Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Michael Lopez. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Michael, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What do you think it takes to be successful?

Success comes in many forms. I feel personally success is all around us and we should focus on the little successes and celebrate them just as much as big successes.

What I think it takes to be successful depends on what your idea of success is. For me that means I have to be a hard worker. I have to be empathetic, kind, and innovative. I feel like these qualities should translate to most who want to be successful.

Michael, 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 got into photography at age 14 and it quite literally saved my life. I was struggling with mental health during my teenage years and I couldn’t seem to find a healthy coping mechanism. At the time I was living in Hawai’i and I was gifted a camera by my stepmom. My best friend Emma then came up with a plan for me and it was that I needed to take a picture whenever I felt any emotion (good or bad) and we’d then print them out and shred or burn the negative photos and hang up the positive photos. This began the use of photography as a coping mechanism for me and my deep love for photography began to develop.

Flash forward 10 years later and now I am a fashion and beauty photographer working with some agencies in LA and dreaming of doing photography full time. I find what sets me apart from other photographers is my love for creative direction. I currently direct and design every aspect of my shoots and then execute them exactly how I envision them and maybe I would even say better than I imagined them. I’ve worked very hard on developing my creative eye and can visualize every aspect of a shoot in my brain and translate that into a photoshoot. Some feedback I’ve gotten recently from some very successful models is that I am the one of the best photographers they have worked with. They loved my directional skills and how I was able to clearly guide them to get the goal image.

The main thing I want future clients to know is they can have peace of mind hiring me knowing their vision will come to life exactly how they envisioned it. I am meticulous when it comes to details and pride myself in creating shot lists and schedules to make sure the photoshoot runs smoothly.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I feel like the biggest pivot for my career as a photographer came during the pandemic. This was the first time I saw how quickly creative jobs could dry up. This pushed me to get back into school and pursue my degree in psychology to ultimately become a psychologist in the future. Of course I’m not giving up on photography and will continue to pursue it for the rest of my life. I like to think of this pivot more like a back up plan. Just like Megan Thee Stallion, I am going to get this degree no matter where art takes me.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I sort of briefly touched on this early but honestly my journey with mental health is the biggest story that illustrates my resilience. I grew up in the time where I feel like kids were so vicious for absolutely no reason. Plus add the new shiny object of social media and it just added too many avenues for kids to bully other kids. Towards the end of my Junior year I was finally at my lowest. At this point I had been in therapy for awhile and everyone just kept saying things will get better but I just couldn’t see the future being bright so I tried to end my life. Thankfully by the grace of the universe I was given the second chance to continue on and after receiving my second chance I vowed to never let myself get that low again.

I feel like looking at how far I’ve come as a photographer and everything I’ve been able to find success in proves the idea that things always get better. And just being around today to share my story and help others through my story is proof of my resilience.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.michaellopezjr.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/michaellopezjunior

Image Credits
All photographs taken by Michael Lopez Jr. (Me)