, and 15-year-old me had to be the best photographer in the class, so I put all my time and energy into learning how to shoot in manual, composition techniques, and just taking photos of everything and anything. After a while, I started taking photos of my friends which turned into me taking photos of other students in school, and eventually turned into a small business of taking senior photos for the high schools around where I lived. At first, I don’t think I made the conscious decision to make a business, it just felt like the next step I was supposed to take. As I got older and continued my business into college, that is where I really started making conscious business decisions!

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Ryan and I are adventure wedding and elopement photographers that specialize in national park and hiking elopements. Our journey of starting our business was incredibly lucky and the timing worked out for us perfectly. I started photography in highschool when I took an intro to photography class. My teacher in the class said she rarely gave out 100s and 95s were to be expected. Being the competitive person I am, I made it my mission to get 100s on every assignment and become the best I could in the class. So I spent all my free time watching youtube videos, reading blog posts, and practicing taking pictures every chance I could. I really started to love the process of taking photos and naturally started taking photos of my friends and family when they would let me. Taking photos of my friends turned into taking photos of other students at my high school, and eventually turned into a small business of taking senior photos. When I went to college I wasn’t sure if photography was something I could peruse long term. Senior year of highschool I started photographing weddings and my freshman year of college I was thankful to be able to continue that as my summer job. But I was never confident that this small business could be something I could do full time when I graduated. But I am a determined person and decided I would put all of my effort into trying to make it a possibility and if when I graduated I had to get a “real job” I would. Thankfully I had an incredible mentor my junior year of college that helped me push my business to the next level and made this dream of running my business full-time a reality. Along the same time I was struggling to decide if this photography business was going to support me full time, I was also deciding if weddings we really what I wanted to do. I love love and photographing couples, but the stress from traditional wedding days was getting to me and I didn’t love the production and performance traditional weddings felt like. One day I was scrolling on Instagram and saw a photo of a couple standing in the mountains in wedding attire instantly became interested. That photo lead me to find out about adventure weddings! I was instantly in love and aligned completely with the idea of having a wedding day that was intentional and adventeruous. So I completely rebranded by business, client workflow, and portfolio so I could start booking adventure weddings. I booked 2 within one month and after photographing them I knew I could never go back. Ryan started to join me on the adventure weddings and we became the team we are now! I wouldn’t say starting a business is ever “easy” but we were incredibly fortunate with the timing.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Ryan Townsend has been my personal and business partner every step of the way! He was incredibly supportive when I first started this business and has continued to support me in every decision since. He works along side me at every wedding and is a HUGE component of our business. I would not be able to do what I do without him and he has made this life and business so much better.

Website: https://bridgetstephenson.com/destination-elopement-photographer

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bridgetstephensonphoto/