We recently connected with Hayley LaCava and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Hayley, thanks for joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

Ever since I was young Ive loved the idea of capturing moments and taking photos. In high school I had asked for a camera and my mom ended up getting me one for Christmas. I was so excited and brought it with me everywhere. Taking photos of scenery, family, anything I could. My friends would let me take photos of them to practice for fun. I remember one time going to a craft store and going to the flower aisle and capturing my friend surrounded by the florals. Playing with the depth of field and trying anything I could to be creative. Thats really how I started to learn. Just messing around with the camera settings and trying different things out.

I eventually realized I wanted to go to school for photography so after high school I ended up at a two year photography school. I learned the most here. Taking classes and really learning from my peers. From portraiture, to studio photography, architecture, taking film photography and even developing it. We also learned a little bit about the business side of things and history. In school our teachers really pushed us to try and get out of our comfort zones. I thought this was my time to be expressive, learn the basics and really push my camera and creative ideas.

One skill that I believe to be most essential that has helped me grow my own business was meeting new people and making connections. You never know when you’re gonna know someone that might help you get to where you’re going. Creating relationships was the best way to push myself and my business forward. Also meeting other creatives has helped me tremendously. Learning from them in the beginning really helped me build my business up.

All these skills and steps Ive learned along the way helped me build my own photography business. Capturing weddings, engagement sessions, seniors, real estate, etc and this past year Ive even gotten to capture some amazing events for a company called Epic Cons. Overall I am still learning and pushing myself to be creative and have fun in my career.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Hi my name is Hayley and Im 23 years old and live in Cape Cod, MA. I am a photographer and have my own photography business HLaCavaPhotography. I started messing around with a camera when I was younger and eventually realized I wanted to learn it professionally and make a career out of it. I ended up going to the New England School of Photography, outside of Boston. I started school in October and it was a two year program. Majoring in portraiture and minoring in architecture photography. I learned so much here and really grew my skills. I graduated in March of 2020 and once things started to lift up after the pandemic I decided to start my own photography business.

Starting my own business wasn’t easy and had its ups and downs but Im thankful to have family and friends who supported me. My dad has multiple business and he was a major help in getting me started and teaching me all about networking and getting my business going. He and my mom always push me to go after my dreams and do what makes me happy in life and they’re always there to support me. Being in school also helped me meet a lot of other photographers and make connections needed to help me lift off the ground. Mainly doing portrait photography and a little bit of real estate photography. Capturing engagement sessions, seniors, families, weddings, businesses, and more. I also met my boyfriend James of five years now at school and he has been a major help a long the way. Being my assistant when needed or even a second shooter at weddings with me. He has given me so much love and support and has helped me grow so much.

Lately I have started photographing convention fan events hosted by Epic Cons. Theyre a women owned company and have given me such an amazing opportunity. These fan conventions involve actors and actresses from tv shows and movies. The fans are able to meet them thru photo ops, autos, meet and greets and also watch them at panels. So during the weekend I am there to capture all the candid moments!! Capturing attendees having fun, meeting their favorites, as well as the actors and actresses at the events. The weekends are long and hard but so so worth it. It’s so rewarding sharing the images from the weekend and everyone getting to relive the moments captured. I am going to be photographing several more events this year with them, as well as four next year. I also love to travel so getting to travel for these events makes it even better and is what Ive dreamed of. I can’t wait to see what the future brings with them!!

Overall I am most proud of how far I have come and growing my own business. It is definitely not easy and I still have so much to learn and figure out but navigating it has been such a great journey. I see myself more so working in this creative entertainment industry and having fun working these types of events so I am for sure excited to work with Epic and create some amazing images for them. I am open to trying new things and exploring different avenues as I am still young and I feel like life in your 20s is suppose to be all about trying different things. So while I might not have it all figured out Im happy with what I have accomplished thus far. For every client Ive had Ive been able to capture the most special moments in some of their lives. Getting to be creative and share these moments with them is amazing. I really strive to capture the emotion of the event or milestone happening thru my lens and so when they look back at the images all those same emotions from the day can be felt again and again. It’s been such a great journey so far and I can’t wait to see where my camera takes me!

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I think the most rewarding aspect of being a creative is being trusted to capture these moments in peoples lives. Whether it’s something like senior pictures, family photos on the beach, engagement / wedding photos or a fan meeting their favorite celebrity. Memories last on through photos and it’s amazing to think one day they will be looking back at the images I took and the memories from that time in their life. I am definitely the type to get sentimental around memories and trying to make a moment stand still so being able to click the button on my camera and getting to freeze those moments for my clients is truly been rewarding. I hope that they get to look back and be filled with joy and a sense of happiness at the images I have created.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Social media is such a tricky game today. There are so many different tips and tricks. I definitely enjoy social media and sharing content and it’s actually where most of my clientele has come from. Growing your audience really comes down to consistency and sharing creative content. I grew my page by sharing images that I thought would get a good engagement online as well as reels. I made sure to use trending audios and hashtags on all posts. Made friends online and shared their content so that maybe they will share mine as well. It’s really not an easy answer as theres so much that goes into social media and it really is another whole job in itself.

Overall I like to just have fun with it!! A lot of people will reach out to me thru social media because a lot of people prefer to search that way these days versus google I find. Especially for photography! People also want to see content about you and get to learn more about who they may be hiring. The more they can connect on a personal level with you the more likely they might want to work with you. Especially if they relate to any of your content. In the end just be yourself and share what makes you happy!!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://hlacavaphotography.com
• Instagram: @HLaCavaphotography and @HLCandids
• Facebook: HLaCavaPhotography
• Other: For more fun content – tik Tok @mystichayleyy

Image Credits

The first image of me in yellow dress photographing stage – Adrianna Sutton Photography
All other images taken by me HLaCavaPhotography