Seekonk Photographer Juggles Career with Motherhood

It all started with a pink and black Mickey Mouse camera, a Christmas gift for 4-year-old Stephanie Corriveau. The camera, given to her by a family member, began a lifelong obsession with photography.

“I remember it had a strap and was always on my wrist,” says Corriveau. “My mom and I would constantly fight about developing film. I’d shoot it faster than she could develop it.”

Though she’s been taking photos since then, Corriveau only recently started her own business, Corriveau Photography. She specializes in outdoor portrait photography and shoots her own landscape pictures on the side.

Corriveau has a healthy appetite for photographic knowledge. She has been reading photography books and magazines for years, and doing trial and error experiments with her camera. Most of her learning, however, came from on-the-job training with a large photo company, the kind you see in malls and department stores.

As a mother of two, Corriveau had been looking for a part-time job. The company hired her, and within six months she was managing her own studio for them. She was fortunate enough to be working there during the transition from film to digital photography, and she was sent to multiple training sessions. 

In the end, the full-time work was too much of a challenge to juggle with motherhood, so Corriveau left after three years. She continued to shoot photos for friends and family, and a few months back realized it could become a viable part-time business.

Corriveau prefers to shoot outdoors, as she finds the studio atmosphere a bit stuffy for some of her clients. She says environments like parks, playgrounds or even backyards help her clients loosen up, particularly children, which are her favorite subject matter. 

“I know as a mom I can forget silly things my children do, yet I can look at my photos and it brings back memories I wouldn’t otherwise remember,” she says. “I think it’s really just capturing a piece of time. You’re freezing it.”

As for tips when getting  your photos taken, Corriveau recommends staying away from busy patterns. She says put everyone in matching solid tones for family portraits.

“That puts the focus of the pictures on your face and not on the patterns.” 

Corriveau also recommends bringing babies in for pictures during nap time. She says babies have a hard time focusing their eyes, which can come across as less than ideal in a photo shoot. She says pictures of sleeping babies usually satisfy parents better than ones where their child is looking off in different directions.

Business has been picking up for Corriveau now that the weather is getting nicer. She’s had three sessions in the last two weeks alone. Her larger goal is to have the company create a second family income by the time her 4-year-old goes off to first grade. Until then, her daughter, it seems, will be following in her footsteps.

“My daughter says, ‘I’m going to take pics like you.’ She has her own digital camera and on certain shoots I can take her with me. She loves to sit and watch me work,” says Corriveau.