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

Monika, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

In many ways, I learned to be an artist by training young artists. I have always been creatively inclined but our society gives so many messages, myths really, that being an artist means starving or that arts jobs are not real jobs. So I began my artistic journey studying to be a photo-journalist, then a newspaper designer. I realized I was not meant to be in an office and pivoted and went ont o be an arts teacher for over a decade. During my time as an arts teacher, I solidified my belief that all humans are inherently creative and that arts, like medicine, or accounting, are areas where if you have an inclination and training you can succeed. We are often taught you either know how to do art or you don’t, but that is simply not true.

Applying that idea as a photographer, I practice my craft, I learn from others in community, I seek out tutorials or classes for specific skills I want to learn. Each photo session brings a new challenge or creative problem to solve. Every session helps me improve my craft by improving my understanding of lighting, composition, color, posing, storytelling and drawing out the best from the people I photograph.

I can no longer walk in the world and not notice the quality of light or an interesting juxtaposition of objects. I have been trained to see differently and that affects not just the images I create but how i see what is around me.

The most essential skill has been to know how to shed the expectations and beliefs that I have been fed by society and those around me. It has been critical to practice my craft and to see the value in my years of experience and training, even when people approach me to “just” take a few photos. I honor the work and dedication that I have put into my craft and love working with those that also value my expertise and creative problem solving.

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

I specialize in creating vibrant branding photographs for impactful small businesses. I have lived many lives including studying journalism and being a history teacher. My varied background allows me to approach my clients’ sessions thinking beyond the portrait to telling full stories about their brand, business, journey and services/products. I want my clients to look at their library of images and not just say, “Yes, that’s me!” when they see a portrait that captures their personality, but “Yes, you captured the complexity of my story and my business’ story.”

As a person who is deeply committed to community connection, I have lived my values through prioritizing supporting small businesses my whole life. Now, as a branding photographer, I support small businesses success by co-creating strong visual presence that attracts their ideal clients and supports their business goals.

I am energized after every planning call and every photo session. I truly love co-creating with business owners in order to elevate their storytelling and give them the images they need to feel confident communicating with their clients whether on their webpages, newsletters or social media posts.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

When I was in my late 20s, I was diagnosed with a rare disease, Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis, an autoimmune condition that attacks the bile ducts in the liver and can lead to liver failure. I had a life saving liver transplant almost 9 years later. After a long recover time, I asked myself, what I wanted to do in my “bonus time” I was given by the person who said yes to organ donation.

My answer was to be an artist full stop. No safety net of the “real job” as a journalist or teacher. I wanted to explore my own life through the craft of photography. During the pandemic, I created a series called Medical Me. The process of creating self portraits helped me process having chronic illness, my transplant, being a parent who had to face my own mortality when my son was very young, and what it meant to be so vulnerable during a global pandemic.

That visual processing allowed me to face the questions, grief and gratitude that arise during a journey where you owe your life to the generosity of a complete stranger.

It is from that place of healing and gratitude that I am able to create joyfully for others.

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

Since 2019 until recently I was a part of a community called We All Grow founded by Ana Flores. The central philosophy was that one of us grow, we all grow. This has always been how I have approached community, which is why I was attracted to We All Grow.

As a Branding Photographer, I am able to support local small businesses succeed in their goals. I connect with my local community of photographers and creatives and am proud to contribute to a thriving creative community. Strong and connected communities look out for each other, and I love being able to connect people to others and to resources that serve them.

My mission is to be a connector and supporter of those around me. Whether through my craft, connections, or story, I am always happy to contribute to the successes and journeys of those around me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://laancla.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/laanclacreative
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monika-aldarondo/

Image Credits

Kitz Zuleta
Monika Aldarondo