We recently connected with Lila Seeley and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Lila, thanks for joining 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 living as a full-time creative has come from years and years of hard work, perseverance, supportive peers, and of course plenty of emotional rollercoasters and breakdowns. I’d say at the core of it all is truly your drive, passion, and confidence. When I started out I didn’t have a lot of self-confidence, but I did have loads of drive and passion. I let my desire to work as a creative freelancer lead in the beginning. I knew what I wanted, at least the world I wanted to be in, and I knew it would take some time and sacrifice. I took up a lot of babysitting gigs in the beginning to keep afloat. Being able to pay my bills and not needing to depend solely on my own creative work, in the beginning, helped me a lot mentally. Creative work can be deeply connected to your own self-reflection and self-worth. It was, and sometimes still is, difficult for me to have my income feel in direct comparison to my own self-worth and creative value. Bad months drag my confidence to the floor. The most major milestones have been internal. For example, the first time a slow month didn’t make me feel like I was doomed and terribly untalented. It was just a bump in the road, minor, and I took the time to figure out where in my career I wanted to grow. Another milestone was when I was able to step away from my side gigs and continue to keep my head above water relying only on my photography and photo editing jobs. These moments come, and they will continue to come as I grow. I think remembering that can be incredibly helpful as well. Looking back now, I think if I had focused more on my own confidence and put more emphasis on my own creative ideas in the beginning, my creative growth could have been faster. Like I said, at the core, it is all YOU. Therapy, allowing myself to be proud of my work, putting my work out there more, etc. are all a huge part of my personal growth right now. It’s a journey, but trusting your passions and going after them is so beyond rewarding!
Lila, 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?
I’m Lila! Born in LA, raised a bit in upstate New York, and am back home now in LA. Photography has been my passion since I was very young. I would borrow my mom’s camera in the early ’90s and do hours-long photoshoots with my American Girl Dolls and stuffed animals. I finally got my own little camera, still a film point-and-shoot, when I was 9 years old and continued photographing everything wherever I went. I loved it, but I never considered it as a career. My dad is a writer and I always said I wanted to be one too.
In college, I started a food Instagram and documented everything I cooked, baked, and ate. I really enjoyed it and started interning for two girls not much older than me taking photos for their very popular food Instagram in DC. We would go out to amazing restaurant openings and I would take photos and eat. Truly a dream job for a poor foodie college student. When I graduated I moved to LA and started babysitting while looking for work. My friend had just been hired at a start-up in the food industry and they needed a content producer. I was hired not long after and started my first real (and only) full-time job as a food photographer and videographer. It was a lot of fun, but soon became a rather toxic environment. I was also getting a little sick of only photographing brownies, cookies, and pancakes all day. I needed a change. Luckily I had been introduced to a photographer who at the time was in need of a babysitter. I started sitting for him so I could save a bit of money and quit my job. He worked for Getty Images and offered to teach me how to edit events for him. I loved it and soon after was able to take the giant leap leaving my first job and plunging into the world of freelancing at 23. Since then, I’ve been working a lot in the event space photographing, editing, and retouching. This has transitioned into the world of TV where I’ve been able to translate my skills in fast-paced environments to reality TV coverage working as a unit photographer and editor. I am so grateful that I’ve been able to continue working as a freelancer in the creative realm that I love so much. It’s definitely been challenging, but it’s given me the freedom I so crave. I love to travel. I love to be inspired by the world around me, by daily life, by the small things and the big things in life. I always try to integrate this perspective into my work.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
My creative work has always been inspired by the world around me and the people in it. Everyone has a story to tell and a perspective to give. My mission driving my creative journey has always been to be a vehicle to share these stories and perspectives. Although photography is my main craft, I also love to write. Blending these mediums is my ultimate goal. So much can be learned about the world through the stories and lives of others.
Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?
Yes! Other creatives!! I was always so concerned about what other photographers thought about my work that I was too shy to ever share or ask for advice. I’d think they’d think I had no talent or I was an amateur…etc. I really think this stalled my progress. For one, it allowed me to sit in my own self-doubt and self-pity which only slows growth. And two, I missed critical lessons, advice, and support early on that could have helped me. Lastly, community is so important in the creative field. We are all going through the journey of sharing our art with the world, all fighting for our passions. Holding one another up, promoting our fellow artists, and being proud of each other is so magical. This is especially important now in a world where competition sometimes outshines cooperation.
Contact Info:
- Website: lilaseeleyphoto.com
- Instagram: @lilaseeleyphoto_
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lilaseeley/
Image Credits
Lila Seeley Photo