We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Delaney Hawley. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Delaney below.

Alright, Delaney thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We believe kindness is contagious and so we’d love for you to share with us and our audience about the kindest thing anyone has ever done for you?

I’m a concert photographer, and in that world there can be a lot of competition. Just the other day I shot a show for a venue, and afterwards the bands tour photographer came up to me and gave me a setlist he had the band sign. It was very sweet. Even though we’re all out there to do the same job, sometimes people don’t want you to succeed in the music industry. So when people extend you an olive branch, it’s very comforting.

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

I’ve always been interested in photography, but I got my start at about 16. I started taking pictures of the dress rehearsals for musicals at my high school, and I just loved getting to get photos of everyone performing. It was super exciting. I think what really got me interested in the music side of things was when I was 18, I was walking down Fremont street in Vegas and a band called The Black Jacks was playing. I was taking photos and the singer spotted me and kept interacting with me and I got some super cool shots. After that I was pretty much hooked. For me, I love getting to work on something that’s challenging. Freezing moments where musicians are doing something real cool, combined with interesting lighting is so hard because they move so fast and it’s often dark, but when it works out, it’s so rewarding. I had a hard time getting my foot in the door, it’s hard to find opportunities to build a portfolio in the music industry, but I’ve met some friends along the way who have helped me out. I do also love doing more editorial shoots, I specialize in portraiture, and even do wedding photography on the side.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I think something I had to unlearn in general was that just because I knew the “rules” of photography doesn’t mean that I have to follow them to create a great image. Sometimes the perfect photo is actually imperfect because you caught what was genuine in the moment. I don’t have a clear moment in my mind where I realized this, but over the years I found myself throwing away shots I got of genuine emotion, or beautiful scenes because one setting was off, or the photo was crooked. Once I realized that i was throwing away moments just because they didn’t fit the “rules” I was supposed to be following, I started liking my work a lot more. Sometimes when a you’re freezing real moments, not everything needs to be perfect to be considered great.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Definitely word of mouth. Most of my clients come from my friends telling people about me, or someone tagging me in photos. Sharing my best work on social media also brings people to me. I truly believe in any industry it’s all about who you know, so networking is really important. So if you know someone who owns a small business, talk about it to your friends!

Contact Info:

• Website: Delaneyhawley.photography
• Instagram: Delaneyhawley

Image Credits
Delaney Hawley