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

Irene, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Are you 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?

Earning a full time living from creative work took time, I only really became fully self-employed as a creative about 6 years ago. I did a variety of jobs working in everything from property management, to selling spices and tea’s, to video and photo editing for a few local studios. Meanwhile always trying to keep working in my field, I created logo designs and graphics as a freelancer, but I wasn’t earning enough income to live off of that. I eventually was approached by a recruiter to interview for a job as a graphic designer at a larger company in the area, I really felt good about finally getting a full time job as a creative. I was there for a three month trial period, and two weeks before my on-boarding was complete the country shut down because of Covid19. I worked from home for the remaining two weeks, but after that I was informed that they were not going to bring me on full time as the company was suspending all new hires. I took it hard, I really wanted to find something of my own, and that is when me and my husband decided to open our own business as photographers. He had already been working as a full time photographer a few years and we wanted to branch into something new. I always loved taking photographs but never really tried to do it professionally.

We started out by photographing a local restaurant, and we traded our service for a gift card, we were just trying to get them to give us a chance. Covid had hit local businesses hard, people were hesitant to spend money on creative assets. At the same time the world was shifting, everything went online and the need for digital content was growing. This really helped us get in the door. Years later, we still create content for them. Eventually we volunteered our services for a charity event, where we photographed local vendors and a fashion show and that is where we met several of our early clients.

It is funny how a donated service led to such growth, and entirely organically. By meeting people and making a good impression, and working as hard on a job where we made no money as we would have on a paid job. I would not change this process as I feel like even though it was slow, we have built such great relationship with our clients along the way, and all of the different jobs and struggles taught me everything I needed to build our business to what it is today.

Irene, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I have always been creative and as a child I always knew I wanted to be a working artist, but I didn’t really find my medium for many years. I grew up in Tanzania, East Africa, my father is Greek & my mother is American. I spent 18 years in Tanzania and it was a huge influence on the person I am today. There were so many beautiful and creative crafts I grew up around, from traditional paintings known as Tinga Tinga, to incredible beadwork & carvings that are a huge part of the culture. I was always attracted to the arts and spent all my time painting and drawing and taking photographs in my early years. I truly believe this is why I have such a love for the arts as I was lucky enough to grow up in such a vibrant and creative culture.

I came to the United States in 2011 to attend Ringling College of art and design, before that I was living in Athens, Greece attending university there. I graduated Ringling College in 2015 with a BFA in Fine Arts-Illustration, but I never really felt as though I could work as an illustrator. I went to school with some incredibly talented people and it was such a competitive field, it just didn’t seem to fit me well.

After school I tried many different jobs and styles of art but only really started to find my self once I started working as a photographer. I always loved capturing moments, I just never really found the medium to execute it well until I picked up a camera again. I have always had a fascination with food and meshing the two seemed to work well for me.

My husband and I founded our studio in 2020, Studio 1415 specializes in food and restaurant photography. My husband is a professional fashion photographer, with years of experience in lighting and composition. I started out working weddings and events, we really started working in food out of pure love for the craft. We both are foodies and spend a lot of time finding unique and interesting places to try so working with food seemed to be a great fit. This is truly our passion and it shows in our work.

We work with both high end restaurant groups, to small catering kitchens, and we custom tailor our packages to your needs. Our main focus is really trying to capture the brand that our clients take so much time to build, we do not just want to take a pretty picture, but capture the love that people put into their food and restaurants. We focus on our relationships with our clients and work every job at the same quality and standard. We offer everything from menu photographs, to social media content, creative video, portraits and much more.

How’d you meet your business partner?

When I first came to the United States, I was part of a very small group of international students attending Ringling College of Art & Design. We were invited to campus one week prior to all of the American students to allow us time to set ourselves up here as most of us did not have family in the country. The school took us to get items for our dorm and set up phone service and other basic needs that your family would otherwise help you with. Being alone in a new country and new culture can be difficult and I feel as though you tend develop a close bond with the other international students going through the same thing. My husband was one of the other international students and we had an instant connection. We were inseparable from day one, and shared many things in common including our passion for photography. We started dating week 1 of college and we got married shortly after graduation.

When Covid 19 hit we both decided it was time for a change and with me loosing my job, it felt right to start something together. We had collaborated on many jobs together over the years and our styles meshed well together. He really took the time to teach me how to work as a professional photographer and I feel as though we would not be where we are today if not for him and his passion for what he does. Five years later we work together as a photography duo with different specialties and our different styles really came together well when working with food. His calculated approach and my impulsive nature allowed us to capture all the different moving parts of a brand and that is what really led us to grow into the business we are today.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

As a creative the most rewarding aspect of being an artist is seeing my work in use. I have always felt a sense of imposter syndrome. I have struggled with my confidence as an artist and never really shared my work publicly often. I feel like this is something many creatives struggle with. As a working artist a big part of what we do involves critique of our work, and you build an attachment to the art you are creating so it is sometimes hard to separate yourself from the work.

I think this is partially why I enjoy working with food because it almost feels anonymous. You do not have your name attached to the work, it is associated with the restaurant or brand we work with so this gives me that satisfaction that the work stands for itself and I do not need to have credit for the imagery.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.studio1415.com
• Instagram: @studio1415.media
• Facebook: @studio1415.media