We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Mel . We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Mel below.

Mel , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

Since I was about 13 years old, I enjoyed being creative. I wanted to paint even though I wasn’t skilled at it and I loved to write poetry and short stories. I fell out of love with the creative arts until I was about 18-19 years old and I was introduced to Photography. I actually graduated college with my BS in Photography but I didn’t know I wanted to pursue this professionally until my last year in college. I just loved creating and it was a form of healing for me and to be able to freely express myself.

Mel , 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 started Skin Deep Photo 10 years ago with my best friend and it was originally a school project that we decided to pursue. We both loved tattoos and photography and decided to combine the two. After a year, we decided to end Skin Deep Photo but after 3 years of being idle I chose to continue to use the name and make it my own. Since then, Skin Deep Photo has gone through many phases of rebranding. For the last 5 years, Skin Deep Photo has grown into a community of women who empower each other. My entire life I have been surrounded by amazing women who can do anything and have overcome some difficult obstacles. Which is where the quote “Every Woman Deserves to Feel like a Goddess” comes from. It was inspired by the women (including myself) in my life. It wasn’t until recently where it went through another rebranding that I feel like Skin Deep Photo has found its calling. Now my goal is to bring out your inner Goddess and I’m currently on this journey myself.

With that being said, I’m proud of where Skin Deep Photo and I are at and the direction we are moving in. I’ve had multiple publications and have created a small community of women who encourage and support each other. I think that’s a beautiful thing.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

In 2020, I had to put Skin Deep Photo on hold. It was due to the Pandemic but also many other things that I was going through and my mental health was not at its best. I chose to work harder at my day job which led me to becoming an Operations Manager in Logistics and I currently still work in this business. Truthfully, I never thought in a million years that I’d be in logistics but here we are. It was a distraction from my reality because I wasn’t ready to face my emotions. It wasn’t until 2022 when I started to shoot again and fall back in love with photography. Now I’m trying to balance both logistics and photography, and it is definitely not easy but I know that I want to continue this inner Goddess journey.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

Inspiration is sometimes one of my hardest struggles. I’ll have a really good creative flow and then it comes to a complete stop and sometimes it’s hard to get it going again. I try to use movies, shows, life experiences, and even music as inspirational sparks. It takes a few sparks to finally get the inspiration fire going and it rages once it starts! I’m still working on a few things such as a schedule and working on different themes every few months to help me create consistently. The Taurus in me loves to plan things from the inspiration, outfits, location, photoshoot, edits and the final product which is why it takes a little longer than usual. The results are always better than I imagined!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.skindeepphoto.com
• Instagram: http://instagram.com/skindeep_photo
• Other: https://snipfeed.co/skindeep_photo

Image Credits
Models: Brandilynn, Cynthia, Heather, Megen Makeup Artist: Sandra Marcie