We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Delaney Jane a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Delaney, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to start by getting your thoughts on what you are seeing as some the biggest trends emerging in your industry.
For me personally, I have noticed a huge push to get photographers/videographers Infront of the camera more often, to adhere to social media algorithms. Specifically, Instagram. I credit this to the uprising of TikTok. I have noticed that creatives who are utilizing reels are favored by the algorithm heavily, their pages grow much more rapidly compared to others who stay away from reels entirely. However, I don’t post many reels simply because I don’t enjoy being Infront of a camera. That is why I chose the career I have- I get to stay behind the scenes. If I had any desire to be an influencer, I could’ve gone that route. As a photographer, it would be nice to be able to grow my page a bit more while keeping it only about the photos. Though I believe I’ve been “shadowbanned” anyway, as I work for a cannabis company, and I post a lot of the content I shoot for them.
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.
I’m Delaney, I’m 24 from Metro Detroit, and I’ve been shooting for ten years now. I first picked up a DSLR when I was 14 (Canon Rebel t5i) and I fell in love immediately. Starting out my journey, I photographed school events such as choir & theatre performances. I began shooting senior photos for my peers. Eventually, my work spread around to other schools, and I was having some very profitable months as a high schooler. I shot graduations, events, local rap shows, music videos, and I shot my first wedding at 17 years old. After graduating, I attempted going to college for photo & video but it just wasn’t for me. I already had a steady stream of clients, and school was getting in the way. I also am just not a great student. I dropped out of my classes at our local community college after two weeks. From there, I got a job as a photographer at a Portrait Innovations location in Metro Detroit. It was similar to JCPenny Portraits, and the customers were horrible. (yes, the cheesy Christmas card photos) I worked there for a few years before the company went out of business. I was making $12 an hour and could barely afford my rent. I had a second job delivering pizza just to make ends meet. The thought of, “the dream is dead, I should join a trade school for HVAC or something,” had started to cross my mind a lot.
I now work full time for a cannabis company, and I’ve been here for several years. I am responsible for producing photo and video marketing materials for our storefronts and various brands. I work as a one-person production crew. I am experienced in lighting design, color grading, video editing, macro & product photography, just about everything. This role challenges my creative abilities daily, every day is something different. Maybe I’m shooting some type of sponsored event, maybe I’m in the studio shooting some product photo. I shoot video and photo adverts with lots of models in the local Detroit scene as well, all of whom have been amazing to work with. Working with this company has been perfect for me because I truly get to do what I love, while having the privilege of staying offline as much as I’d like to. I’m not someone who likes to post consistently anymore. Only about 20% of what I’m shooting ends up on my pages.
I still take freelance gigs. I shoot music videos, weddings, engagements, maternity, product, events, REALLY anything under the sun. I mean it when I tell you, you name it I can shoot it. I am very confident in my abilities to produce quality work in just about any situation.
Throughout my career, since I was young, I’ve always been told as a photographer & videographer that I need to find my “niche” to secure a steady stream of income- and that I need to have a consistent presence on social media. That just wasn’t the case for me, and I will always be proud of the fact that I never listened to those people. I’ve spent years learning everything I can, and to say the least- It’s been a lot of fun. I’ve met some amazing people in the industry both through online networking, and in person. Detroit is full of amazing artists, it’s a privilege to be so close to so many talented individuals. The love people have for each other here is something I personally believe to be unique to most other cities. The support & connection are something different in Detroit.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
When Portrait Innovations closed down and I lost my job as a photographer there, I had to go back to the food industry to make the money I needed at the time. It was a massive blow to my ego. My peers from high school were partying on their spring break trips, & nearly graduating from their universities. I was working 7 days a week delivering pizza and waiting tables. During that time, I felt like I had failed and that was “it” for me. I felt I had chosen the wrong career path and was worried I did not have enough profitable skills. It was difficult to work those long hours, and I was extremely depressed while on a lot of medications. Working like a dog just to barely be able to afford a car note/rent really hinders your energy. I did not have anything left in me to put into my photo & video work and I lost sight of what I was capable of for quite a while. I considered selling off all my equipment for some time, I was just about ready to throw the entire dream away- then, I happened to find work with my current employer.
Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?
Years ago, I brought some friends to this big industrial building downtown. The rooms are rented out as music studios, artist spaces, etc. We were all around 18-19 years old at the time, and I just wanted to do some experimental portraits in the grungy, low-lit halls. We had been shooting for about an hour or two by the time we had gotten up to the 3rd floor of the building. We found our way to a stairwell at the end of the hall so we could head out, as it was getting late. I open the door for my friends, and we all start down the stairs. As the door slammed behind us, I looked back to see that there was no door handle? Like, the door was flush with the frame, and we were supposed to pull it to open, but there was no handle. We all laughed it off and went to the ground floor to leave. We’re like, “hahaha Imagine if none of the doors open!” The exit door in fact, did not open. It was locked from the outside. Mind you, all of these doors are massive and made of metal. We ran up to all of the other floors, and the doors also had no handles. We were stuck in this cold stairwell in this scary industrial building, around midnight- during one of the worst thunderstorms of that year. We couldn’t find a phone number to whomever owned the building anywhere online. We even tried banging the doors and yelling for help to anyone who may have been inside, which felt so embarrassing. Eventually, one of my friends called 911 because we really were trapped inside. The 911 operator had told us that because we were in a privately owned building, they couldn’t come help us and we’d need to find someone who works for the building. My friends ended up kicking down the metal exit door at the bottom of the stair well. They were able to bend it outwards just enough for 2 of us to slip through. My friend and I shimmy’d out of the gap they opened for us, to see we are in a barbed wire fenced in courtyard, also with no exit. We found a part of the fence we were able to slip underneath. It was dark and raining HARD. We made a very humbling and dramatic run for the front of the building where we found a security guard. Between gasps to catch our breath, we had to tell this guy that us and our friends had been stuck in the stairs for like two hours, we broke their door, and that the others were still in there. It took us another 30ish minutes to find the stairwell we were in and free the rest of our friends.
Technically no one almost died but close enough, it’s still funny.
Another time, 2 of my friends and I were exploring this abandoned meat packing plant on the west side, it was February and like 2 degrees outside. My friend went to step in what he thought was a puddle, but it was actually an elevator shaft filled with about 8 feet of freezing cold water. He fell straight into the water over his head. He came back up and got himself out fine, but his hands were all cut up and we knew we needed to get him out of the cold fast. His clothes started freezing to his skin before we had even gotten back to the car, which was about 3 blocks away parked on a residential side street. He took his shirt off. We were walking on the side of a busy road so I can’t imagine what people passing by must have thought looking at the 3 of us.
When we got back to my 2004 chevy impala, a cop was taking pictures of my car and writing things down on a notepad. After asking why our little asses were there in the freezing cold with my friend wet and shirtless, he told me he ordered a tow on my car. There was a drip from a jelly donut I had eaten that morning on the side of my door, and he thought it was blood. He told us people had been dumping bodies inside of cars in that area and abandoning them. My car had blacked out windows, so he couldn’t see inside. He searched my car and canceled the tow; we went about our way. Although, imagine if my friend had fallen in that water just a few minutes later, we would’ve returned to my car being gone and no way to get him to heat quickly. So, a near death experience for my friend that I was present for, not a near death experience of my own, technically.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: shotbydelaney
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/delaney-biggs-786a62289/
- Twitter: driplaney
Image Credits
All photos belong to me, @shotbydelaney on Instagram. I use my first and middle name on social media, Delaney Jane,