Megan Thiele looks different ... that is, she looks at the world around her differently than most people. One glance at her artistry — whether in paint or photography — and you can clearly that tell this art student turned businesswoman sees the world from a unique and appealing perspective. Now she’s setting out to share her view of things with others.

Megan Thiele Photography is Thiele’s leap into the world of business ownership. She began the website as part of her studies while at the University of Missouri-Columbia where she was pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts with an emphasis on photography. She earned that degree and graduated in May of 2006. She relocated to Farmington and has established Southeast Missouri as her business base.

Now, more than a year later, the artist and photographer has set her sights on turning her talents into a profession. She has launched a business doing animal portraits in paint ranging from six-by-eight inches all the way up to 18-by-24 inches. She has also started building a business for her wedding, portrait and commercial photography.

PROMOTING THE PRODUCT

While still in college Thiele assisted an instructor with some photo shoots for Inside Columbia Magazine. That sparked an interest in looking at turning her love for photography into a business catering to the business world.

Her work while still living in Columbia including doing photo shoots for a cabinetmaker, and shooting menu items for restaurants. She worked with well-known photographer L.G. Patterson, assisting him in the studio and learning lighting techniques. She says she also learned some business basics during that same time.

Thiele says she can shoot commercial products either on location — as long as conditions are suitable, or if the product is too large to easily move or is stationary — or she can take smaller items to her studio. There, she admits, lighting is much easier to control and experiment with.

The starting price for commercial work is a $50 fee for the initial shoot. Photo prices vary by size and can be bought as needed. Once select images are chosen, exclusive rights to the images can be bought for $50 each — which entitles the customer to use that photo for any purpose indefinitely.

All photos are done in digital format, unless specifically requested and agreed on ahead of time. She says her love of photography likely grew from her father’s fondness of antique cameras. He would collect old cameras, but rarely try to use them ... much less push them to their potential. But she has built on that generational appeal, and now uses a couple antique cameras to capture primarily landscape shots during her travels.

For weddings, portraits and commercial work she prefers to use her Canon 5D, a state-of-the-art piece of equipment with some really nice lenses available, she says. For portraits and weddings she prefers to shoot in natural light, and does very little computer enhancement short of touching up blemishes or downplaying an unwanted glint on a forehead or such.

Working in a digital formal affords a photographer some luxuries not available in the days of using film exclusively. Thiele will often take up to 500 pictures while doing a portrait shoot for a family or individual. Time needed to have those photos on her computer and workable is merely a matter of moments, and at no measurable cost after initial equipment purchases. Compare that to the cost and time involved to use chemicals in a dark room to develop several rolls of film to end up with the same final product.

IN LOVE

It’s often said that a woman truly in love puts off a nearly visible glow. One look at some of Megan Thiele’s wedding photo shoots and you’d swear her lens captures that effervescence of pending matrimony. She shyly attributes it to having a good eye for using natural light in any given situation. But, admittedly, she knows how to make the lens work for her — and not just with her.

“I like (photographing) weddings. Everyone is happy,” Thiele explains. She likes the challenge of capturing the joy of that day and securing it into print to last a lifetime. She also does engagement photos, and often lines up photo shoots of the bride days before the big day as a way of capturing her in a more relaxed, less stressed time. She’ll then return on the day of the wedding to capture the actual event, as well as the groom, bridesmaids and groomsmen, family and friends.

Examples of Thiele’s wedding photos can be seen on her website, www.meganthiele.com.

CAPTURE THE KIDS

Megan also likes to do portrait work. She shoots senior portraits, including a yearbook photo, and provides several different package options including multiple shoot locations and wardrobe changes.

As for family portraits, the photo shoot fee is $50 and all pictures are purchased a la carte. It’s not uncommon for Thiele to shoot 300 to 500 photos during a couple hour session. She tries to capture members of the family interacting and being natural. Many portraits are done outdoors, whether in a park, farm, or in the backyard — wherever the family feels comfortable and can be the most relaxed.

About two weeks after a photo shoot Megan will deliver the proofs, usually in person in the form of a disc. The family or individual can then take the disc and view it at their leisure, making their decisions without pressure. At that point they get the proof disc to keep. The actual photos are ordered by referencing the numbers on the disc. Thiele then does any retouching required as part of the purchase price, and delivers the finished photos within about two weeks.

DON’T FORGET THE DOG

One of the more unique things Thiele does with her photos, or in some cases other people’s photos, is paint portraits of dogs.“I paint other animals, too, but I just love dogs and my friends have dogs so that’s how I started,” she explains.

The first dog portrait came while Megan was working nights at a hotline call center to help support herself while in college. She would spends hours sitting and waiting between phone calls. While reading was an option, it didn’t keep her hands busy enough. A coworker had a small pug named Chester. Megan decided to paint a small portrait of him from a photograph while at work one night.

Chester’s owner really liked the painting, and was amazed at the likeness to her dog. Megan decided she enjoyed the painting, and started photographing friend’s dogs and doing paintings of them as well. She could take a small tabletop easel to work at night and keep herself occupied during slow times. She admits that painting a large portrait of anything is usually much easier than painting a really small portrait.

Since that time she’s streamlined the process of taking an animal’s mug and putting it on canvas. She starts by shooting a few snapshots of the animal, usually using snack treats as enticement to hold the animal’s attention. Since the animals she works with are pets, she says they’re generally well behaved and have never given her a problem.

It takes on average of six to eight weeks to complete a portrait. Again, the website shows some assorted works ... including three of Megan’s own beloved beagle, Sadie.

TALENT EARLY ON

When asked when she first exhibited a talent or drawing, painting or photography, Thiele said she began drawing as a toddler. Within a few years it became obvious that she enjoyed the pastime. While still very young she started taking painting lessons. She was studying the techniques of the old masters by age 15.

At age seven she began taking pictures using her dad’s SLR camera. She continued studying painting techniques through high school, and started to combine the two when she began studying fine art and commercial photography in college.

Now she’s ready to make a living doing what she loves, combined with the business knowledge she’s accumulated so far and intends to amass in coming months and years. The world already knows Megan Thiele has an eye for art, now we’ll see if she has that same insight into business ownership. $$

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