Small Business Owners, Every One of Them

Angelina Ramirez and Isaac setting up the backdrop at Capitol City Baptist Church in Elk Grove before photographing young entrepreneurs at Elevate Ohana's entrepreneur fair.

Photographing young entrepreneurs at a homeschool business fair in Northern California.

The assignment actually started almost a year before I ever picked up a camera. A friend who runs Elevate Ohana, a homeschool co-op, asked if I would photograph the kids at their entrepreneur fair. Most people would have seen those kids selling crafts and homemade products, but what I saw were young business owners.

I had done this once before. That time I came to make badges, each one with their name, their company name, and their title, so I took their photos for that. This time was different. This time it was about their products.

These kids work all year toward an end-of-year entrepreneur fair. They come up with a business, built it, and showed up ready to sell. Some bake. Some 3D print. One girl, nine years old, learned the basics of homeopathy from her mom and came up with her own salve. Other kids have written and published books. One made her business as an artist and sells her paintings. That is just a glimpse of who these kids are.

So of course I said yes.

I have a thing about showing kids on the internet. So you won’t see their beautiful faces, but you get to read about them.

I am a big proponent of small businesses and entrepreneurship. Working for yourself is one of the best ways to not live in poverty, something I am all too familiar with from growing up. And beyond the practical, there is something deeper that drives me to show up for people like this.

"You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many." Mark 10:42-45

The calling was there, so I showed up.

Rolling in the gear at Capitol City Baptist Church in Elk Grove. Every kid at Elevate Ohana's entrepreneur fair got the same treatment as any other client.

Isaac came to help with the setup. When I got there, the kids already had their booths set up out front. As I rolled in my gear, one of them showed up ready to get his photo taken, excited and with no hesitation. As Isaac and I adjusted the lighting, more kids came in to see if I was ready for them yet. Each one with a smile, anticipating their moment. We even grabbed one of the parents to test the lighting. He's a photographer, so he understood exactly what we were doing.

The first kid was three years old. He was so cute and little, and although he was first in line, he only wanted three photos taken and then he was done. That's okay. Next year, right?

Then in walked an older kid who already knew how to pose. It is always great when minimal direction is needed.

For the next hour and a half, kids filed in and out.

When I shoot headshots, I tether my camera to my laptop so photos appear on the screen as they're taken. The kids loved it. They got to see their silly faces and big smiles immediately, and it turned the whole thing into part of the experience.

Angelina Ramirez directing during the session at Capitol City Baptist Church in Elk Grove. Tethered laptop and large umbrella light visible in the background.

Some wanted to do more photos. Some only took two or three. That's okay. I let kids do what they're comfortable with.

Then in walked one I see every week. I already knew he was going to be paying the closest attention. He always wants to know how things work and then tries them himself.

Sure enough, he started critiquing immediately. I was prepared, and quite honestly, he makes me chuckle inside. He then ran over to the laptop to see his images.

"I don't like that pose."

"That one is slightly out of focus.”

“My tool wasn’t shown properly.”

I laughed and told him, "Good eye. Let's try it again."

Then he pulled out a tool a friend had made and wanted to be photographed with it. I asked him if his mom was okay with that.

"Yeah, yeah."

I know his mom, so I laughed. Not entirely sure how she'd feel about it, I talked him into a few shots without it first. He reluctantly agreed, but we also tried different poses with the tool. Smiles and serious poses both.

He liked the ones best where he wasn't smiling.

He said, "I need to look serious."

Okay, sir.

At the end, I let him look through about twenty photos and pick his favorites.

I finished up with the last two kids and started packing up when the photographer dad walked back in and started talking about the setup.

"Wow, that is a huge umbrella."

"Yeah," I said. "The kids liked it. It's also a big light source. Gets things nice and even."

As I packed up and looked at everything I had brought, I knew I had overpacked. I tend to bring extra lights and camera bodies just in case.

Trunk packed with camera bags, light stands, and studio gear after photographing young entrepreneurs at Elevate Ohana's homeschool co-op entrepreneur fair.

But I treated these kids like every other client.

They are small business owners. That's who I serve.

Why would I skimp out because of their age?

Over the next few days I culled the images. Eleven kids. Around 150 photos.

Each one had a personality and each one deserved careful decisions.

There were photos of kids jumping, hair bouncing mid-air. Some who were sassy and some who didn’t want to show their teeth behind their smiles. Each child had photos taken with their products, and choosing the right images meant paying attention to who they were.

My favorite was the painter who held her painting in front of her, the canvas in sharp focus and her face slightly soft behind it. The kid with vibrant pink slime in one hand and gooey cinnamon rolls in the other. The one with the big smile who had crocheted a purse that turned colors in the sun and modeled it on camera.

Every photo was curated and edited with intention, a big smile on my face the whole time as I thought about the conversations we had during their sessions.

Over the next 5 days, I would edit for two to three hours daily. There were full-body shots, shoulder-up portraits, negative-space compositions. Color and black and white. Both had their place in their galleries.

One by one, each gallery link went out to their parents.

When I finally sent those galleries out, I wasn't sure what to expect.

Two parents said thank you.

One ordered prints.

The rest downloaded the photos and I never heard a word. Such is the life of a photographer. LOL!

I will never know if they liked them.

That stings a little.

But that is not why I serve.

I serve because Christ called me to. Not for anyone else to see me, because the truth is that He sees me. Which is good enough for me.

1 Peter 4:10 says, "Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms."

I pray that each and every one of them is as successful as they felt that day.