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

Chantay, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

To be successful, I believe you must have dedication, passion, and determination. Once you have identified the goal of what you wish you accomplish, you must be willing to change your life in order to actually change your life. This may mean not hanging out as much, cutting financial costs in certain areas, working more hours, or even not associating with people you always have had around in your life. Another major component to success if being able to accept failure. Every aspect of successful won’t be easy and it won’t be handed to you. You have to be able to hear being told no or even be unsuccessful at something in order to overcome it, learn from it and keep going with the lessons learned.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I was born and raised in Maryland, but have been in Charlotte since 2022. My background is within the field of social work and providing clinical therapy; however, in 2014 I decided to step into the corporate world. As time went on, I realized I started to feel less connected and not as passionate about my field. In came photography.

I found myself wanting to be able to capture moments for people that could last a lifetime. I do enjoy the creative side of photography, but my services include both event and portrait photography. I feel like I found my true passion when I have my camera in my hand. It never feels like work and I never dread any job I have to complete. I just truly enjoy being able to be behind the camera and provide people with a memory that they can always cherish. I also appreciate that there are many different disciplines within photography and I have had the opportunity to shoot certain settings that either sparked more interest or taught me that I did not want to ever do that again.

Thus far in my photography journey, I am most proud of the relationships I have built. I was previously a true introvert and spent more time in the house. Since opening up with photography, I have met some truly inspiring individuals within the creative/art world. Some have given amazing feedback, others have been a great support and some have allowed me to utilize my creative mind to capture moments for them. I have truly enjoyed being a part of Charlotte’s creative space and grow within this community. As I continue to delve into my photography passion, I know there is a community to support me and help me along the way.

One of the main things I would want potential clients to know is that I am truly dedicated to providing them with the vision they have for a photo. I truly enjoy making photoshoots a fun experience versus having stoic poses. I enjoy capturing candid moments in an outdoor location that allows for everyone’s creativity to flow. Another thing I would want known in advance is that I appreciate them. I know there is definitely no shortage of photographers in Charlotte. For someone to choose me means that they saw my work and trust me to provide them with a certain level of professionalism while also giving them the memories they want in photo form.

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

For me, the most rewarding aspect of being a photographer is the looks on clients faces when they see example photos and then getting the feedback once they have seen the final products. I am always truly pleased when I know that I delivered exactly what someone was looking or even above and beyond what they expected they would receive.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

In terms of a resource I wish I knew about earlier, I would have to say that I wish I knew the importance of relationships slightly earlier in my creative journey. While I am very aware that relationships are a key in building a business, I think that I would have had more discussions with other photographers and creatives sooner than I did. Not everyone’s story on the business side will be the same, but it is extremely helpful to hear about other’s journey’s, what they learned or would have done differently and how they look to continue making their own journey better.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.cncooperphotography.com
• Instagram: cncooper_photography

Image Credits
The black and white photo of me was taken by Dre’gan Feaster (dregan_) The second photo of me was taken by Keven F (freerange_photos)