What do you get when you bring together thousands of photographers with big talent and big personalities in “Las Vegas, a place where anything can happen”? That describes WPPI — the largest photo conference in the world –- to a T, and in the keen writerly eye of Julia Boggio, the answer is “drama and romance.” Her final novel in the Shooters trilogy, Exposure! takes place at IPE — International Photography Expo, a conference inspired by the annual WPPI conference, and she assures us that those who have attended WPPI will be amused by the similarities.

To celebrate Exposure!’s big release today, Rangefinder caught up with Boggio to find out more about the new novel and its connections to WPPI, the other books in the series – her love letters to the photo industry, and what’s next for her. Read our interview with her below.

Exposure! Interview with Julia Boggio

Exposure! is the final book in the Photographers Trilogy. Can you tell us a bit about the series? 

This series is my love letter to an industry I adore and was part of for many years. The books follow the journey of Stella Price, a woman who starts out as a new photographer and slowly rises to rockstar status. Along the way she falls in love with Connor Knight, the best wedding photographer in the world.

The first book, Shooters, begins at a fictional SWPP, which is a photography conference in London, and, in the last book—Exposure!—the setting is inspired by WPPI. In the book, it’s called IPE—International Photography Expo. Photographers who’ve read advanced copies have said in reviews: “Photographers won’t be able to read about convention antics without cracking a few wry smiles” and “the way that the author describes attending and presenting at a convention in Las Vegas is so accurate.” But you’ll have to read it and be the judge!

What did you find inspirational about WPPI as a setting for Exposure!?

Before the pandemic I attended WPPI as a print comp judge and I was blown away by the sheer scale of it. It’s a massive event, full of big personalities, oodles of talent, and thousands of photographers seeking equally to learn new skills and blow off steam—the perfect scenario for drama and romance. And it’s in Las Vegas, a place where anything can happen…

What made you decide to write this series?

I was a professional photographer for 15 years, and an advertising copywriter before that. I’ve always wanted to write a novel. In 2019, I’d started mulling over the idea of writing romances about photographers. Then I went to SWPP and had coffee with Sarah Edmunds and told her what I was thinking. She said, “Oh, you want to be the Jilly Cooper of photography!” Jilly Cooper is a romance writer like Jackie Collins, who wrote bonkbusters in the 80s, set in the world of equestrianism. Her first book is called Riders, so when Sarah said that, the name Shooters immediately came to me, along with a plot and characters for the series. You never know what an off-the-cuff remark can do!

Are you still shooting? Or is writing your main vocation these days? What’s next for you?

Next, I’m working on a Christmas book about an American headshot photographer who moves to London to meet her Mr. Darcy, and then I’ll start work on a new series called The Shutterbabes. I’ve carved out a niche for myself as a writer of romances set in the world of professional photography, so I’m planning to continue with that for now.

I haven’t shot professionally since I put down my camera and picked up my pen. However, it turns out that publishing is about one million times harder than photography and significantly less profitable, so I am starting to do headshots for other authors to supplement my income.

For the launch of each book, you’ve run photography campaigns involving photographers like Jerry and Melissa Ghionis, Kelly Brown, Gary Hughes, Melody Smith, Kristi Sutton Elias, and Damian McGillicuddy, to name a few. How did you come up with the idea?

I had very little budget for my launch, but what I did have was relationships with some of the top portrait photographers in the world. I thought it would be fun to ask them to take professional pictures of themselves reading the book—and boy, did they get the brief! The photos I got back were absolutely amazing and the campaign helped to catapult my debut, Shooters, onto multiple bestseller lists around the world. It gave me such a warm feeling inside how much the photography industry has supported and continues to support my books.

Rangefinder posted a great article about the launch here. You can see the launch videos for all the books in my Instagram reels.

For Camera Shy, which is a novella that sits outside the trilogy, I ran a photography competition and the tied winners, Chris Seals and Therese Asplund (who has recently been made a Nikon Ambassador), have characters named after them in Exposure!, so keep an eye out for them!

I wanted to do something a little different for Exposure! Considering the cover of the book, I decided it would be fun to ask a smaller group of friends to pose with the Exposure! sign in the nude. As usual, they showed up for me and for this series of books about the industry we all love.

What order should we read the books?

The first book, Shooters, will remind every photographer of the days when they were first getting started: attending their first convention, feeling lost, realizing how much there was to learn, shooting their first paying client.

Next is Chasing the Light. We still follow Stella, but it also covers the story of Krish Kapadia and Francesca March—a photographer of Indian weddings and a videographer, respectively. I was so happy when a fellow photographer told me that this book changed her life because it led to her getting a diagnosis for a condition I talk about in the book.

Camera Shy is a side novella that I wrote when a friend asked what happened to one of the characters in Chasing the Light. It takes place in Paris, and I interviewed photographer/WPPI veteran, Tony Hewitt, for this one because the male protagonist is an aerial photographer. This one is the spiciest of the series.

Finally, there is Exposure!, which starts 10 years after Shooters, when Stella is now at the top of her game. She’s given an impossible choice between her career and her struggling marriage. I think people who love WPPI will love this book.

Finally, where can we get them?

You can purchase the ebook, audio or paperback from Amazon, and it’s free to read on Kindle Unlimited. People in the UK can order signed paperbacks from my website. This series is the perfect summer read!

Buy books from Amazon USA.
Buy books from Amazon Canada.
Buy books from Amazon  UK. 
Buy books from Amazon Australia.

Julia Boggio social media:
Twitter/X: @juliaboggio 
Facebook: Julia Boggio Author
TikTok: @juliaboggiowriter  
Instagram: @juliaboggio  
Website: Julia Boggio 

About Exposure! — The Final Book in the Photographer’s Trilogy

Exposure! is a funny and fast-paced second chances romance that explores marriage, family, and love, and why the biggest risks can be the most rewarding.

 

Julia Boggio is a multi-award-winning photographer turned multi-award-winning writer of romance novels set in the world of professional photography. Her debut book, Shooters, won a prestigious Selfie award at the London Book Fair in 2024 and gold at the Wishing Shelf Awards. Originally from New Jersey, she now lives in Wimbledon, UK, with her husband, two kids, and a weird cat.