Member Spotlight: Daria

At Humans.net, we appreciate our community of skilled members! For our next Member Spotlight, we sat down with Daria Huxley, photographer, and visual designer. Read about her approach to photography and dreams.

Humans: Please tell us about your yourself! How did you come up to the decision to become a photographer?

Daria: My name is Daria Huxley, right now I live in Brooklyn, NY and work as a photographer and creative director for film & video production. I started doing photography over a decade ago, starting first from so-called urban “rooftop” photography. My friends and I would climb up city roofs to get a new perspective of a city. Those days there were no drones back then so climbing up gave us a new unique view. This is how I began to shoot photography. Later I would get hired to shoot portraits of people, but I really started out specializing in urban & architecture photography back then. For me, photography has always been a path to express my creativity, not a conscious decision.

Humans: Was it hard? Did you take photography classes or it was all about self-education?

Daria: Starting out wasn’t hard, it was just a very natural thing to do for me. I was always looking to find new subjects and new perspectives to shoot. In 2013 I started doing a lot of travel photography and got into storytelling. I never officially went to school for photography, but I did take some classes in Visual Design from CALARTS and also read many books and articles online and in magazines on different design & visual culture subjects. I also love exploring other people’s work, which I think helped me to develop my visual taste.

Humans: How expensive supplies are in your profession? Do you have to upgrade your stock a lot? Is it worth it?

Daria: In photography cameras and gear can go up pretty high in cost. Typically, the more expensive the gear the better the quality, but sometimes it can be very specific. For example, investing $3K into a specific new lens might be a not so great idea if you don’t specialize in the exact subject the lens has been built for. On the other hand, you can shoot decent quality photographs with a pretty cheap camera. I would say investing in more expensive equipment is worth it if you know what you are doing and if you are planning to do high-end commercial work. Otherwise, photography becomes just a costly hobby.

Humans: What are the marketing instruments you use to promote your business?

Daria: I have a website which I direct my clients to see samples of my work. Some specific work is not presented there (such as food and interior photography) – I have links to google drive for specific samples of these subjects. Speaking of Humans.net, I would be happy to help out anyone looking for artistic collaboration in the future.

Humans: Do you have to deal with capricious clients sometimes? Your best customers — who are they?

Daria: The best clients are those who trust you to do your work right. In many cases people think they know better and can even get down to micromanaging which is not helpful – it only disrupts the workflow and slows things down. I enjoy working with people who can give me their trust to do my job right. Also, I’m always happy to get paid on time, which doesn’t happen always as fast as I would like it to.

Humans: What is your perfect career plan as a photographer?

Daria: I love the NYC hustle with many commercial clients, but in the future, I would love to try out being a full-time traveling photographer on assignments for publications. It would be great to tell unheard stories of people and places around the world.

Humans: A piece of advice to Humans.net readers willing to take your career steps?

Daria: I would just say – take more pictures. Experiment with subjects, colors, textures. Go out there in snow, sun or rain and don’t wait for inspiration to come down on you. Moving forward is an active gesture and practicing would help you find your unique style.

Take a look at some of the shots taken by Daria:

To learn more about Daria, visit her profile: https://humans.net/profile/daria.huxley

Stay tuned for more spotlights on skilled members of our diverse Humans.net community.