DWF – Let’s start off with a little bio, tell us a little bit about yourselves.
MELISSA – Rene and I just celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary and it’s true when they say it just gets better all the time. 
We’ve also owned our studio for almost as long as we’ve been married. We specialize in weddings and portraits and are located just outside of Boston, Massachusetts.
I (Melissa) was born and raised in Massachusetts and have lived here my entire life. I actually began a career in the legal industry and was loving every minute of it. I fully expected to keep pursuing that field until I met a boy and he changed everything.
Rene has always been an avid photographer. Just last week, we found a photograph taken of Rene and his brother when they were only about 4 or 5 years old. The photograph is yellowed and tattered, but the first thing that you notice is Rene. his little hands framing his eyes and his finger poised on an imaginary shutter as he got ready to “take a photo” of the scene from his perspective. Rene has always felt a passion for photography and always hoped that he would be able to pursue professionally.
When we’re not working, you’ll most likely find us traveling. Since we have no children of our own, we have the freedom to take extended trip around the world pretty regularly. It’s a big world, and we have a lot more to see!
DWF – How did you become wedding photographers?
MELISSA – I think the story of how we began photographing weddings is pretty similar to many other wedding photographers. After Rene and I were married, several our friends also started planning their own weddings. By this time, Rene was actively pursuing his love of photography, but focusing on abstract and artistic images and really didn’t have an interest in photographing people. And he definitely had no aspirations of being a wedding photographer. All we knew about wedding photography at that time was the stereotypical, dry, unimaginative style of photography that makes us all cringe.
So when our friends asked Rene to photograph their wedding he (nicely) refused. They were pretty insistent (and let’s face it, really looking for a great deal) and finally Rene agreed on the condition that he be able to photograph the wedding his way, in his own style.
The weddings turned out really well, and Rene was surprised at how much he enjoyed it. Then we were both really surprised when guests from these weddings began to seek us out and ask for additional information to photographing their weddings. We were so unprepared for those inquiries and suddenly found ourselves having to make some serious decisions about whether we wanted to pursue wedding photography professionally.
Rene was initially reluctant to begin our own photography business since he was afraid to lose the passion he felt for photography if he was weighed down with business matters – which he generally finds incredibly boring. On the other hand, I LOVE the business side of running a studio and always have. We made a deal that this would be a partnership. Rene would be the artist, I’d handle the business…and that’s how we got our start!
Nine years later and our roles have blended quite a bit now. I fell in love with photography as well and decided to educate myself and learn the craft. And Rene realized he likes marketing a bit more than he ever suspected. But generally speaking, Rene is the creative genius behind our studio and nothing gets me excited like great projection report. Over time, we’ve carved out our individual roles in the studio and together we make a great team.
DWF- Who or what inspires you as an artist?
MELISSA – There’s so much that inspires us and to be honest, it changes all the time. We love watching movies that are visual stunning such as Amelie, Hero, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Blade Runner, Sin City and Baraka. We’re also heavily inspired by fashion magazines and haute couture ads, both in print and video (If you haven’t seen them yet, definitely make an effort to find the Chanel No. 5 ads on You Tube!).
DWF – You’ll be speaking at DWFC10, can you tell us a little bit about one could expect to take away from your seminar on killer customer service?
MELISSA – Most of us understand that good customer service involves being good to our clients. Or the always well known “under promise/over deliver.” This seminar will not be rehashing these general standards for good customer service.
Instead we’ll focus on very specific ways to connect with your clients. We’ll talk about how to build rapport with a new client within the first minute of meeting them. Then learn what to say, how to say it and even how to write emails throughout your relationship with them based on their personality type. And along the same lines, we’ll also discuss what mannerisms, phrases and body language to avoid when talking to clients and how you may be projecting negative messages without even realizing it. Best of all, we’ll talk about how all of this relates to additional income for your studio!
DWF- If we needed a photographer today why would we book you? What makes you unique?
MELISSA – Our goal is make each and every couple feel as though they are our only client. So from the first moment they walk through our door, it’s all about making them feel comfortable with us and confident that if they trust us, we’ll take care of them. It does take a bit of extra time and effort on our part to make this happen. We take lots of notes after every meeting and conversation (and keep them somewhere convenient so we can access them quickly), we contact them regularly to say hello, and generally do what we can to make them feel important. And all that work has paid off for us with fiercely loyal clients and a solidly booked wedding schedule every year.
DWF- If you had to pick a favorite “Tool of the Trade” what would it be? and why?
MELISSA – This answer will probably explain how different Rene and I are why we make a great team together.
I wouldn’t want to run the studio without Successware, a studio management software. It has truly been the single most effective tool for making our studio profitable so quickly. Instead of having to use a separate piece of software to keep track of clients; one to manage income and expenses; and yet another to keep track of price lists and yearly projections, Successware lets us keep it all together. I’m an extremely organized person and it’s so nice to have a tool that let’s me see exactly how our studio is performing in one click.
RENE – My favorite tool of the trade is his Canon 1d Mark II and 1d MarkIII simply because it does exactly what I need it to do. It suits my style while photographing moments that can happen really quickly. The camera can easily keep up with a subject while I’m photographing the processional or while capturing candids during the reception.
DWF – Care to share your favorite photographs?
MELISSA & RENE -
DWF – How about some final words to live by?
MELISSA – No matter what it is you are doing, make sure you love it. There’s no reason to suffer through something that you have no passion for. If you’re not completely happy, think of what you’d really love to be doing and start setting some goals. Set a goal for next week, and another one for 6 months from now. Then set a goal for 5 years from today and one for where you’d like to be in 10 years. Then don’t be afraid to work hard to make your dreams come true. It will be worth it. And while you’re working hard on those goals, don’t let any failures along the way get you down. Because there will be failures, too. My favorite quote is by James Dyson, the creator of the Dyson vacuum: “I made 5,127 prototypes of my vacuum before I got it right. There were 5,126 failures. But I learned from each one. That’s how I came up with a solution. So I don’t mind failure.” – James Dyson
Location – Boston, Massachusetts
Business Name – Tirado Photography
Years in Business – 9
Website - http://www.Tiradophotography.com
Blog - http://www.Tiradophotography.com/wordpress
5 Comments at "DWF Featured Members Tirado Photography"
I love your philosophy. And wow, what amazing photos. Especially like the photo of the bride laughing with her groom out of focus in the background.
c
Wonderful Melissa! Congrats again and hopefully the DWF convention will make it into our schedules this year…seeing as now there is a reason to go…haha
Two of my favorite people – wonderful AND talented! Continued success to you.
Rene & Melissa congrats on the recent award well deserved, when is the Tirado tour coming to Ireland ??
continued success always
keith & evelyn
Congrats to you both! Looks like I may be joining Rene Michaud in Nashville… so may catch up with you there.
All the best this busy season.
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