Local Photographer offers photos to all

Published 9:00 pm Thursday, November 30, 2017

Ever since Carlie Paige got her first camera, the Milledgeville native knew she wanted to become a professional

photographer.

“I started in 2014, but I didn’t really mean to start it,” said Paige of her business, Carlie Paige Photography. “My grandma bought my family a camera, and my sister-in law got pregnant [soon after]. We went to the beach and I ended up doing her maternity session at the beach, and I said to myself ‘man, this is fun.’ After that, people slowly started asking me to take their pictures, and so here I am.”

For the past three years, Paige has offered her photography services to people in Milledgeville and Middle Georgia. Over her time as a photographer, she has shot everything from weddings, to maternity shoots, to family photo sessions, but admits to having a certain favorite assignment. 

“I do weddings and things like that, but most of what I do is family photography,” she said. “Families and kids are my favorite … I like trying to get kids to smile, because when you do it, it’s very rewarding. I’d say I’m pretty good at that.”

Paige’s preference for photographing families is well-documented. Recently, the photographer held a holiday photo shoot for families at The Roost, a graphic design business and event space opened by local entrepreneur Codee Rainey last month, and hopes to continue photographing families as the holiday season rapidly

approaches. 

“I really like doing lifestyle sessions,” she said. “I like going to people’s houses, especially with newborns, and taking photos in the nursery or with their momma and daddy. Taking photos of [adults] kind of take away from that lifestyle in a way, because even when you go out to the park and take kids’ pictures, you get to see their personalities and capture them.”

At last weekend’s photo shoot at The Roost, and another she has planned for Dec. 16 at the same location, Paige will conduct several different shoots in a set period of time. These short sessions will allow her clients to purchase professional photos without having to pay for a full-session time slot, as well as allowing her to give photos to families that may not otherwise be able to afford them. Paige refers to these shorter shoots as ‘mini-sessions,’ and hopes the idea will let her extend her services to even more local residents.

“Basically, my mini-sessions get priced in half, but they get their time cut in half as well,” she said. “I do the mini-sessions back to back to back to make it worth my while, but it’s good for other people too because they get to take photos at a cheaper price. Even though the Santa sessions that we’re doing [at the Roost] aren’t really mini-sessions, they’re kind of quick, ‘Tell-Santa-what-you-want’ sessions. Each one of them is different. I’ve done cotton mini-sessions, Fall mini-sessions, and recently did some for Christmas, but that’s kind of the idea behind them.”

Since starting to shoot professionally in 2014, Paige’s business has steadily grown as her reputation as a skilled photographer has spread. As is true for quality photographers, restaurants, or any other type of business, she says her photography has subsisted mostly by word-of-mouth in Milledgeville and the surrounding area. As proof of her natural eye for photography, many of Paige’s customers have returned to her year after year.

“A lot of people have been using me since 2014, so they’ve kind of been with me as I’ve grown,” she said. “I’ve had a lot of the same people come back – I have a couple families that use me two or three times a year, and others that only do pictures once every year. It’s always fun getting to see people come back.”

In her time working as a professional photographer, Paige said her customers have allowed her to truly live out her dream. Although she will work abnormally long hours as families purchase photos for their Christmas cards, the photographer said her customers are her biggest motivation.

“Word of mouth is the biggest marketing tool in Milledgeville, and I’m very gracious that my clients do market me well around town,” she said. “I’d just like to thank my clients for that, because that is huge.”

Carlie Paige Photography can be reached at 478-457-6811. For more information and examples of Carlie’s work, visit her Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/CarliePaigePhoto/ or her website at www.carli

epaigephotography.com.