Meet Rhyse Holder | Photographer

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

Hi Rhyse, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
When I was younger, I always had a fascination with photography and cameras. I spent a great deal of my childhood watching my grandfather take photos of birds and of things he found to be beautiful. I have always loved taking photos as a child growing up, but it wasn’t until my sophomore year of high school when I joined yearbook, I had such a fantastic mentor who really pushed me towards learning photography and not just the photo aspect but down to the memories they capture to look back on years later. After I started doing sports events and portraits for friends & family, I quickly realized this was what I wanted to make a career out of.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I feel like what sets me apart is my energy & the relationships I build with my clients. I want them to be able to look back on their photos and feel just as strongly as they did when they first saw them. I find I’m most excited about meeting new clients and capturing their unique personalities. I am most proud of my ambassador program, as it has grown to over 35+ people from multiple locations across the state. Both of these have helped expand my network, as well as build my portfolio & test out creative ideas. To get to where I am today, I started out in yearbook, documenting various school events. Once I realized how much I enjoyed that, I started offering free sessions to friends & family to build a portfolio and fine tune my skills. After which, I created a website for my business and started taking my first clients. As time passed, I have went from only shooting people I know to shooting new clients, community events, and even had my photos used for billboards and small business advertisements! Normally when you work a job it’s always gonna be hard but I truly find myself enjoying doing what I do so much I can’t imagine a time it’s been anything other than a dream. It is very easy to get unmotivated when you don’t have consistent client bookings or when you’re comparing yourself to local photographers wondering how they get their books so full and you can’t but it’s more about remembering why you do it, what are you really doing this for is it really to prove yourself better than every photographer out there or is it because you found a passion for something and want to share that joy and expertise with others. You can’t catch authentic happy filled moments to cherish if you’re only worried about your competition and second guessing you’re own work the results just won’t be as true to your potential as if YOU believe in them. Imposter syndrome is entirely real but working through it is what’s really gonna make you realize you’ve got this. I hope when people think RHphotography they realize I don’t want to just capture your photos and go on our way I want to build a relationship with my clients and help them to portray their most true self. I love seeing people love their photos especially for the first time it never gets old!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I prefer outdoorsy activities so my ideal place to recommend would be Meramec Springs which is best enjoyed with an iced coffee beforehand (and after) as well as a stop at El Maguey for Mexican food because YUM!!

If I had to recommend places to hang out with friends, I would absolutely start off at Giddy Goat to grab a latte before heading off towards a peaceful adventure at Meramec Springs to wander around & enjoy the day all followed up with a delicious meal from El Maguey.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My high school yearbook teacher, Mrs. Gillis. She the the most influential person in my life. Without her, I would have never pursued photography or grown to where I have without her kind words of advice in the back of my head!

Laycee Fish
@theurbanesti
fishlay000@gmail.com

Website: www.rhphotographyy.com

Instagram: rhysesphotography

Facebook: @rhysesphotography

Youtube: rhysesphotography

Other: https://linktr.ee/rhyseholder

Image Credits
Rhyse Holder W/ RHphotography