We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Leah Whitty a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Leah, thanks for joining us today. f you needed to find a key partner or facility – how did you find them, what was the process of striking a deal like and what would you do differently knowing what you know now?

Finding my perfect clients has quite simply come from following what I enjoy doing and what I am good at.

I was already a professional freelance photographer when I attended a local yoga class one day a few years back. My yoga mat was one from my small business collection and featured an abstract landscape image from an aerial view that I had photographed over the outback, Australia. The teacher complimented my yoga mat and I proceeded to tell her all about my small business which was born from the lockdown days when I had the idea to amalgamate my favourite topics of photography, yoga, travel and sustainability to produce yoga mat designs exhibiting travel photographs I had taken over the years.
This chance encounter led to a conversation with the yoga teacher, Marta, who admired my work and who was keen to hire me to capture photographs for her marketing needs. The initial collaboration opened doors to a network of professionals seeking visual content for their own endeavours.

Transitioning from commercial work with fashion and product brands, this shift marked a pivotal moment in my career, allowing me to leverage my skills and experience in a fresh and rewarding way outside of my usual studio work.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am a professional dedicated photographer with over 11 years’ experience. I specialise in fashion, still life, yoga, beauty and studio creative projects and location based work.

I am a keen traveller, astronomer and yogi based in London and love variety in my work. I have shot everything from luxury high-end fashion brands to cosmetic model and product photography to photographing animals, nature, landscape, yoga retreats and musicians.

Past assignments include shooting across Asia for interior and product photography and shooting for high-end clients in prestigious London studios.

I am also Founder of Palms In The Wild, an eco-friendly yoga mat brand designed with my travel/landscape photography of beautiful places from around the globe.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Portraying a person or brand even better than they could imagine visually through photography.
I love the unexpected and sometimes mysterious and magical side of photography. Even the best plans shoots don’t tend to come out exactly how you imagine and most commonly, even better! There’s so much that goes into producing photographs: the location, lighting, talent, props, hair, make-up, team dynamics and mood of the day that can influence how a shoot turns out and I love going through the shoot afterwards, picking out amazing shots and then spending time editing and finishing the images, ready to present to the client and their reaction is always so rewarding as I often get so much love and appreciation for the results.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Often what seems like a bad situation is an incredible pivot moment, re-directing you to something better that’s on your path.
I landed a dream job early in my career taking me across Asia to photograph for a brand. I saw parts of India, Indonesia and Vietnam that I never expected to see loved the experience. Unfortunately the job didn’t last long and I felt so heartbroken that I didn’t get to do it for longer. However, what I learnt from this experience was how much I valued travel, adventure and working abroad which is guided me to plan for a year abroad which was one of the best years of my life. I gathered so many lessons and inspiration from that experience and have gone on to work and travel across over 38 countries and meeting some incredible people along the way.
Had that experience not ended, I wouldn’t know what I do today about myself, my career goals and the direction of my life.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.leahwhitty.com
• Instagram: @leahwhitty
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leah-whitty/

Image Credits

leahwhitty.com