Virginia Greuloch, a family lifestyle photographer based in Ohio, USA, sees life as a collection of grand adventures mixed with tiny mundane moments. Her advice? Always listen to your Mum - she’s 99% right all the time. We can’t help but to fall in love with the little moments captured in Virginia’s photography.
1. What is life to you? What it should be?
Life to me is very loud, mostly chaotic, and I spend a lot of it in a blur, but I think that’s what it’s supposed to be with two young kids at home. My life is full of laughter and a buzzing noise from a toy train that’s been left on that I can’t find. Life should be a collection of grand adventures and tiny mundane moments that all fit together to tell your great love story. I find that I hold the tiny moments closer to me now after becoming a parent and I think that’s why I naturally gravitated toward lifestyle photography.
2. There are a lot of professions out there - why be a photographer?
I wanted to be a photographer when I was much younger, but until my folks bought me my first film camera (Nikon N70) when I was 17 I had no idea how hard it was. Because it’s really, really hard. I never imagined myself having a desk job or staying in one place for too long. I’m too jittery for that and I love how photography allows me to have new experiences every time I go out to shoot. Photography simply just brings me a lot of joy - both shooting for myself and clients - and I’m really lucky that I get to have a job that makes me so happy.
3. How much is your family an influence on the way you view life, see things?
It’s almost the entire influence. My awesome kids and husband, quite obviously, are a huge influence in my photography, but even before that - there was my dad, who always had his camera on him. “Film is cheap!” he would say, implying that capturing the memories were priceless. My dad is the most enthusiastic person I have ever met, and taught me that both the tiny moments and the grand adventures were all worth preserving. He took me to the tops of mountains, long road trips with the Beach Boys blaring, and sat with me through quiet moments at our lake waiting for a fish to bite. Everything was a moment worth capturing to him. And now it is to me.
4. Do you have a “second profession” or passion?
It sounds cliche to say, but my second profession is being a mom, which is why 95% of my photography is of my family. Before that, I was an interior decorator and I still dip my toe in here and there, but it’s not where my passion lies. I’m so focused on building my business and making sure my kids aren’t throwing strawberry yogurt on my gear (again) that I wouldn’t have time for anything else even if I wanted to.
5. What movie did you love recently?
"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" really hit home to me, as it seems like it did with a lot of other photographers. Aside from the movie being entirely about a photo, I love the idea about taking one step forward making your dreams a reality. Plus, ya know, Iceland.
6. Are you more of a one-frame-tells-the-story artist or do you prefer collections?
I’m a multi-image storyteller without a doubt. I have the worst time narrowing down images to give to my clients because they are so linear in showing the details of their lives. I tell you that you’ll get around 45 images, but add 50 more and that’s a little more accurate.
7. Is/Are there any project(s) you wish you could do - or might do?
My husband and I made quite a big mistake with our wedding photographer (I’ll spare the details) and it’s been plaguing me for years. The project that’s upcoming is that we are going to do the portrait part of our wedding photos alone all over again at a local farm that I adore. My husband takes awesome photos, so we're both going to shoot. Two cameras, two tripods, two timers (and two dresses because why not?)
8. Do you shoot with your left or right eye?
Lefty.
9. Are there any unseen experimental images in your attic you’d like to show us now?
Yeah, I do some experimentation with self-portraits because it gives me more of a fine-art outlet that I don’t usually get to play with in my client work. This one was taken in my basement with a little glass block window for the light source.
10. If you were to start all over again, is there anything you would do differently? Why?
I would listen to everything my mother said, because she was right 99% of the time. And I feel like I’m finally hearing all that she taught me.
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