Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Isaiah Vela. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Isaiah, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

Making a full-time living from your creative work, is no easy feat. It takes long days, long nights and a heck of a drive to want to better yourself. I have been blessed enough to be given the opportunity to create the way to earning a full time living off of my work, which is photography. Being able to do this, takes lots of patience, it doesn’t happen over night, in the first month or even the first year, it is a constant quest in the beginning.

With that said, I have set the stepping stones to begin earning a full time living in my field of work. When I first started out the only thing that mattered was making enough to survive, the essentials. I was contacting friends and family, setting up social media accounts, researching how to set up a website, getting those basic business needs taken care of. Now I was lucky enough to have a business coach by my side throughout my journey, who not only guided me through the unknowns of being in business, but who also had an appreciation for my work and hired me to do work for her.

Being successful in business is nearly impossible to do alone, you need people by your side, people that serve as motivation and people that help you grow in your field. My friends and family had a huge impact in my success early on, from referrals to hiring me to do work for them personally, it all played a part in growing my portfolio. Being a photographer, your portfolio is one of the most important assets, it shows who you are and what you can do, it’s insight into the creative mind behind the camera.

Lots of people are photographers, so being a photographer that is one thing that you need to understand. The style that you have may not be liked by everyone, the way you create isn’t going to please everyone, and that’s okay. Artists will need to understand that, so one of the major steps I had to take was narrowing down the type of work I did, In the beginning I was doing any and all types of work, from photoing public events to weddings to portrait work and automotive photography. I had to understand that I needed to narrow my field of work and focus on getting better in specific areas. You can’t do it all!

Put yourself out there, I had to learn and be comfortable with bringing up what I do in almost every conversation. You only have so many friends and family to keep you booked, so putting yourself out there is another major step an artist needs to climb. You never know who is in the room, you have to network, that’s how you grow.

I have been a photographer professionally for nearly 2 years and have been taking photos for about 4 years now. A few of my achievements that I am proud to say include, being a federal vendor for Idea Public Schools, a vendor for Del Valle ISD, and being featured in Voyage Austin Magazine in 2021. I also was able to purchase one of my dream cars at the beginning of this year, boy was that an amazing day! The journey has been tough, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything!

Knowing what I know now, sure the process could have gone smoother, quicker even, but its always about the journey. The growing, and learning from others is what’s important, it takes time to become a successful individual, don’t try to speed it up, keep it slow motion.

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

I am 24 years old, born and raised in Austin, Tx. Photography came to me later on in life, I didn’t take any photography classes in high school, wasn’t part of yearbook club or anything. My photography journey started with taking photos of my friends while out in the city. I didn’t have an actual camera, I started off taking photos with my iPhone. It was always, “Hey Zay, snap me up real quick!”, I’d pull out my phone, snap a few photos, check them out and they wouldn’t be half bad, my friends surely enjoyed them! After some time, I decided to go in and purchase my first professional camera, I learned how to use it, and got some shoots in. I taught myself how to edit photos professionally, color grade, use lighting techniques, off camera flash and decided it was time to upgrade my camera. I haven’t stopped since, always learning new techniques and acquiring new equipment to further myself.

Zay D Productions focuses on portrait work, weddings and automotive photography. Automotive photography is more of my get away, its what I enjoy photoing most, I’ve been a car enthusiast for as long as I can remember. Portrait work and photoing weddings always puts a smile on my face, working with people and being able to get creative in how you photo them is the best part of being a photographer. I recently started doing work for some schools around Austin, I had the opportunity to photo the band at my high school alma mater, as well as dance teams around Austin and its surrounding areas. It’s been a journey getting to where I am now, and being able to add doing work for school districts, it’s a great feeling.

I built a photo studio in my garage, backdrops, studio lighting, turf as a floor drop, I wanted to get it as close to a professional studio as I could. I remember being so excited, I called some of my friends over to model for me when I got everything together. Being able to create in your own space and manipulate lighting to get the look you’re wanting for a photo is one of the best feelings. So, when I get a client who has a vision, or getting to work with a fellow artist, the sky is the limit. I enjoy taking a person’s vision and doing whatever possible to create it and bring it to life. I believe everyone is an artist, a creator, an inventor, everyone is blessed with a creative gift. So when I’m able to come together with another individual, and start with a blank canvas and produce something amazing, and see that smile on their face when they see the final product, its the best feeling.

Feed into your imagination and create!

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

I believe my goal and mission is very relatable to most people who decide to start their own business. I want to be the person in my family to start generational wealth, knowing that my work will pay off and help my family be better off in the future. Financial freedom drives me, the freedom to experience life the way you want, who wouldn’t want that. Being able to achieve that by creating and doing what makes me happy, that’s all the fuel I need.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Knowing that the art I create brings smiles to people’s faces, and makes people want to see more, that is the most rewarding aspect of being a creative. There is no better feeling than seeing that a photo that I took brings a smile to someone’s face.

Contact Info:

• Website: Zaydproductions.com
• Instagram: @zay_d_productions, Automotive Content- @the_zay_d_
• Facebook: @zaydproductions