The lives of students at Marshall University are a hard thing to capture, but that’s why Baylee Cornell keeps her camera at the ready.
Cornell, senior and accounting major, is one of many students at Marshall who owns their own business. Although she is getting her degree in accounting, Cornell has a passion for photography.
Cornell said three months before she started at Marshall, she had a small pool of clients, but as she got involved at Marshall, it continued to grow from there.
“I started my business in June of 2022,” Cornell said. “Obviously, in June, all my clients and customers were my friends, so it really wasn’t a business yet, but, as I went through Marshall and I joined a sorority, I started doing senior shoots as well as the business side of it.”
Cornell said though she found the photography part easy, she had no idea how to navigate business, marketing and branding effectively before her time at Marshall.
“Marshall has created endless opportunities for me, honestly, when it comes to my photography business,” Cornell said. “If I didn’t attend Marshall, I don’t think I would have a business.”
Cornell said almost 90% of her clients have come from meeting people through the university.
Cornell also said while the experience of being a student and running a business can be a bit stressful, she wouldn’t trade it for the world.
“I think that ‘fulfilling’ and both ‘overwhelming’ at the same time would be the best words to describe it, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world,” Cornell said. “I just feel so blessed and lucky that I get to be a college student and operate and run my own business.”
Cornell has been photographing for over three years. She has photographed weddings, couples, graduations, family sessions and more. However, her favorite shoot is always a wedding.
“There’s been weddings that I photographed people’s grandparents for the last time,” she said. “Like that’s the last professional photograph someone would have of their grandparents. That’s happened a few times, which breaks my heart, but it also is just so fulfilling to know that I was the person that got to do that, and I did my job.”
Cornell said she loves love, and her career path has been nothing but fulfilling. Her clients see the care she puts into her work.
Though Cornell plans to create a haven for creativity in Huntington with her own studio, she wants to let life take her where she needs to be, just as it did at the start of her business.
“Life can take me wherever it wants to be, and I feel like that’s why I’m here,” Cornell said. “That’s why I have the photography business that I do because I’m not a control freak, and I just let life happen. Life happens as it happens.”
As life happens, the stories unfold, with Cornell’s camera at the ready to capture the little moments. Cornell said she is nothing but blessed to be in her position.
“I wake up every day and feel so blessed and grateful that I am put in this position,” she said, “and I get to make a little bit of a difference in somebody’s life, whether that’s capturing such a special moment or capturing a sad moment or happy moment; whatever it may be, I love it.”
Soleil Woolard can be contacted at [email protected].
