We were lucky to catch up with Dina Konovalov recently and have shared our conversation below.

Dina, appreciate you joining us today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

Graduating from college with photography degree I was naïve in thinking that I can apply for jobs and work full time just like everyone else after school. At first, that’s what actually happened – I landed a job for a dot.com company that used photographers to shoot around the city. This was a great school for me on getting the ropes of digital photography world that was just evolving at the time. However, during the dot.com crash, I was let go and had to scramble to find work here and there as a freelancer. I had to pay bills and while searching for creative assignments, I also worked part time to help me support my passion and future goals.
I slowly started building clientele list and reputation as a portrait photographer and co-owned a company catering to photo and video event production that I helped grow from ground up and run for over 7 years.
It was not until I got burned out and exited that venture that I actually found my passion for photography again and went back to being on my own, opening up a studio and starting from (almost) scratch since I wanted my photography take a new creative direction.
Today, over 10 years later and 20 something years in the industry, I have established myself and my brand as the go-to personal branding and headshot photographer for businesses, brands and talent around New England and beyond. I also take on creative fashion and editorial projects and my work now has appeared in numerous magazines and covers.
I think people expect success to happen overnight as we’ve become a more instant gratification culture generation but success is a journey of discovery, learning, exploring, fighting, falling and getting back up again. It takes hard work, persistence and determination. Every step of my journey (which is far from over) I take, I learn from and grow.

Dina, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My company Dina K Photography helps clients stand out with bold portraits and branding photos for more than 20 years. Specializing in Branding, Modern Business Portraits, Headshot and Fashion photography in Boston and beyond.
I have been working with a mix of entrepreneurs, brands, actors, models, musicians, celebrities, media, and publications, helping them all showcase their best side to the world.

Photography, like music, is a truly universal language and can help you project a powerful, memorable image when done right.
The reason they say, “a photo is worth a thousand words,” is because you don’t need to read a photo. Visually, no effort is required. With one glance, our brain makes decisions and assumptions about what we see.

People make decisions and judge based on what they see immediately. And it’s hard to change how you feel after a bad or mediocre first impression. It’s exactly why you need to be investing in a powerful, memorable first impression. My goal is to bring out the best in my subjects while using my knowledge in lighting, posing and styling techniques as well as art direct more complex projects.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I love a good challenge and creative assignments! As a photographer, having your image on a cover of a magazine is one of such for sure, but I also value and love my branding/headshot/talent portrait sessions where client comes out feeling confident and seen the way they want to be perceived. Some say I capture “their essence” and the photos help them take their career to the next level (landing an audition/job/more clients, etc.)

Does your business have multiple or supplementary revenue streams (like a ATM machine at a barbershop, etc)?

As of recently, I started offering my services as a coach to other photographers as well as offering creative production spaces for rent to other pros in the industry.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.dinakphotography.com
• Instagram: @dinakphotography @dinakstudios @dinakonovalov
• Other: www.dinakonovalov.com

Image Credits
Headshot of Dina Konovalov by: Peter Mellekas