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

Adrienne, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I have been doing art in various forms since I was about 4, and I started taking photos at age 9 when my aunt gave me her old point-and-shoot film camera, so it was difficult for me to make the transition to thinking of myself as an “Artist” or a “Photographer”. It was just something that I loved and was a hobby to me, and since I was mostly self-taught, I didn’t feel confident enough in myself for a while. My family was always very supportive, and I think I sold my first painting to my grandpa when I was young. However, I knew they were supportive because they loved me, and I wasn’t sure if people outside of my family would like my art or photos. That big step came for me when I was taking an informal art class where we made a final project, and for mine I printed a bunch of photos and mounted them to wood blocks. The teacher of the class loved them, and she told me that I could sell them. Since it was someone that wasn’t related to me, I finally felt like, “ok, my photos might be decent, let’s do this thing!” I started my business then and started selling at street markets. I still didn’t feel like a “Photographer” at that time, but I did after not too long at the street markets – but that’s a different story!

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.

My name is Adrienne Hulme, and I do what I would say is fine art photography. My business name is Lys Bleu Designs; it means “blue lily” in French, which is my favorite color and was originally my favorite flower. “Designs” is because I started out also selling t-shirts that I painted, so I didn’t want it to just be “Photography.” I have been making art since age 4 and photos since age 9, and since those have always been my passion, who doesn’t want people to just pay them for what they love to do, right? My family was always encouraging me in my art and helping me find ways to market it to people. I could have decided to shoot portraits or weddings or commercial or what have you, but those were never what I wanted to shoot, so I’ve always been true to myself and made art/taken photos that I want to make, and tried to figure out how to sell those. I currently sell a lot of local/tourist type photos, for example my biggest sellers are my photos of all the San Diego neighborhood neon signs. My passion projects though are the film double exposures that I’ve been shooting with models. I’m experimenting with different things that I can use as the second exposure. I’ve done flowers, fire, neon lights, water, and more. I am most proud of these photos; they are a big departure from what I was previously shooting (anything around me), but I am able to be so much more creative with them, and I have made some that I am absolutely in love with. I think what sets my work apart has always been my attention to detail and therefore my attention to unique lighting, interesting angles, textures, etc. I like to capture things in a way that I think others may not have noticed before. My goal with my photography is to create beautiful images that people would love to put up on their walls, whether it’s someone’s home or an office or a hotel!

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I absolutely love when I get to interact with people about my photos, and they spend time looking at them and ask me questions. I’m invested in everything I create, and I don’t know if everyone is the same as me, but I’m still insecure about everything I create. I know I like my photos, but are they actually good? Will other people like them too? I constantly feel this, so any time someone actually takes the time to really LOOK, or shows a lot of interest, it makes me feel all warm and bubbly, like this person actually feels the things I feel when I look at this! It’s the most wonderful feeling. It refreshes me and encourages me to keep doing what I’m doing.

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

I had to break down my view of what a “professional photographer” was, because when I started selling my photos, I thought of myself as just a girl that enjoyed taking photos for fun and sometimes took some good ones. To me, a professional photographer was someone that had fancy gear and had probably had some photography classes at minimum. And they definitely knew a bunch of Fancy Photography Things that I didn’t know. I was confronted with my idea of what a “professional photographer” was when a customer asked me how I took the photos. At the time, I was selling photos that I took on my iPhone with the Hipstamatic app, so I told him that. He responded, “so anyone could take these photos then.” That really shook me, because I felt like I took better photos than “anyone” could, but I also felt like he was right. Technically, sure, anyone could get the Hipstamatic app on their phone and potentially take photos like mine, but what I realized afterwards was that you could say the same thing about “professional photographers” and their professional gear. If gear made the photographer, then anyone could just go buy some fancy gear and get great photos. I realized from this that gear, training, etc. did NOT in fact make someone a photographer, but that it’s that special skill or “eye” for it. And from that, I could in fact call myself A Photographer.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://lysbleudesigns.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lysbleufemmes
• Other: Other instagram: www.instagram.com/bluelily52

Image Credits

The photo of me is by Tariq Johnson