Sue Navarro (Twin Cities Photographer)

Sue Navarro is a Twin Cities photographer who creates branded content for businesses, and also portraits for high school seniors, expecting parents (maternity), and newborn babies. 

Born in Cheyenne but raised predominantly in Newcastle, Wyoming, Navarro grew up in a small town where a sense of community was pervasive, but opportunities were few. 

“Now it would feel isolating to go back to a small town like Newcastle,” Navarro says of her 3,500-person hometown.

“But I had a great childhood.”

As a teenager, Navarro exhibited a reserved disposition, preferring to fade into the background and observe her peers rather than thrust herself into the limelight. 

“That’s been my personality my whole life. It’s a stretch for me to do things like BNI and speak in front of people every week,” she says, commenting on her current networking group in Brooklyn Park that asks her to talk about her photography business every week in front of over 100 other entrepreneurs. 

“I am an observer, a people watcher who likes to read books and keep to myself.”

After graduating high school, Navarro soon got married, and by 23 she already had two kids. 

“That’s just what you did back home,” the Newcastle native shares, and while her path may have initially been in line with her peers, Navarro also had aspirations that extended beyond the all-important responsibility of being a homemaker. 

“I always loved pictures,” she recalls. 

“My grandparents had a huge National Geographic collection on their coffee table, and I would look at the photos and instantly become fascinated with the vast array of landscapes and locations on display in those magazines.” 

Still, Navarro didn’t know what to make of her innate curiosity for photography, her early adult life busied by kids and marriage. 

But by 2015, a lot had changed. 

At that point, she had moved to the Twin Cities and got remarried. 

She also decided to purchase a camera, her initial aim being to document her son’s football games.  

“I’m not a sports person, so I didn’t understand how football worked, but I enjoyed taking photos of my son and being involved in his activities,” Navarro says. 

From there, Navarro developed a deeper appreciation and passion for photography, to the point where she realized that she could shoot professionally. 

Over time, she built a clientele, taking on jobs that ranged from doing corporate headshots to weddings.

Today, she still assists clients in an array of industries with their photography needs, but she also has a better idea of who she is as an artist and an entrepreneur. 

“I help businesses who are looking to market themselves without using stock photos,” Navarro states. 

“The types of companies I work with typically want to connect with their clients on a more authentic level by using actual photos that show them doing the work that they are experts in, and love to do.”

For context, stock photos are generic images that anyone with an internet connection can download and paste onto their company website or blog. 

Depending on the type of company you operate, using stock photos can feel inauthentic to a potential client weighing whether they would like to work with you or not.

Inversely, having professional photos that are germain to what your company does can incite clients to want to work with you, particularly if those photos showcase the human aspect of your business.    

“Anyone who is rebranding or building a new business, that’s who I can help establish a unique online presence in their sphere or market,” Navarro says.

“That’s because, whether you realize it or not, your customer is looking online for your services, and in that sense I believe it is your obligation as a business owner to market yourself in a way that is conducive to attracting those customers to you, as opposed to hoping they will find you organically or stumble upon you through a random Google search.”

Adds Navarro: 

“But to do that you have to make the effort to uniquely position yourself in a way that appeals to that customer, and that’s where my work has been particularly helpful for a variety of businesses here in the Twin Cities.”

Navarro’s knowledge is expansive, and there is a conviction she speaks with that can be attributed to her near-decade long run as a professional photographer. 

At the same time, as discussed earlier, Navarro readily admits to being soft-spoken, an introvert who is comfortable yielding in conversation until she feels compelled to make an impact.

At one point in our interview, when asked what makes her unique, she pauses, the deliberation process occurring in her brain evident as she carefully prepares her response. 

“I put my clients at ease,” she reveals. 

“Besides high school seniors, most people are weary or skeptical of having their photo taken, so it’s my job to come in and alleviate that pressure or anxiety they may be feeling and make them comfortable.”

But it’s not just cultivating a warm environment that Navarro is striving to achieve.

In fact, her tactic is much more calculated, and ultimately, profitable. 

“When clients are comfortable, they open up and show me who they are. That’s what I really want to capture,” she explains.

“Again, my job is to highlight companies in a way where their clients will want to do business with them, and so every deliverable [final product] I’m sending out has a specific purpose that I believe will generate some type of ROI.” 

Beyond her work with Twin Cities businesses, Navarro also shoots the aforementioned high school seniors, in addition to doing engagement photos and smaller, more intimate weddings. 

“The big weddings where there are 300 guests and 11 bridesmaids, that’s not really what I do anymore,” Navarro mentions. 

”I love the small backyard wedding, the second marriage, the elopement; the ones that are more personal versus me trying to capture a spectacle.”

Throughout these last ten years, Navarro has worked tirelessly to find her voice as a photographer, and while Twin Cities businesses or anyone else could theoretically shoot and edit photos on their iPhones, the reality is that most people don’t possess the artistic eye or aptitude to create quality images. 

In that sense, Navarro’s clients pay for her expertise, and often a premium for that level of proficiency. 

For reference, high school seniors can expect to pay $700 on the low end for her services.

For businesses, that price is higher, depending on what exactly they need. 

“A branding session for a business would likely be around $1,400,” Navarro shares. 

“Even that really depends because if the company wants me to photograph fifteen people, that’s going to cost more than if they just hired a new employee and are only trying to get a headshot of that person for the company website.” 

In the coming years, it’s likely Navarro will continue to ascend as a photographer and entrepreneur, especially as she further cements herself as a must-hire for Twin Cities businesses who are looking to brand themselves in an immaculate manner. 

“I really enjoy doing the branding because it is often a collaborative process between me and the business owner,” Navarro says. 

“With those, I get to know the client and what their goals are, and then collectively, using my skills as a photographer, we develop a portfolio that can propel their business forward.” 

And in a business world where radio and print advertising become more obsolete every day, companies must place a priority on getting their actual faces in front of their audience. 

“Thirty years ago, you might look in the Yellow Pages and see one headshot of a business owner. But now, ever since the advent of the internet, it’s essential for a business to be online, and more specifically, to actively be marketing themselves online because everyone else is trying to compete for that same digital real estate,” Navarro explains. 

“If you don’t have photos of you or what you do online, people won’t know you, and if they don’t know you, it’s very unlikely that they will want to do business with you.” QS

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