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

Destanie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear the story of how you went from this being just an idea to making it into something real.

I don’t really consider my pursuit of photography a business; I mean, I don’t think there was ever a moment when I thought, ‘Okay, this is officially a business!’ I’ve always seen photography as a creative outlet, like my drawings or music. When I made my Instagram account, @9h070, in 2021, I was just posting pictures I had taken of my friends using the camera from my yearbook class. After graduating, I was without a camera until I was given one a few months later. I got back into taking pictures with my friends, but this time I started experimenting with concepts, sets, and editing. I started seeing photography not just as a hobby, but something I could pursue in a more professional way. The more photoshoots I did, the more confident I became behind the camera, and that’s when I started photographing people outside of my immediate circle. From there, I’ve just been focused on improving as a photographer and creative director, as well as putting my work out there for people to see. What’s really helped guide me down this road to one day becoming a professional photographer has been reaching out to photographers and studying their photos. Surprisingly, photography has been a very helpful gateway into the local creative scene; I’ve definitely learned the most from connecting and working with other artists. I’m looking forward to not only growing as a photographer, but also becoming a true artist who’s able to see the beauty in everything.

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.

My name is Destanie. I’m 20 years young, and I take pictures for fun. And that rhymes. I post the pictures I take on my Instagram account @9h070 (I named it that because it looks like the word ‘Photo’; I’m a genius or something.)
People ask me to take their picture because I like to focus on creating images that capture personality, emotion, and style. Photography, for me, started as a hobby when I was in middle school, and over time I’ve been working to turn it into a potential career.
My approach to working with clients is personal and intentional. I think that’s what gives my photos a polished yet expressive feel. My favorite part about being a photographer has been working with people to turn their creative ideas into palpable images. The job overall has been a very rewarding experience.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

When I started taking my photography more seriously, I noticed a common theme in the advice people online would suggest. They all said something along the lines of ‘If you want to become a photographer you have to find your style.’ Or your niche or look or whatever you want to call it. And although I understood their point in the importance of having consistency with your work, I found that following their advice, I became more concerned in what I couldn’t do with a photo, rather than thinking of all the things I could do. Once I started experimenting with angles, lighting, editing, etc., I felt more satisfied with my work. I found that I prefer letting the vision guide me rather than focusing on a set style for every image. The advice I created for myself was to consider everything an experiment.

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

I think the most rewarding part about being a photographer is creating with other people. I love putting a shoot together with my clients because it feels like I’m making their ideas come to life. I believe you form kind of a special connection with someone when working with them creatively; putting your shared ideas together to make a brand new piece of art. I’m having a lot of fun, and I think that alone is very rewarding. I would love to, hopefully in the near future, show the behind the scenes of what goes into a photoshoot and editing photos, so more people can be apart of the process!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: http://instagram.com/9h070
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Destanie’sPhotography
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@destaniechavira

Image Credits

Destanie Chavira