Life & Work with Gabriella Csapo

Today we’d like to introduce you to Gabriella Csapo. 

Hi Gabriella, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers?
I first bought myself a Canon Rebel T3i when I was around 13 years old and absolutely loved taking photos with it. Of course, I was just shooting in auto and playing around with my friends so nothing of value really came out of that time period. Fast forward a few years to when I was attending Central Michigan University (CMU) where I decided to take a photojournalism class as I thought it might be a world I want to be in! Turns out, the professor told me that photography probably wasn’t going to be the “thing” for me so I put down my camera and ended up graduating in 2017 with two Bachelor’s degrees – one in acting and the other in design technology for live theatre. 

I moved to Detroit for an apprenticeship I had at a theatre in Northville, MI. I ended up working there for 2 years, my first as an apprentice and my second as an Assistant to the Producing Artistic Director. I thoroughly enjoyed my time there and got my first professional design credits there which led to other design jobs around Metro Detroit. Unfortunately, society didn’t lie when they said “there’s no money in theatre”. Unless you’re working on Broadway or in touring shows, it’s extremely difficult to make a living as a theatre artist. I was making $225 a week at this time and I still don’t know how I afforded to live. 

Throughout those two years, I reconnected with some college friends who were photographers themselves. I would model casually for them and eventually added modeling to my list of revenue streams. I soon began to realize that I was doing the brunt of the pre-production for many of the shoots I was a part of and realized that it was time to get behind the camera again. When I made this choice, I was broke. I am eternally grateful for my friend Emily who had graciously loaned me the money to upgrade my camera – which I of course promptly paid back. I started shooting again with friends and just relearning what I had forgotten – I also spent many hours on YouTube refining my post-production skills. To this day, I consider myself a better editor than photographer. 

Long story short, I published my first photobook in 2019 and began asking local companies if I could shoot for them for free. I built a network of people who I work with regularly to this day and would send me product to shoot remotely during the 2020 quarantine/pandemic. In late 2020, I realized that this was the life for me and have been working as a full-time photographer ever since. I now work mainly as a commercial photographer and social media consultant, working with companies to build their brands and content strategies. Aside from that, I find joy in shooting concerts and musicians which I’m hoping I get to do more of in 2022. You can find me on most social media platforms as @GabriellaStephanieC or see my work on my website: GabriellaStephanieC.com 

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Nothing about transitioning to working for yourself is smooth. This lifestyle takes a lot of time management and discipline which I don’t think many people are prepared for who might want to work for themselves. There are so many things that come with working a “job” – perhaps it seems annoying to work for someone else on their schedule, but in the same vein that job has someone who will hold you accountable if you don’t show up. As a freelancer, I work from home and can make the choice not to work today if I don’t want to, but it’s an easy trap to fall into when there’s no one at home holding me accountable. Personally, I’m a bit of a workaholic so it works out for me, but I catch myself slipping into periods where I don’t feel like working. Not doing something is way easier than doing something, right? 

Another challenge I face is the underlying fear that one day I will just stop getting work. Thankfully, it hasn’t happened yet but there is always the voice in my head saying “this could end” which I think made it hard for me in 2021 to turn away any client inquires. After a year of doing nearly 200 shoots, half of which were considered “low budget” for where I am now, I learned that saying no to clients is perfectly normal. As an artist, I am still learning to protect my time and value my skill – if a client is unable to accommodate in that way, then they are not a good fit for me and I can happily recommend someone who might be! 

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
My work is quite versatile which is what sets me apart from the other photographers in my community. Luckily, there is not as large of a photographer “scene” in Detroit as there is in other cities like New York and LA, so I am one of the few product photographers here. However, I still find a lot of joy in other forms of photography. I work with modeling agencies all over the US to do test shoots with models and also shoot concert photography as I mentioned earlier. What sets me apart from my peers, really, is that I don’t really have a style or anything I’m “known” for because I do a little bit of everything. 

Aside from that, my extensive knowledge of Photoshop makes my work stand out from others as I spend much more time on the post-production process than most people do. In 2021, I had a series of viral TikTok videos where I would photoshop myself into iconic celebrity photos which gained millions of views on Tiktok, not to mention the amount of views they did on other platforms. I was shocked by the result and it had help me grow my account to 45k followers which looks good from an outside perspective and has helped legitimize myself in the creative world. 

Are there any books, apps, podcasts, or blogs that help you do your best?
There are so many apps I could recommend! As a photographer, the most helpful apps I can recommend are: 

MileIQ – auto tracks every drive so you can write off miles at the end of the year! 

SCRL – makes creating carausel posts on Instagram seamless 

Lightroom Mobile – Perfect if you want to edit something you shot on the go 

Prequel – Great for adding fun filters and effects 

Photoroom – Removes backgrounds for any images. Great for e-commerce and products! 

Videoleap – I make all of my reels in video leap. It’s practically a mobile version of Adobe Premiere Pro. 

I read a lot of self-improvement books to try and make sure I am working and living efficiently. A recent recommendations would be Atomic Habits. As the title states, it talks about how changing small habits a day can have a big impact on your life overall. 

Pricing:

• Product/Branding sessions starting at $1500
• Model tests starting at $350
• Concert Photography starting at $550
• Social Media Consulting $125/hour

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: GabriellaStephanieC.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabriellastephaniec/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/GabriellaStephaniePhotography/
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@gabriellastephaniec?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1