Nisha Haq Photography

Happy 1 Year Anniversary to Nisha Haq Photography!

I can't believe it's been a whole year since I last set up my photography business in June 2015 ever since receiving a £5,000 grant from Solent LEP, HM Government's Regional Growth Fund. I've been so lucky to turn my photography passion into a fully functional business and fortunate enough to put so many smiles on happy customers!

They say the first year of business is the toughest, which I can certainly say has been hard work. Without determination and drive the hard work pays off and am so blessed to photograph so many amazing people, be invited to a couple's special wedding day and continually develop my photography and meet new people who inspire me to stay strong. It's so worth it!

I'm fortunate to have such a supportive, intelligent and inspirational partner, Rob, who continues to help me back on my feet when I've felt the stresses of running a business, balancing two jobs and a social life too. Having a Navy partner has proved its challenges with often limited contact when at sea, but I feel it only makes us stronger knowing we can get through life's ups and downs together. Having an equally driven partner has only made me want to succeed more.

Some of you may know I have been working full time and have just started a new exciting job as a Marketing Officer / Graphic Designer at Grange Park Opera in Hampshire a few days ago. I'm looking forward to this new venture and will be continuing to run Nisha Haq Photography part time. I think this will be a thrilling new chapter in my life and look forward to applying new marketing & design ideas to my business whilst applying my photography pizzazz to the opera! I simply love the arts.

It's been a crazy year with so many exciting challenges, accomplishments and experiences that it would be an even longer blog post to get through all of them but here are few of my favourite moments from my first year of running a business. Also here's to being a #girlboss! (I've just finished Sophia Amoruso's book on being a girl boss and it's a recommended read!)

No comments

, by Nisha Haq

2016

SENSE Session - Photography & Branding talk at Southampton Solent University

On 8th March I had the wonderful opportunity to guest speak at SENSE (Solent Entrepreneurs' Network for Sustainable Enterprises) at Southampton Solent University and it was fantastic talking about a subject I love: photography & branding! Working as a graphic designer full time in the day and photographer by night, it was a fun putting together two passions in my life in a presentation, and gave me a good excuse to dig out the various design and photography books/magazines I have on my bookshelf!

The March session 'Using Photography to create a Visual Identity for your Brand' was a great follow on from the February session led by a good friend, graphic designer, Tom Snow Design who talked about creating a brand identity and logo design. It was lovely seeing regulars from the group as well as new faces to learn more about how photography can really uplift or detract from your business branding.

Having graduated from Southampton Solent University in BA (Hons) Photography in 2014 and having been active in entrepreneurship activities such as undertaking the Solent Creatives student course 'Creative Entrepreneurial Freelancing Practice' as well as being successful in the University's student business start up funding; it's been brilliant joining the SENSE network for Solent graduates and being invited to speak at the session. Greg Sandford, Entrepreneur-in-residence at Southampton Solent University thought it would be great to learn from each other's strengths in the group. There are so many talented creative people you network with at Solent, it's a sort of skills sharing network as well. Greg, who organises the SENSE sessions stated:

“I knew I could rely on Nisha to deliver a well-prepared, well-researched and above all thought-provoking session for SENSE members. As with all of our workshops, it’s given me a lot of ideas for my own business.”

I found the photography & branding session really fun to deliver to the group where I covered topics such as decoding well-known brands and their websites, how photography brings a website and marketing materials to life and the power of using images in social media to share and market content. With a mixture of entrepreneurs who have newly-established business and new ideas for businesses in the group, it was interesting having a brainstorming activity looking at their brand values and ways they would like to represent their business. It was eye-opening to see such a range of small businesses such as graphic design, furniture sourcing and interior design, photography, hand-made luxury chocolate, tax advising to name a few in one room.

The session ended on a 'Google Yourself Challenge' to see whether the first hits on Google Images represented their business and visual identity. It was fun and a little nerving to see live what everyone's businesses appeared online to potential customers, but it was all part of the development process.

After the session it was lovely to hear comments such as "It was very motivating & refreshing" and having a lovely buzz and chatter of conversations. Certainly a big smile on my face and everyone who attended!

Solent University graduate and interested in joining the SENSE network in Southampton?

April's session will be led by Lottie Turner, Risk manager at NHS Trust and Business Manager at Tom Snow Design where she'll be giving a talk about improving presentation skills for your business. Come along to the 6pm session at Southampton Solent University on Tuesday 12th April 2016. More info here.

Follow SENSE on Facebook and Twitter for updates.