Feb 18, 20203 min read

Alana Adetola Arts Photography: Making 2020 the Year of Publications

When she was working at Wegmans, Alana Adetola thought that was her future. Photography was supposed to be a part-time hobby; instead, it ended up being her career. Alana Adetola Photography is a force to be reckoned with. This year, Alana Adetola Arts Photography is ready to take photos to the next level: publications.

She went from working for a giant corporation to a non-profit organization, to a small business owner in that order. She wouldn’t have it any other way. She learned so many invaluable business methods from working for Wegmans. She learned to do things with passion & empathy from working for a non-profit organization. Now, Alana finally has the chance to combine everything that she’s been carrying around with her all of these years and turn it into something that she can call her own.

Not only does she offer services for weddings, but she also provides a variety of photographic services: portraits, headshots, family sessions – including maternity, birth & newborn photography. Alana also offers special event photography.

The best part is that Alana Adetola Arts Photography offers the option for potential clients to get to know her a bit better by welcoming them to her Buffalo-based studio. They’ll have the chance to view some of her favorite photographs “off-screen.” In her studio, she highlights these images in a variety of styles [canvas prints, framed prints, photo albums & more]. During this time, she lends potential clients the opportunity to ask her as many questions as they’d like.

Alana knows how much detail goes into planning a wedding, and she tries to empathize with the fact that many of her clients will be meeting with wedding vendors for the first time in their lives. She takes that into account when meeting with potential clients one-on-one.

They laugh, they get off-topic, they discuss a current running list of Netflix series’, they share a glass of wine…and hopefully at the end of it all, they decide that they’re the perfect fit for one another!

Alana brings a lot to the table besides her stellar photographic skills. There aren’t a lot of wedding vendors that look like her, she says. Being a black, female wedding photographer sets her apart, and in our opinion, is what makes her fabulous.

At times, there are challenges to working in an industry where you rarely see another human being that looks like you. But most often, those same challenges have allowed her to be more determined to master her craft, and they’ve allowed her the opportunity to stand by work, her ethics & her professionalism. SHE’S PHENOMENAL AF. She’s helping change the conversation around WNY’s wedding industry just by doing what she does best, photographing people, all while being herself.

Her clients become her friends. With that, sometimes, these friendships grow to be like family. She views each & every client as someone that she will eventually develop a strong bond with. She’s realized that by taking this approach, she continues to build ‘with her clients, rather than ‘around’ them.

And you guys, her goals for 2020 are fire: she’s submitting her work to publications. In the past, she was reluctant to send her work to magazines. She felt like, “Why bother? Everyone’s a wedding photographer now or days. What makes my work stand out?”Then, she took a step back and looked around to see just how many hundreds of service industry businesses were surrounding her. There’s a reason you go to one hair salon while your co-worker goes to another. There’s a reason why your favorite bar has a more ‘modern’ atmosphere, and your uncle’s bar hasn’t had a remodel since 1987. There’s more than enough room for all of us!

In the future, Alana would love to design & teach a variety of photo-related classes & workshops. Photo-related because she doesn’t want to limit her offerings to just photography based. She’d like to offer everything from back-of-house administrative classes to album design and everything else in-between. And we can see her crushing it.