The first certified Photo Manager in Brazil joins us to talk about spearheading photo organizing in Latin America.
After retiring from government work, Adriana Baltar started working with digital organizing in 2017. The following year, her mentor recommended she find a niche. Adriana knew that her clients were always talking about photos, so she chose photo organizing as her specialty. In 2019 she joined The Photo Managers and was proud to become Latin America’s first Certified Photo Manager.
How do you and your clients find each other?
In the beginning, I decided to work with close friends. I asked them to give m all their photos I would organize them. Friends and family would talk about my work and send me referrals who became my first paying clients. I also started to work a lot n my social media. In 2019-2020 I had a huge response from social media and I also have a website. Some people search for me on Google and visit my private website where they can fill out a form and send it to me. When I decided to specialize in digital photos, I recognized that it was important to be known as the authority in what we do. So I decided to be the authority on digital photos in Brazil so I am always talking about it.
How has being a member of The Photo Managers helped you?
I work with technology, files, and software, and these things are always changing. Being part of The Photo Managers allows me to always be up to date with my work.
Connecting with other Photo Managers was completely essential in order for me to develop my work and increase my confidence. I understand now that everybody goes through the same steps and they are not easy. But when you have a community holding your hands and encouraging you, you feel like you can do it. You’re not alone. The Photo Managers also helped me to know all the solutions and services I can offer my clients, and adapt them to what would work here in Brazil.
What do you love most about what you do?
Clients will often reach out to me and express how they are completely lost with their photos and their memories. I can comfort them and let them knwo that everything is going to be alright. When I tell them that I can help they can’t believe that it’s possible. Then I show them my work and they are amazed.
One of my last projects was with a photo lover. She had a lot of digital photos and through her them, I saw her from a child, through her school years, graduation, with her boyfriend who became her husband, and then with her own daughter. It was like watching a novel and it was beautiful to see. And when I gave her back the project ready for her to enjoy her photos, she started crying. After our first consultation, she had really tried to organize her photos on her own but that resulted in her feeling like she had made even more of a mess, so she came back to me to help. When she mailed me her hard drive she labeled it, “the photo organizer challenge”. I accepted the challenge and when I gave her the project back she couldn’t believe it, she was so happy that she could find everything again. She confessed that it was the first time she had done something for herself. She was a real photo-lover and felt it was well worth the investment. It was fantastic to see how my work with photos can affect people.
What is the most difficult thing about your work as a Photo Manager?
Some clients will ask me about printed photos and I hate printed photos. I do not like to work with a physical mess. I can work with digital mess but do not put me in the middle of chaos with printed photos. If someone comes to me asking about printed photos, I can refer them to someone to work with. I understand that I don’t have to work with everything, I just have to be good at what I do.
In Brazil, our economy is not the best. So I had to figure out how to charge clients because our reality is completely different from the United States. Clients here in brazil will not agree to be charged per hour, so I had to figure out how to charge my clients and I decided to work with packages instead. One of the biggest challenges here in Brazil was the price. I have to charge differently than Photo Managers in the USA do and feel confident about my pricing.
Watch the full interview to learn more about how Adriana is pioneering photo organizing in Latin America.
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