We recently connected with Alicia Archuleta and have shared our conversation below.

Alicia, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s talk legacy – what sort of legacy do you hope to build?

I hope that when I am gone my students and clients will continue to strive for truth in art, kind hearts and remember that normal and perfect are figments of our imaginations.

I want people to say, “She did her best, cared for everyone she met, and showed them they were beautiful.”

Alicia, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

In my mind, I started as a photographer when I stole the yearbook camera from a friend on staff in middle school, but it wasn’t until junior year when that friend and I were on yearbook staff together that I really began my journey to being a professional. Back in the days of darkrooms and film, I prided myself on my film developing skills and decisive moment captures at sporting events.
As I have grown and began focusing more on portraiture, I’ve worked hard to capture people’s authentic personalities and individual beauty.
I think my years as a photojournalist set my photography apart from traditional portraitist because of the free flow of my sessions and the minimal posing clients have to do. This is especially true at weddings. One of my most recent clients hired me for her wedding based on my concert photography rather than my wedding portfolio.

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

The most rewarding aspect of being a photographer to me is knowing you are capturing history as it happens telling a story and making art of it. The longevity of portrait photography as an art is people see themselves in what you create, and as years go on their family sees them as they remember them and can share that person with the next generation. It gives a tangible visual to history.

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

There have been a few times that I wanted to put the camera away for an indefinite amount of time. The most defining time was during my time as a photojournalist. I had to take photos at a fatal accident, and honestly cannot tell you what I saw while I was waiting on the go ahead to start photographing. That turned my path and lead me to teaching where my passion for photography was reignited by the memories of where it all started for me. Since then I haven’t put the camera down, whether it’s my Canon or my iPhone I’m never to far from a camera.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @archuletaphotography
• Facebook: @archuletaphotography

Image Credits
Sarah Harris