We were lucky to catch up with Maria Hurtado recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Maria, thanks for joining us today. Let’s jump right into how you came up with the idea?

I was living in LA and wanted to join the creative world, I began going to underground events and concerts. Soon I realized there was a need in that area– reliable fun photographers. I am super outgoing and love to meet new people. So I began to attend popup modeling photoshooots that would better my photography skills and allow me to meet new people! I knew immediately this was an outlet for me to express my creativy while also networking and not changing who I was.

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

I am very creative, love to hear other peoples story and what better way then to be a photgrapher?! People love photos of themselves. As I continued to network by going to events within the Los Angeles area I began to meet more and more people. Social media was my #1 way of advertising my name. I then began to be invited to more parties, events and concerts. I went to school full time, worked part time and so I would use my nights to attend events. Especially on weekends. I offered to be a photographer and would always be welcomed to join! The #1 thing I heard from most people was that I was REAL. I wasn’t shallow, always listened intently to others, while also being outspoken. I know those I have worked with will say “she was down to earth, always kept it real and gave quality/creative photos”

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

The best way to build long lasting audience is to connect, have a good conversation (this can make a major impression) and then ask for a follow. As a photographer, I would tell them to send me their email via messenger on Instagram to recieve any photos. It then forced them to look into my account and take action. On my side it would also allow me to reconnect with them after the event/concert.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

As I may have mentioned, I was going to school full time (8am-5pm), working part time (6pm-11pm) and then afterwards going to events from about 12am-3am. You could call this I was on “a major grind”. I knew if I wanted to grow and succeed I would need to put in the time and effort no matter if I was feeling tired.

Image Credits
Meraki Picture