emilie sommer
a practical dreamer in
pink
By Samantha DePoy-Warren
It was a decidedly decisive moment that set Emilie Sommer on her
serious search for studio space. She had just stepped into another
room to grab a second sample album to show to a prospective
couple seated at her kitchen table when she overheard the father
of the bride bemoan “that dog,” as Emilie’s adopted lab, Dakota,
brought him her tennis ball yet again.
“I was so ashamed and embarrassed,” explains Emilie, a Port-
land, ME-based wedding photojournalist and owner of Emilie
Inc. “I remember at that moment knowing I never ever wanted to
risk losing a client because we had met here.” Less than two years
later, and Emilie Inc. has settled into a space that while warm and
welcoming like her kitchen table, projects the positively profes-
sional image that has been the cornerstone of the Emilie Inc. brand
as it has developed from a one-woman home-based business
into one of the country’s most recognizable boutique wedding
photography studios.
While the studio, located at the edge of the Portland’s hip arts
district, is fewer than five miles away from the South Portland
home Emilie shares with her husband, J. Sandifer, a sales rep for
ALL PHOTOS COPYRIGHT © EMILIE SOMMER
liveBooks, it took years for Emilie to arrive here.
The first signs of the Emilie Inc. brand were seen more than two
decades ago when, as a youngster growing up in Hollis, NH, Emilie
would spend her days playing office and practicing her signature,
which even then was comprised of all lowercase letters with big
dots over the i’s. After graduating from Syracuse University’s
Newhouse School of Public Communications, Emilie went on
to work as a photographer and picture editor at USA Today in
2000–2001 and then as a picture editor for The Washington Post,
starting in the summer of 2001.
A longing to return to her family and rural roots following 9/11
combined with a growing frustration over being at the computer
instead of the camera as the night picture editor at The Post ce-
mented her decision to move from dreamer to doer and pursue
the wedding photography business plan she’d written out follow-
ing her reading of The Practical Dreamer’s Handbook by Paul and
Sarah Edwards.
She started Emilie Sommer Photography in 2003 while still at
The Post, but left her position later that year to become a full-time
photographer and move to Maine in 2004. “I just kind of felt my
way through the process,” Emilie explains of beginning and later
incorporating her business. “I knew nothing about marketing or
branding. I just knew I had the opportunity to make a new name
for myself here because nobody knew me yet so I could use my
D.C. credentials to push me forward.”
That new name was Emilie Inc. and in mid-2004 Emilie rolled
out the brand with a fresh and fun pink circular logo with white
lettering and big brown polka dots above the i’s. The colors and
circles were inspired by, of all things, a pink and brown shower
curtain Emilie found at HomeGoods and the “Inc.” added on to her
first name simply sounded good.
“I don’t even really like pink but I liked the combination of those
two colors together. And I loved the sound of Emilie Inc. It sounds
sort of feminine and friendly yet serious and strong and business-
like at the same time,” she says. “When I see my logo, it makes me
smile. It’s approachable and fun.”
After recently giving Web site advice by phone to North Caro-
lina wedding photographer Kristine Dittmer, of Kristine Dittmer
Photography, Emilie received a thank-you email telling her, “You
sound as nice as your logo looks. I have to say you have one of my
all time favorite logos… love the mix of your friendly, approachable

name combined with the business-like ‘Inc.’
And all those vowels have a synergy. It just
really works.”
The brand is the perfect personification of
the always-smiling Emilie, who is as sweet
and sincere as she is smart and savvy. And
it was that savvy side that led her to seize
upon her frustration over potentially being
perceived as unprofessional and turn it into
motivation for moving Emilie Inc. out of her
house and finally finding it a true home.
Throughout 2007 and into early 2008,
Emilie searched the greater Portland area
for a studio spot, seriously considering
three before falling in love with the second-
floor of 227 Congress Street, an open 1400
square-foot space located in a brick build-
ing that also houses an artsy cafe with a
vegetarian menu and live acoustic music.
Her three-year lease began on April 1 and
after massive renovations with the guid-
ance of a local interior designer, the studio
celebrated its opening with a gala in late
July, attended by a who’s who of the region’s
wedding industry, including several dozen
other wedding photographers.
True to the Emilie Inc. signature, the
studio walls, dotted with wide windows,
are painted pink or brown, and atop the
hardwood floors sit brown rugs and cus-
tom chairs and a couch swathed in a mod-
ern pink and brown baroque-style fabric.
Canvases featuring beaming brides and
grateful grooms grace the walls in a way
that evokes an art gallery. Every detail from
the sample albums on the coffee table (of
course, their covers are brown) to the tis-
sue box in the bathroom (yes, it too is pink)
are a reflection of the brand that Emilie has
built, and the image she wants the space to
convey to her clients.
“When people come in here, I want it
to feel familiar. I think when people come
in here, they can see themselves in these
photographs,” she says. “I love coming
here every day. It’s that childhood pretend
place come to life. It has a nice, warm
creative energy.”
In the year that the studio opened, Emilie
Inc., which now includes several associates,
shot more weddings than ever before—a
total of 42—mostly in Maine but also throughout New England as
well as in Michigan, Florida and Jamaica. Meanwhile, Emilie, who
has taught for several years at the Foundation Workshop, led her in-
augural Roots Workshop, a photojournalism workshop on Cape Cod
in which wedding photojournalists return to their roots by spending
a week shooting an editorial assignment under the mentorship of
celebrated wedding photojournalists like Greg Gibson, Jennifer Do-
menick and Tyler Wirken.
But, with the majority of her wedding clients coming to Maine to
get married from afar, Emilie knows not all will see her studio. And so,
she has sought other avenues through which to drive her brand into
the minds, hearts and homes of prospective clients. Her blog (http://
blog.emilieinc.net) has proved the most effective vehicle besides the
studio and Emilie began running a regular “vendor tour” feature on
the blog in late 2007 to showcase—through images and an editorial-
style write-up—wedding-related vendors whose products and profes-
sionalism she values.
She thought it would be a good way to keep her blog current during
the off-season and to strengthen relationships with other New Eng-
land wedding professionals. But even she was surprised by how suc-
cessful the series proved to be. Vendors appreciated the exposure and
the images she created for their promotional materials and couples
planning from a distance were grateful for the insight.
In addition to vendor tours introducing blog readers to a variety of
subjects including a makeup artist, a jewelry maker and a guitarist,
the Emilie Inc. blog has also been filled with news of Emilie’s Pink
Initiative, a nonprofit she formed to raise money for breast cancer re-
search. A portion of the profits from each wedding she has shot since
the beginning of 2008 has been donated to the National Breast Cancer
Foundation. As of 2009, when the 501(c)3 Pink Initiative launched,
other wedding vendors can now do the same.
Since her mother’s best friend died from the disease when Emilie was
12, she has been devoted to raising money to combat breast cancer and
has participated in many charity walks and runs, including Avon’s 60-
mile three-day walk from Baltimore to Washington D.C., which she did
with a friend in 2002.
If projects like the Pink Initiative don’t give wedding photography
shoppers enough of an education about the values of Emilie and her
brand, the Emilie Inc. Web site includes video testimonials from past
clients and a video that allows prospective clients to get to know Emi-
lie, her shooting style and her studio. The multimedia presentation
adds conviction and depth to the typical one-dimensional testimonial,
which Emilie hopes will further solidify her brand and help Emilie Inc.
grow in a way that gives grounds to its studio space.
“It’s like a pinch-me situation but at the same time, I know how hard
I worked to get here. I have a hunger that doesn’t stop and so I know
I have to keep pushing, keep taking risks because there is even more
than this,” Emilie says giddily of her studio and the brand it showcases.
“I enjoy this so much more than covering murder scenes in D.C. It’s a
joyous job.”
To experience Emilie Inc. visit www.emilieinc.comhttp://blog.emilieinc.net
or http://blog.
http://blog.emilieinc.net
emilieinc.net. To learn more about Emilie Inc.’s Pink Initiative, go to www.
pinkinitiative.org.
www.pinkinitiative.org
Samantha DePoy-Warren is a freelance writer and wedding photographer based in
Portland, ME. She can be found online at www.samanthawarrenweddings.com.