We recently connected with Joy Hmielewski and have shared our conversation below.

Joy, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What do you think it takes to be successful?

In the photography industry I’ve seen this change drastically over a decade. While success is unique to each individual company, there has been a divide in two schools of photography. There are the photographers who are technical and strive to know their gear and take technically appealing photos and there is the group of photographers who look at it as more of an emotional passion project. Both have their purpose, but I think the first part to becoming successful is to figure out which group you fall into. Then you need to be consistent. Consistent in your delivery and consistent in how you handle clients. Clients, especially national companies, want to know what they are getting. They want to see organization and know that your portfolio is a representation of your actual work, not just a compilation of good shots that were creatively accidental. With Nation brands you have a very small margin for error which I take into consideration with all of my clients from national brands to local companies to weddings.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers?

I started professionally over 10 years ago, although I have been working in photography since I was 16. I was always drawn to photojournalism and my main goal was to be a crisis photojournalist. I have a brief stint in the industry and photographed a few election protests in Atlanta until I met with a few friends who work for the New York Times and Associated Press who told me how rough the industry can be. I was also already photographing weddings on the side which took off. I decided to focus my efforts on weddings and families. As time went on I was asked to photograph brand, commercial, marketing, and I travel across the US and Canada photographing for many agencies. I was in Atlanta at the time and then moved back to FL in 2017. Covid hit soon after and weddings took a hit so I had to think of a quick way to pay my bills and I figured I’d give drone photography a try. I got my Drone pilots license and started taking drone photos and started another company.

Today, I have 3 companies and I focus mostly on the brand commercial side while also taking weddings and some family work. My aim is to create quality. I help clients turn their vision into reality and I work with my clients to understand not only how they want the images to look, but also which medium they will be using them so I can give my advice on the final product. I really strive for consistency and to be communicative with people.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

I’ve always loved the relationship with people. It’s funny, because as a more technical business owner I think I get seen as a straight to the point person, but my start was to understand what connects society with people. I traveled a ton when I was younger to developing countries and I got a degree in Sociology and Cultural Diversity. One of my goals is to bridge people to products or emotions. For example, one part of taking a brand product photo is getting a great photo, but the other part is thinking about how this photo will be marketed and what the consumer will see or feel. A big driving force for me is connecting both of those things.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Pivoting in this industry is a monthly thing. You have to be able to stay on your toes. I think my biggest pivot moment was Covid when everything shut down. Events and weddings were being cancelled and I was watching my friends close down their businesses. I’ve never been the type to sit stagnant and so I came up with a new (and crazy to me) plan. I became a drone pilot. I figured well, who can stop me if my cameras can fly? I studied for the pilots test for 3 months and passed and then learned how to fly a drone. It’s wild because drones were something I never wanted to get into, but now I love it!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.Joyelanmedia.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joyelanmedia/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Joyelancom
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/joyelan-photography-clearwater

Image Credits
Joyelan Media LLC