Meet Christa Elyce | Owner & Photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Christa Elyce and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Christa, can you tell us more about your background and the role it’s played in shaping who you are today?

I grew up pretty much all over the globe. My father was in the military and this allowed me to live in so many parts of the world as well as visit so many countries. With so many memories that we’ve made as we tried new foods, attended cultural events, visit many ancient ruins, and learned different languages – my family casually took photos to commemorate these times in our lives. We didn’t have a lot of money growing up so it usually was a cheap camera that my mother had picked up a local 2nd hand shop.

As I got older, I participated in all the extra curricular activities I could in high school. When my family moved to a NATO base located in Mons, Belgium, I was lucky enough to be apart of the Yearbook committee as a photographer. We started in film photography and not only a year later digital photography became a thing. It was a new and intimidating at the time so I continued in film photography and processed and scanned my many photos of my yearbook photo assignments. Years later I would make the transition to DSLR cameras but I also have a special place in my heart for film photography.

Having new environments, cities, and groups of friends every 2 – 3 years made it so that I learned to adapt and become a person that cultivates relationships with different types of entrepreneurs as an adult. I’ve learned to become observant and anticipate the needs of service that my clientele will need in order of the media content.

What should our readers know about your business?
Houston Studio is a one stop shop for the savvy entrepreneur who is in need of stylized branded marketing content for their flourishing business. We provide services for imagery, commercial video, product & portrait photography, influencer appearances, brand design, logo design, website design, social media content creators, and even partner with trademark and patent attorneys.

I truly enjoy working with companies of any size and level of business. Keeping our creative services in house so that quality standards, timely execution of a project, and innovative creative styles is what sets Houston Studio apart from other companies that outsource their work.

Having had to shed my own share of blood, sweat, and tears myself when expanding my business I can totally understand my client’s needs when they feel that they are ready to level up but feel the limitations of time, resources, and “where to go from here?” complex.

With my experience I have now developed a list of best practices which came from lessons learned with various clients industries. This has given me the confidence to work with a broader client base.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I live in Uptown, Houston Texas. So there’s so much to see, do, eat, enjoy, listen to, and dance to. I feel that my family and I are completely spoiled for being able to live so close to everything i.e. River Oaks District, River Oaks Shopping, Downtown Houston, Galleria area, the Heights etc. We love our neighborhood restaurants and their owners and their chefs.

Even though our area has so much to offer we do like to day trip lately to other parts of Texas. Galveston is a quick getaway with so much history and sights to see. Don’t forget to enjoy a little ghost tour while your there! We love to visit towns like Round Top for all their small town feels and boutique B&Bs, Austin and other parts like Fredericksburg are our jams as well. We like love 6th street music and all the sights and eats you can find there.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
There really isn’t anything like being a mother that makes you work your butt off to be the best version of yourself and business owner you can be. I know that I couldn’t be as successful as I am today if it weren’t for my 3 children: Winter Eden (16 yo), Brighton Rhys (12 yo), and Molly Olivia (9 yo). I’m grateful for their little faces, prayers, fantastic photography ideas and hours of letting me photograph them, and for keeping in the know with all the new social media outlets in which I use for marketing purposes.

I do feel lucky that we live in the age we live in where learning is always continual. Online courses from Master Classes, or Creative Live lessons with photographers I’ve always admired, podcasts, and even quick tutorial from Youtube.com really are how I teach myself new skills for when I don’t know how to do something…yet!

It’s truly about who you surround yourself with. Many of friends are successful entrepreneurs in many different industries. You don’t have to do the same job to learn methods, business structure, time management, workflow streamlining, client management, etc. If you like something someone else is doing there’s a way to make it work for you in your industry. I have loved getting together with my favorite girlfriends who own companies and talking shop. We all push each other to aim for our goals and don’t stop till you get there.

And I know this is going to sound funny, I don’t mean to, but nothing has propelled me more than my past mistakes. I’ve learned so much from my not so best business mistakes and dust myself off and try it again but better. From my failings — those were the best lessons.

Website: www.houstonstudio.com

Instagram: @houstonstudioinc

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christaelyce/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/christaelyce

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/houstonstudioinc

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/christaelyce