Today we’d like to introduce you to Isabelle Birkeland.
Hi Isabelle, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
I decided to create IB Workshop in 2020 when Covid-19 shut down my senior year. IB Workshop is my small business for photography, art, and video editing. I’ve always loved these 3 areas, so I decided to make it into a business. My main focus is photography, being able to capture memories for people brings me great joy.
And as far as my art and video editing, I do those whenever I have time or someone needs me to make something art-related or video related. In high school, I was on the softball team; we didn’t get very many pictures at all, this was sad because we made so many fantastic memories that we just have to remember mentally and not through pictures.
So ever since 2021, after I graduated high school, I have been the team photographer for my high school softball team; getting to document those memories not only makes me happy, but it makes my team happy as well because they get to cherish those memories.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It’s been a bit of a tough road. Trying to find time in my schedule to run my little business can be hard. I’m a gymnastics coach and that’s where my income comes from, IB Workshop is just a side hustle at the moment because I can’t make enough money from IB Workshop for that to be my only job. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE being a coach! Coaching my little gymnasts is one of the best parts of my day!
However, I do wish IB Workshop was successful enough that I can do more with it. Finding clients for photography is difficult, there are so many great photographers out there which makes it hard to not only find clients but to also get my work out there and to get recognized. But being able to be the team photographer for my high school softball team has helped my photography.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
IB Workshop has 3 main areas: art, video editing, and photography being the main area. The way things work is I do video editing whenever I can, but mostly for Regional Supply (now part of the company Spandex) as well as for the softball team. For the art area, I do a lot of painting as well as other creative things to sell at the Norwegian Constitution Day celebration (17th of May Celebration) held at the Salt Lake City International Peace Gardens.
Selling things at the Norwegian Celebration has been a big help in getting IB Workshop out there. And photography, it helps to have such a supportive softball community. Team players and their parents post my photos, tag me, and put my work out there so others can see what I do. They give me credit and that means so much to me. The thing that I’m most proud of would probably be how hard I’ve worked and continue to work to make IB Workshop what it is and can hopefully be.
Any big plans?
I currently don’t have any huge plans for IB Workshop other than to just continue finding time to work on my little business.
I hope that somewhere in the future, IB Workshop will be successful and I can do more with it other than just on the side when I have time.
Pricing:
- Video Editing – depends on the time it takes to make the video (how long the video is, as well as uploading time)
- Art – depends on the time it takes to create that piece of art, supply costs, etc.
- Photography – $50+
Contact Info:
- Website: https://ibworkshop.mypixieset.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ibworkshop4390
