I had the opportunity to book a shoot with Paul during my visit to Washington, DC for the Miss United States pageant. After spending a few hours with him shooting, I felt like we were old friends. After doing numerous photo shoots with photographers over the past 9 years as a model, the secret ingredient to getting the perfect photo is a connection between the subject and the photographer. I felt like Paul and I clicked right away! The shoot was a blast but the photos made it even better. Check out the snaps from our shoot.

As a pageant girl, I know that photos are everything. The first thing the judges see about you is your head shot. It is so important to make the perfect first impression with the perfect photo! Don’t take it from me though, because Paul from MAVPP tells Lady Code all about the importance of having the right photos to set yourself up for success.

What made you decide to be a photographer? 

Photography and videography have been a hobby for nearly my entire life. We own a family travel agency called Cruise Planners and we’re seeking a way to grow our travel agency. By offering wedding photography and wedding videography we were able to reach many more young people and grow our travel business. After getting lots of positive comments about my work I expanded my photography options to include pageant photography, cheerleading photography, sports photography and high-fashion.

What is your favorite subject to photograph?

I truly love sports photography the opportunity to capture that special moment where the hero saves the game or loses the game. Wedding photography can be truly life-changing being able to capture a couple true happiness and love. Being given the privilege of capturing that moment that will last a lifetime is truly an honor. Cheerleading and pageant photography has a special spot in my heart. I love giving women the opportunity to grow their confidence and look amazing in their photos. My goal is to provide my clients with the best photos possible.

Why are quality photos important?

Anyone can take a photo and put it on a website but the difference between everyone and a professional photographer is knowing what makes you look your best. The goal is to get eye-catching photos to either win a pageant or to get a better job or to sell more widgets. Photos can dramatically grow your business or get you attention. Having a reliable and knowledgeable professional photographer will give you this opportunity.

Tell us about your current partnerships with beauty pageants:

I just signed a contract to be the official photographer for Miss Maryland High School and Collegiate Pageants for the next three years. Was also covering the United States 2014 pageant for DC life magazine this past year.

What are some highlights of your career?

Having the opportunity to travel the world and to meet important people in my life such as Leo Laporte who is a technology journalist as well as having the opportunity to do several sporting events with several famous people such as Pres. Obama attending can be some of the short things on the highlight list of my career.

Where do you see yourself and your company 5 years from now?

The five-year plan for my business is to become a strong ally with a great magazine that focuses on lifestyle and sports giving me the opportunity to work with my passion which is sports photography and pageant photography. With some free time on the weekends to focus on wedding photos. I also want to build this amazing studio that will be something to write about in the future it’s truly going to be amazing I can’t wait to build it.

Anything else you would like to share with Lady Code and its readers?

The most important thing to me is giving my clients the best photo or video possible. I go out of my way to make my clients happy working overnight or on the weekends just to make people happy. There still truly awesome people that want to make their clients happy and provide great service.