We recently connected with Delaney Mott and have shared our conversation below.
Delaney , appreciate you joining us today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?
I think to be successful, you first need to know what you’re striving for and passionate about. I also think it’s important to understand that you need to have failures in order to succeed. Without failing, you wouldn’t be able to learn from your mistakes. I developed this view on success while in college and more recently adjusting to post-grad life.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I got into photography at a young age, and I’ve always loved capturing moments in life and working creatively with others. So, I decided I wanted to pursue it as a career. I went to college for photography and started at a university that didn’t fuel me creatively, so I ended up at Kendall College of Art and Design for my last 5 semesters of college where I really feel that I thrived. After graduating, I reevaluated my goals and decided that I still wanted to pursue a photography career, but targeted towards portraiture and fashion. I’m currently working as an associate photographer at a portrait studio. Although I haven’t been as focused on my personal photography business, I’m always trying to find ways to keep my followers engaged with my work.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I always knew I wanted to do photography and I knew in order to reach my career goals, I would need to work very hard in college. Throughout college, I experienced a lot of failure, but also a lot of success. Since graduating, I’ve had to reevaluate my goals and passions in order to start my career. I moved to Chicago end of May, started working at a restaurant to pay the bills, and did everything I could to network with photographers and apply for as many jobs as possible in my field. During the summer, I felt discouraged because even though I was doing everything I could, I still didn’t have my dream photography job. Finally, in August, I had a final in person interview with a company to work as a product photographer. I was so excited for this opportunity to work full time as a photographer with a salaried pay! However, the interview ended up not being a good fit so I trusted my gut and decided to end the interview early. Again, I felt discouraged after being so close to getting a job in my field. Not long after that, I discovered a portrait photography studio right in my new neighborhood and reached out, thinking that it would be a shot in the dark. Long story short, about 2 weeks after my aforementioned interview, I got the job as an associate photographer at the studio and have been working there for almost 2 months now. While I’m beyond grateful to have a great job in my field where I can learn and grow, I know that I need to continue to work as hard as possible and stay focused on my career to work towards my future goals.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The most rewarding aspect of being a photographer is knowing that I’m helping create lifelong memories and confidence for my clients.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/delaneyelizabethphotography?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/delaney-mott-742b97272?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app