Meet Suzanne Covert | Headshot photographer and expression coach

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

Hi Suzanne, what do you attribute your success to?
There are many factors behind my success but the most import is definitely my husband and my three children. They have been there to help whenever I needed them, (well mostly, lol) from testing new equipment to moving things around, to giving me feedback, I would not be win the place I am without their help. 😉 When I started my career I was doing real estate and event and headshot photography. I quickly realized I could be a stronger photographer by just focusing my attention on one particular genre. I had seen a photographer teaching headshots online so I decided to check it out. I was intrigued by being able to coach people to get an authentic headshot and one that could help make them money. This photographer ran a coaching group called The Headshot Crew. The Headshot Crew is a group of worldwide headshot photographers that support and help each other along the way. I definitely wouldn’t be where I am without their help.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I run a headshot studio in downtown Austin. There are many things that I feel sent me apart from other headshot photographers, the most important being coaching. I coach people during the session to get an authentic expression, not one that looks like they were told a smile behind the camera.

I grew up wanting to be a wife, a mother, and a stay at home mom. Fortunately for me I got everything I wanted . After a while, and after years of being interested in photography, I decided to take some photography classes. I had always loved taking pictures but wanted to get some more direction and skills. It was around that time that we moved from Houston to Austin and I was watching the real estate photographer take photos of our house. I thought to myself, this might be something I could do during the day while my kids were at school. After movingI to Austin, I started teaching myself real estate photography and started my company in 2013. I would do whatever photography people wanted, mostly real estate and event photography with some headshots thrown in. Within a year of doing that, I started becoming very interested in headshots after I took a headshot class at a conference I went to.
It was shortly after that that I became more and more focused on headshots and decided I could be a better photographer by solely focusing on one genre. I started doing headshots out of a home studio and continued on the path, perfecting my head shots over the years. Just this year, with my youngest daughter graduating from high school, I decided it was time to open up a studio downtown and take advantage all of all the companies moving into Austin.

From the day I opened my home studio to now the thing I’ve learned the most is success definitely depends on the relationships you build along the way.

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?
Well, since I live in Austin I’ll tell you what I do when friends visit here. We are very active so there’s always a long list when people come to town. I feel like the number one thing that I want to do is take them to one of our many amazing barbecue places. When I moved my photography studio downtown we also moved downtown as well so we’re within a mile or two of so many great things. There’s paddle boarding on Lady Bird Lake, walking distance to so many great restaurants and cocktail bars that are really fun but I never want them to leave without experiencing life 30 minutes out of town where we used to live by Lake Travis. There’s so many beautiful places to go hike and with access to the lake, I always want to take them on the lake, it really rounds out the trip when they’re here.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Its so hard to name just one. I would love to give a shoutout to a few….Shea Swinford, Sharon Morganstern, Lisa Wilson, Irene Bello and Alaina Lutkitz. They are all photographers who have supported me along the way.

Website: www.suzannecovert.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/suzannecovertphotography/

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/suzanne-covert-09655a65/

Facebook: www.facebook.com/suzannecovertphotography

Image Credits
Peter Hurley photo credit for my headshot, all the other photos I took.