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EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the latest installment in a series of stories looking at local photographers as their businesses boom during the prom, graduation, and wedding seasons.
MANSFIELD — Bertha Bishop is living the dream. The Colombian native is doing what she tossed out as an idea, thinking, “Wouldn’t that be fun to do one day.”
That dream-turned-reality is working as a full-time photographer. As owner of B.L. Bishop Photography, she strives to capture moments and milestones for people using creative and artistic methods.
“I don’t do traditional,” she said while displaying some of the photos she’s snapped. One depicted a student-dancer garbed in a leotard and pointe shoes striking a pose on her tiptoes in downtown Mansfield.
In a world where many people have access to a camera, it can sometimes be a challenge making one’s work stand out from the rest. But Bishop, 40, believes she was born with an innate skill that’s helped her push past mediocrity.
“I feel like there’s something in a photographer that you’re born with,” she said. “It’s the eye, sense composition, and that stuff is hard to teach.”
She also gained an understanding of the fundamentals while attending journalism school in Colombia.
“I do love Colombia and I try to go back at least once a year and see my family,” she said.
She moved to the United States about 20 years ago, first landing in Miami, Florida to work as an on-air translator for a radio station. She later moved to California and then uprooted to Mansfield about 13 years ago.
For 10 years she worked as a Spanish teacher at Discovery School in Mansfield, doing photography on the side.
“I love Discovery School dearly and was able to leave on the best of terms,” she said. “I still do their school pictures and work with them on their yearbook.”
B.L. Bishop Photography is in its third year.
“I get up and come in here and think I can’t believe this is my job,” she said.
She has her own indoor studio at her Mansfield home, where there’s also ideal space for an outdoor shoot.
She loves working with children and especially enjoys high school senior photo shoots.
“I try to do a super glamorous photo shoot for them because it might be the last time they ever get such a big production,” she said. “And I let them choose the location to represent who they are.”
Rarely will you hear her ask people to say “cheese.”
“I stray from the super stiff photos,” she said.
She’ll crack jokes and say things like “Give me your best Abercrombie pose.”
The goal is to help people feel at ease and make their personalities shine through.
“It’s so much fun,” she said.
Bishop, who will soon graduate from the New York Institute of Photography, said she’s found great booster in her husband, Buzz.
“He’s very supportive and proud,” she said.
She, too, is proud of her work, sharing, “I really feel like I put my heart and soul into it.”
But at the same time, she thinks she still has a lot to learn.
“You can never stop learning and growing,” she said.
Contact Bertha Bishop of B.L. Bishop Photography at 419-989-0501 or bertha@blbishopphoto.com. Visit the website at www.blbishopphoto.com. B.L. Bishop Photography is located at 1948 Lexington Avenue, Mansfield.
