Erin Fluchel

English teacher Erin Fluchel poses with the camera she uses during sessions. Fluchel experimented with other types of photography but decided that she preferred family moments most. “[Photographing a wedding] was stressful. It was a long day that I was away from my kids. I felt like I was capturing more of the stage moments and not the spontaneous stuff that I love doing. I’m glad that I tried these things, but it wasn’t for me. Again, it was less about connection and more about getting perfect things,” Fluchel said.

Looking through her camera viewfinder, English teacher Erin Fluchel waits for the right moment to capture. The camera lens follows a child splashing in a creek; the parents watch from afar. Click. The moment is forever captured through photography.

After experimenting with everything from baking to gardening during quarantine, Fluchel has finally found her passion: photography. Originally, Fluchel took pictures of her kids to scope out various spots around St. Louis, but she needed more people to take photos of when they got tired of being photographed. Hence, she formed her photography business, Erin Fluchel Photography, in November of 2020.

“It’s no surprise that being stuck on Zoom every day was mentally, physically and emotionally exhausting and draining, so I needed to find some creative outlet outside of my house,” Fluchel said. “I always thought this would be fun, but I never had the time, and it was scary. I felt like maybe I couldn’t or shouldn’t [do it]; I always talked myself out of it. Teaching all day, every day on Zoom was the kick that I needed to get me out of my comfort zone.”

Fluchel specializes in maternity, family and newborn photos. Her clients include friends and family, as well as people who find her social media pages. Before photoshoots, she communicates with her clients and sends questionnaires, so both parties know what to expect.

“I love doing family photos and newborn photos, like moments of family connection where you can see real authentic moments of love. Ones that are super posed [are] not fun and interesting to me. I would rather have moments where a mom is snuggling up with her baby or where kids are playing in their mom’s hair, things that I would want to remember from my kids,” Fluchel said. “I love it when people are open to playing and getting dirty and comfortable.”

By changing how she interacts with clients of different ages, Fluchel aims to create a comfortable environment at photoshoots. Fluchel relates to the parents through shared experiences and gets to know the children by talking to them about their interests.

“We tell them, ‘don’t worry about this; this isn’t showing. The thing that’s going to be important is the love in your family,” Fluchel said. “If they’re little kids, I’m super ridiculous and silly. That’s usually enough; we play, dance and get messy. I’m way more comfortable with the kids, like I would almost rather talk to the kids than the adults sometimes. That’s helpful because the parents see me engaging with the kids and getting the kids more comfortable, and then the parents relax too.”

Fluchel has had many photoshoots since her business first started, with over 150 photoshoot posts on Instagram. Sessions were easier for Fluchel to manage during virtual learning when her schedule was more flexible. However, once she began booking multiple sessions per week during in-person school, Fluchel realized she needed to balance her schedule. 

“But it’s not so much the teaching that I need to balance, it’s my home life. With teaching, I’m here, I’m scheduling it. But when I was doing photos on the weekends and at nights, then it [took] away from my time with my family,” Fluchel said. “I try to find the sweet spot of enough to make me happy, and to be that creative outlet. Yes, extra spending money is super nice. But, there’s a point at which if I’m not around my family and I’m missing out, then it’s not worth it, so I’ve tried to say no to things and only do the stuff that I love.”

While Fluchel has been practicing photography since high school, she had to learn about various aspects of business, such as taxes and licenses to conduct her newfound career legally.

“I like it because it’s different from what I do daily, not that I don’t have lots of room to grow still as a teacher. I’m far from perfect, but I feel like I’ve done this long enough to know what I’m doing. [With photography,] I have to learn everything from scratch, and that’s super exciting,” Fluchel said. “I’m getting there still. The business stuff is not what I think is fun. There’s the nuts and bolts business stuff that I can do. It’s asking people for money to do a service that feels yucky to me. I don’t ever want to have anyone that I’m friends with feel like they need to book me for photos. I think people should do what makes them happy, so navigating how to promote and market is the trickiest.”

Although the technical tasks of business are not Fluchel’s favorite, her business allowed her to find a creative outlet and form lifelong connections with clients.

“One client in particular, I did her maternity photos and then her newborn photos. She just reached out to me to do their one-year photos. She’s sent me messages [that she wants] to buy a camera and [asked me] what [camera she should] get. There have been some really great people that I’ve met along the way that I wouldn’t otherwise [have gotten to meet],” Fluchel said.

Gallery • 8 Photos

Erin Fluchel

A collection of English teacher Erin Fluchel’s photographs, along with their captions taken from Instagram. “I love doing photo sessions. It's like a big burst of energy. It's almost like doing open house or parent-teacher conferences [at school], which a lot of teachers don't love. But I like the immediacy of the joy and the commotion,” Fluchel said.