Wedding, Portrait Photographer Opens New Studio In Greenwich

GREENWICH, CT — After nearly 10 years in business, Natasha Miller has finally found a permanent home for her business in the heart of downtown Greenwich.

According to Miller, Tashography LLC has been in business since 2011, but the opening of her Greenwich studio space, located at 45 East Putnam Avenue, suite 119, marks the beginning of a new era. (To sign up for Greenwich breaking news alerts and more, click here.)

"This is my first time opening up a studio," Miller said. "I've been working out of my house and mostly on location, so this is a big step for our business. We're excited."

Tashography specializes in photographs of weddings, engagements, family portraits, headshots and life events, according to the company's website.

Originally based in Stamford, Miller officially opened the doors to her studio on Sept. 1. The timing could not have been better, as she recently decided to adjust her business' focus to weddings and engagements, she said.

"I wanted a place to meet my couples," Miller said, "where I could show them my albums, have prints displayed on the wall and have a studio area where I can bring corporate clients for headshots."

She also noted she wanted her studio to act as a "safe and sanitary place for [clients] to come to."

Miller said capturing weddings is a "rewarding experience," as it allows her to provide photos for couples that can be cherished for generations.

"Looking back at my grandparents' wedding photos, my parents' wedding photos and my own, it gives me such a rewarding feeling to hand [those types of photos] off to people," Miller said, "and then they're going to pass it down to their kids and so on."

While her main focus is these types of events, her most popular requests since opening have actually been for corporate headshots of CEOs and business professionals.

"A lot of people are starting new jobs or applying and updating their LinkedIn profile," Miller said, "so that's definitely an area we've been focused on lately."

This type of business has been especially vital for Tashography since the coronavirus caused non-essential businesses to shut down in March, many of which have now reopened and are slowly finding their way back toward normal, and safe, operations.

Miller said the virus, also referred to as COVID-19, essentially postponed this year's wedding season, which typically runs from May to September. It even shut her business down for a few months.

"In March, [the virus] completely stopped our business," Miller said. "We weren't taking on any shoots until we started up again at the end of June. At that point, we just focused on prints, album sales and reaching out to old clients, so that kind of changed our mindset a little bit, seeing how we could still be in business and make some revenue when we can't go out and shoot."

Since June, Miller has only been able to shoot photos at a few "micro-weddings" held with a handful of people. She has also had to rethink some aspects of how Tashography operates.

"Now that we're open, our business has changed," Miller said. "We only take on small events with under 25 people. Our office is sanitized every day in between clients and at the end of the day. We wear a mask during every shoot, and we have hand sanitizer present. I also use a lens that allows me to keep a six-foot distance from the subject."

Miller said she has to do "a lot of talking" and use prompts to get subjects into correct positions while keeping a distance from them. She also utilizes an app on her phone that displays sample poses to give people an idea of what she is thinking for a particular shot.

"It's different because I'm definitely hands-on," Miller said. "I fix people's hair, makeup and clothing, so it's been a little more difficult."

Fortunately, she is still able to keep her clients happy and relaxed under these circumstances.

"I'm great with couples and kids," Miller said. "It's my personality, I think, that gets those genuine smiles and emotions out. It doesn't take much to warm up to me and my lens, so I try to make the subject feel as comfortable as possible."

Those real emotions are also part of the reason she emphasizes providing couples with prints of their photos and not restricting them to digital files.

"I don't want my clients' photos to just live on the computer," Miller said. "I want them to have a tangible print or album, or art on their walls of their beautiful photographs so it's a constant reminder of their family and their lives."

Further information about Tashography can be found at the company's website.