CO.STARTERS Spotlight: A Look Into the Motivation of Mimi Love Photography

“I’m not a volume photographer, I don’t have a shoot every day. I’m really focused on getting to know you, we have a consultation, we have a planning period, and lots of communication back and forth. I focus on the quality of what you’re getting, not the quantity,” said Rebecca Bowers, owner, and photographer at Mimi Love Photography.

Quality, not quantity. That’s Rebecca Bowers’ motto for the way she runs her business. She has her own studio that she built on her property in Humboldt, TN, where she has a client's closet filled with clothes and fabrics, backdrops, and a space large enough to turn into a Christmas wonderland when she makes her Santa storybooks in December. Her true passion is to empower women and help them succeed, whether that’s branding images, maternity photos, or a shoot after a significant transformation. 

“My passion is fine art, conceptual images,” said Bowers. “Things like using tulle to wrap you up and demonstrate that you’re being held back in the world. Conceptual concepts like that. When I have these types of shoots, that’s what really fuels me.” 

She wanted to start this business after having photography as her hobby for a long time. Her friends started asking for photo shoots and as time went on, she started to charge them and realized this could be a business. She has taught in the school systems her entire professional career, but in 2019, she decided to try something new. And that was to open her own business called Mimi Love Photography. The photography part is easy and enjoyable, but she knew nothing about running a business and hated all the marketing and paperwork that comes along with her job.

In 2020, she enrolled in CO.STARTERS where she listened to other aspiring entrepreneurs ask questions she didn't even know she should be asking. She knew nothing when she started, but at the end of the class, she is now running a successful business. The growth is evident as she looks back at where she started to where she is now. 

“I have to stop and look back to see how it’s grown,” said Bowers. “There’s so much in front of me that I’m striving for, sometimes I have to stop and go, ‘you were in the back of an art studio with no steps, that smelled musty, and now you have your own place and your own backdrops.’ I’m not at the end of where I want to be, but I’ve come so far. It’s just like watching a child grow, you’re so encompassed in it sometimes you don’t stop to look what’s happened already.”

She loves serving her clients so much that if she could do all this for free, she would. That’s the joy found in her everyday life, serving and loving the people who come into her studio. She provides a full day of services, beginning with hair and makeup and following with a relaxed shoot. Sometimes it is centered primarily in her studio, and sometimes the shoots might take place outside on her property depending on the needs of her client.

The greatest gift CO.STARTERS provided for Bowers was a community. As a photographer, it’s just one person–you. And it’s up to you to fail or succeed. That can become lonely and isolating, so Rebecca’s advice is to intentionally seek out help. 

“Look for other people who can help you, who can give advice, or be a friend, or a listening ear. As a photographer, you’re alone, you’re it. It’s either I do it or I fail,” concluded Bowers. “Be prepared to feel like that and be prepared to seek out help.

If you’d like to book a session with Rebecca at Mimi Love Photography, check out her website mimilovephotography.com.