Photography might look like a pretty straightforward business from the outside.
You buy a camera, take some photographs, find some clients and off you go.
But as we discovered when we sat down with Luana of Luana Burton Photography for Episode 15 of Made In Ely, there is a lot more to being a professional photographer than simply knowing which end of the camera to point at someone.
For Luana, photography has been a passion from an early age. Today, she runs two photography businesses covering everything from weddings, corporate work and events to intimate portraiture and personal branding.
And, as we quickly discovered, there is a lot more to her work than simply taking a good photograph.
From film cameras to full-time photographer
Luana’s love of photography started when she was young, inspired in part by her dad, who was a keen photographer himself.
Growing up around film photography, she remembers wanting to get her hands on his camera — although, understandably, being trusted with expensive film wasn’t quite on the agenda!
When she eventually got her own camera, she started photographing music gigs and film festivals, learning by getting out there and doing it.
That hands-on approach continued throughout her studies. Luana studied Visual and Performing Arts in Venice and began taking on small photography jobs alongside her degree.
After moving to England, she had ambitions of becoming a stills photographer working on film sets. In fact, she even handed her CV to legendary director Tim Burton.
She didn’t get the call.
But the photography didn’t stop.
For years, Luana continued to build her photography alongside other work before eventually taking the plunge and going full-time around three years ago.
The decision wasn’t exactly part of some perfectly executed five-year business plan either.
Luana was working in a managerial role for a startup when the company closed down. With redundancy money behind her, new camera equipment and an increasing number of photography clients, she decided to take the opportunity.
And just went for it.
“There wasn’t really a huge plan behind it.”
It was terrifying. It was difficult.
But it was also, she says, absolutely the right decision.
The reality of turning your passion into a business
One of the biggest themes of our conversation was something that will probably resonate with almost every freelancer and small business owner.
Turning your passion into a business doesn’t necessarily mean spending all day doing the thing you love.
In fact, quite the opposite.
Photography might be Luana’s passion, but actually taking photographs can make up only around 20% of her working time.
The rest?
Admin.
Invoices. Contracts. Social media. Emails. Networking. Meetings. Planning. Following up with potential clients. And all the other jobs that suddenly become your responsibility when you’re the business owner.
As Luana put it, there are a lot of hats to wear.
And that’s one of the things that can catch people out when they make the leap into self-employment.
You’re not just a photographer anymore.
You’re the accountant, marketing manager, administrator, salesperson, social media manager and business owner too.
And even when you are incredibly good at something, running your own business can make the simplest decisions feel much harder because suddenly it’s your money, your reputation and your future on the line.
It’s something we could certainly relate to at Ely Work Collective.
You don’t have to niche down just because someone tells you to
There’s a lot of advice in the creative world about finding your niche.
Pick one thing.
Become known for it.
Don’t try to appeal to everyone.
Luana has taken a slightly different approach.
She describes herself as a photographer who works across a number of different areas — including weddings, corporate work, proposals, events, editorial, branding and intimate portraiture.
And she’s perfectly comfortable with that.
Her approach is simple: know what you can do, know what you can’t do, and be honest about the difference.
If someone asks her to photograph something she knows she can deliver, she’ll do it.
If they ask for something outside her experience or equipment, she’ll say so.
There is no pretending.
And perhaps that’s another important lesson for anyone building a business: confidence doesn’t necessarily mean pretending you can do everything.
Sometimes confidence is knowing when to say, “That’s not for me.”
When your brand is actually… you
One of the most interesting parts of our conversation was around personal branding.
Luana explained that it took her a while to realise that, in many ways, she is the brand.
People aren’t necessarily hiring her purely because of the photographs.
They’re hiring her.
That’s particularly important when you’re photographing something incredibly personal — whether that’s someone’s wedding day or an intimate portrait session where the client is putting themselves in an extremely vulnerable position.
Trust matters.
Personality matters.
Connection matters.
And Luana realised that she didn’t need to create some polished, carefully constructed version of herself to attract clients.
In fact, doing the opposite worked better.
She stopped trying to dilute herself.
She stopped trying to be overly “businesslike”.
She became more comfortable being herself — including being silly, swearing and generally allowing more of her personality to come through.
And something interesting happened.
She started attracting her people.
Not just the right clients, but the right collaborators, connections and businesses to work with.
It is a brilliant reminder that personal branding isn’t necessarily about creating a version of yourself that people will like.
Sometimes it’s about having the confidence to let people see who you actually are.
Knowing when to say no
That leads neatly onto another lesson Luana has learned since becoming self-employed: boundaries.
When you first start a business, it’s very easy to say yes to everything.
You don’t have a guaranteed salary coming in at the end of the month.
So when someone offers you work, you take it.
But Luana found that constantly saying yes can slowly chip away at you.
Now, she’s much more comfortable deciding who she wants to work with — and who she doesn’t.
She talks openly about listening to that feeling you sometimes get when something just doesn’t feel right.
If a potential client raises red flags or she gets the sense that the relationship isn’t going to work, she’s prepared to walk away.
Because ultimately, one of the reasons she became self-employed was to have more control over who she works with.
That’s not to say every job has to be perfect.
But if you’re going to spend a huge amount of your time, energy and creativity doing something, it needs to be worth it.
And sometimes that means saying no.
Photography that goes beyond the photograph
Of course, there is one side of Luana’s work that particularly sets her apart.
Her intimate portraiture.
This isn’t simply about taking beautiful photographs.
Luana describes it as a photography service designed to support people on their body confidence journey.
She works with people at all sorts of points in their lives — including around pregnancy and childbirth, significant changes to their bodies, surgery, and other major life experiences.
Sometimes, it’s simply about wanting photographs of yourself exactly as you are.
The work can involve nude photography, but Luana is very clear about what makes her approach different.
There is no Photoshop.
There is no artificially changing someone’s body.
There is no posing designed around the male gaze.
And she doesn’t describe it as boudoir.
Instead, the focus is on the person, their body and their relationship with themselves.
It’s a hugely personal type of photography, which makes the connection between photographer and client even more important.
And it’s clearly work that Luana is incredibly passionate about.
She described it as the best thing she’s ever done.
“I hate having my photograph taken”
If there’s one sentence photographers probably hear constantly, it’s:
“I hate having my photograph taken.”
And Luana hears it all the time.
From corporate headshots to personal branding sessions, people regularly walk through the door and announce that they’re “not photogenic”.
Her answer?
Find a photographer you vibe with.
Because being photographed is vulnerable.
If you’re uncomfortable with the person standing behind the camera, it’s going to show.
Luana believes that making people feel comfortable is one of her strengths — even if she’s not entirely sure how she does it.
Sometimes it can be as simple as having a conversation, finding out what music someone likes and taking the pressure away from the fact that there is a camera pointing at them.
And then, suddenly, they see the photograph.
“Oh… that’s actually quite nice.”
That’s the magic.
Capturing the feeling, not just the moment
That same philosophy comes through in Luana’s wedding photography.
For her, the goal isn’t simply to capture a collection of technically good photographs.
It’s to create images that transport the couple back to the day.
The kind of photographs where, years later, they can look at them and feel like they’re still there.
But perhaps the thing she enjoys most isn’t actually the photography itself.
It’s the people.
At weddings, Luana loves it when guests come up to talk to her.
When someone checks whether she’s eaten.
When someone offers her a drink.
Those little interactions tell her that people are comfortable around her.
And if people are comfortable around the photographer, they’re much more likely to forget the camera is there.
That’s when the real moments happen.
What’s next for Luana?
Luana has some exciting plans ahead.
She’s continuing to develop her intimate portrait work and is also looking to expand the branding side of the business.
In particular, she wants to work with more business owners whose values align with her own — people and businesses that empower others and want to show up authentically.
Her message to business owners is simple:
Don’t perform for your brand.
Show up as yourself.
That’s something Luana wants to help more local business owners do through branding photography.
And it’s something that fits perfectly with what we’ve always loved about Made In Ely.
Because behind every business is a person.
And sometimes the best way to tell the story of a business is simply to let that person be themselves.
Find Luana
If you’d like to find out more about Luana’s intimate portrait work, you can find her at Intimate Portraits by Lu.
She also offers branding photography, weddings, events, corporate and editorial photography through her main photography business.
You can find her at:
Intimate Portraits: intimateportraitsbylu.com
Instagram: @intimateportraits_bylu
Photography: luannaburton.com
And, of course, you can hear the full conversation with Luana in Episode 16 of Made In Ely, recorded here at Ely Work Collective.
As always, it’s another brilliant reminder that building a business isn’t just about what you sell.
It’s about finding out who you are, who you want to work with, and having the confidence to build something that actually feels like you.
And sometimes, that means putting down the beige branding, being a bit louder, and showing up exactly as you are.
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