We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Gabrielle Perkins-Lichlyter. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Gabrielle below.
Gabrielle, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with education – we’d love to hear your thoughts about how we can better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career.
I would change the importance of the arts and the stigmas surrounding other forms of academic learning within the public school system. I never fit the traditional academic roles, from being left-handed to having a reading disability and dyslexia, normal education was always a constant struggle.
The way the educational system has indoctrinated students and me alike to root their worth in a letter grade and percentage. This led me down a path of insecurity that has taken me years to break. There has always been an involuntary need to compare myself academically to others, and therefore degraded my self-worth. This tension and lack of self-confidence was not just felt by me, but by my entire generation. Thirteen year olds should not be building their post-high five-year plan. When I applied for college, I should not have weighed my worth on an SAT score. This value should not have levied my years of student debt with no guarantee of success.
The best way we can ensure that we break this harmful cycle is to encourage talents, passions, and other creative outlets as we would any other academic path. Most of my life should not have been overshadowed by academic struggles. These unattainable pressures should not be shoveled into the minds of seven-year-olds, thirteen-year-olds, or eighteen-year-olds. We are built for so much more.
Career-wise, I was self-taught and a self-starter. If your passions, drive, and self-assurance are there, do not let the educational system steal your joy for creating. Just because I am not incredible at fractions does not mean that my career, intelligence, and fulfilling life should be hinged upon numbers deemed of success..
*Thank you to all of the teachers who went out of their way to see my optional and for my foundational art classes!*
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
It all started with a Barbie camera at the age of six and my father, a pastel artist, who encouraged me to color to the edges of the page. Years later, a bedazzled SAMSUNG point-in-shoot and a trip to Natural Bridge Virginia in the 7th changed everything. In time, I was united with my first DSLR, the Nikon D5100, and began learning manual mode on my grandfather’s 35mm Canon AE-1. I then transitioned to the mirrorless Sony a6000 during college. The cascading effects of photography and generational encouragement instilled my love for freezing a moment in time.
The iPod touch came along and so did a little app called Pixlr. Not long after, photo editing and the possibilities of an image became my new source of delight. I remember sitting up in my loft bed–the “nest” as I called it—editing out wrinkles of a backdrop from a self-portrait shoot I did in my bedroom, crashing the application.
From a young age, I became hyper-fixated on learning photography, lighting, cameras, color, design, and composition. I took photos of everything for everyone at any time, rain or shine. The same went for visual arts and a budding passion for filmmaking. In my early college years, I began my media business which then took me to Film School, and then to a B.F.A in Graphic Design.
My freelance media company is called Elle Dev Media, which is where I use my personally created brand to help others turn their creative visions into reality. As far as style and concepts go, I start with a pencil and paper, and my portraiture is about capturing the essence of you. My editing is vibrant. My line work is thin. My font choices are intentional. My aesthetics are the voice of your company. One comment I get from those who have viewed my work is that every piece has movement. I think that’s incredible to carry over from filmmaking and into photography.
Today I simply create for the love of the process, connecting with others, the love of art, discovery, and storytelling. I love the shooting just as much as the editing. I love sketching just as much as I love shading. One cannot exist without the other. Whether it be a still image or frames-per-second, holding the camera or pencil in my hand became my place of inhibition.
Pricing:
+ 30 minutes $150
+ 1.5 hours $350
+ 8-hour wedding $2,000
+ Filmmaking & Editing base $1,500
+ Graphic Design/Illustration base $250
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
The road has absolutely not been smooth, as it should be for anything worth potentially failing at. I left the extra battery at home, charging in the wall by mistake. I have lost engagement due to the algorithms and not being able to measure up to hustle culture.
The cavoite? I love making mistakes. I love problem-solving. I love figuring out the new game of the business. Learning to love those experiences is the best way to become resilient. Practicing and remaining strong, even if the outcome was an unexpected negative.
Every minute of a video is an hour’s worth of editing. If your friend was a dentist, they wouldn’t clean your teeth for free. These are my mantras. My worth and value are not just monetarily or relationally, being a creator is who I am, and accepting that personally has been hard. These are other areas where I have had to show resilience. So much so that I have a daffodil tattoo. These flowers plunge through the snow and embody resilience at its core. My tattoo is a daily reminder to keep going.
Owning up to your potential, your worth, and value can be hard, especially for those with artistic spirits. Resilience is in the pitfalls and tiny mistakes, and giving grace where grace is due is at the root of becoming a successful artist.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
Discovering what makes someone genuinely smile.
Contact Info:
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Website: https://elledevmedia.com/
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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/
elledevphoto -
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/
GabrielleDevereauxPhotography -
Other: Email: gabidevereaux@gmail.com
Image Credits
My profile photo was taken by Daisy Torres. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/capturedbydaise/