“Put 200% into your dream!”: We talk to London photographer Julia Boggio, founder of Boggio Studios
Changing your career can be daunting and come with uncertainty and fear of the unknown, yet it’s one of the most satisfying and rewarding ventures a woman can take on. Talking to copywriter-turned-photographer, Julia Boggio, Founder and Creative Director at Boggio Studios, Home By Midnight and Innocent & Wild, we could nothing but take inspiration from her exciting career move. Today, Julia runs the photography studio Boggio Studios in London and shares her wonderful career with us; from deciding to make a career change to landing a bigger and better gig.
Julia’s new journey began in 2005 when she confessed for her fiancée-now-husband that she wasn’t happy at her copywriting job. As someone who’s always approached problems from a different, creative angle, she decided to pursue her passion for photography and quit her job to set up Julia Boggio Photography, a wedding-focused business, that she ran out of her bedroom. In 2009, she started Boggio Studios with her husband and together they pushed things forward to create the Boggio Empire; one of London’s top photography studios.
If you’ve seen her photos you will have witnessed her unique style; the photographer takes beautiful portraits of newborns and children to glamorous weddings and vintage boudoir’s. Boggio Studios is London’s go-to, most adored family and pet photography, and both Home by Midnight and Innocent & Wild were added to her portfolio last year, capturing the creative photographs of women. Julia has also worked with some of London’s most popular bloggers and here at YCB, we were keen to hear about her career transition and thought Julia could pass on her wisdom to our readers and give someone the oomph they’ve been waiting for.
“A career is something you do for love, a job is something you do for money,” Julia said as we discussed her career change over a coffee earlier this week. Throughout her Marketing degree, she dreamed of being a copywriter, “I think I was seduced by the glamorous reputation of Madison Avenue, where advertising creative directors were minor deities and the 3 Martini Lunch was the norm!”
Just after her 31st birthday Julia admitted she wasn’t happy, “I had known for a while it wasn’t what I wanted to do. My boss was horrid and, more than that, I felt like what I was doing didn’t matter. It paid well, but my heart wasn’t in it.” But photography wasn’t an obvious choice, “I didn’t pick up a camera until the year 2000 when I was travelling in South America. I never felt interested until I was faced with the beautiful scenery of the Andes.”
After a whole lot of thought she spoke to her husband about how uncomfortable she was in her current job and he was extremely supportive and together they took the first big steps towards the successful change, “Handing my notice in felt AMAZING, and now, my husband and I work together and are equal partners in the Boggio Empire.”
Julia’s empire wasn’t created overnight, and certain steps, filled with passion and determination, had to be taken to break away from her copywriting career; “One of the first things I did was write a business plan that set out my objectives and then I figured out an action plan for achieving them. It covered everything from setting up my office space in the guest bedroom to securing my first clients!” Getting the first few people to believe in her business was her biggest hardship, “I remember my first paid wedding and they said to me, ‘We’re choosing you because we just know you are going to do an amazing job.’ After their wedding, I doubled my prices. I realised I wasn’t charging enough for the work involved and that was the beginning of a beautiful career.”
Having a Marketing degree was also invaluable, translating skills to her new career. “I think my understanding of business is one of the things that has always helped me set my photography company apart” Julia explained, “It helped me realise early on that marketing as a service can be just as creative as providing the service.” In a creative business like photography, finding a niche is key to success, and Julia made her photographic style unique very early on, “Everything I’ve done has sort of evolved,” she told us. “I started in weddings, which taught me how to pose couples extremely well and work in tough conditions. But then I started getting interested in pin-up photography and created my own style called Vintage BoudoirTM.”
Going through a career change in search for a new challenge may be stressful and slightly scary, but this go-getter is a prime example of success. Her advice? “Life is too short to spend time doing things we hate. Choose your career for love and the rest will follow. Never think you can’t do something – just figure out what steps you need to take to get there.”
Did you make the right choice, we asked… “Absolutely,” she shot back with a smile.
Julia’s passion for her photography, creativity and imagination left us feeling moved and inspired. So, if you’re sitting on the fence, or dreading to go into work each day then take the advice of someone who has been there, “If you don’t try, you’ll never know and you’ll always wonder.”
View Julia’s unique photography collections: boggiostudios.com, home-by-midnight.com and innocentandwild.com…or call 020 7042 9777 to book a shoot!
