We were lucky to catch up with Daria Amato Photographer recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Daria, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
I love the question how did you find your purpose. I find that my purpose found me. I was 16years old the beginning of my junior year of high school. My school in Brooklyn had a career day. I went to it with my friends and felt devastated. I knew sitting behind a desk all day was not for me nor were the other options presented. At 16 I thought that’s it there’s nothing out there for me and walked home that day in a sad and sour mood. On my way home I ran into my step father he asked, “why the sad face?” And I spilled my guts out to him of the experience I had just had. Saying it all out loud just made it more real to me and I started to cry. My step father gave me a pep talk stating at 16 I didn’t have to try and figure it all out, but my sadness didn’t waiver. He said, “give me a second I’ll be right back.” When he came back he had his slr camera that was issued to him in the Vietnam War with an unexposed roll of film in a canister on the camera strap that he believed might be just as old. He gave me a quick lesson on how to use the camera manually and set me off.
That Friday night my friends and I were due to go hang out in NYC. It was raining cats and dogs so we ended up in my house. I asked them if they wanted to have a fashion shoot. Of course they did so we brought all the lights into the living room and pulled all the lamp shades off so there was enough light to photograph by.
That was the day my purpose found me. I knew while I was directing my friends that THIS is what I was to spend MY LIFE pursuing. And I have and here I am 37 years later forever filled with passion, love and gratitude for ever moment I get to be a photographer.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I have been a professional commercial photographer since I was 16yrs. old. I started out shooting live music venues and musicians marketing materials, press releases and cd cover art. But at that time fashion photography had its hooks in me and I was also shooting modeling portfolios for individuals as well as portraits for professionals in business. I always had the entrepreneurial spirit and loved a good challenge. I never refused a job no matter what genre of photography it was in as I was addicted to the act of taking and processing photographs.
I went straight from high school into the photography, BFA program at the School of Visual Arts, in NYC where I spent 4 years focusing on fashion and portrait photography all the while assisting professional photographers and shooting commercially for myself.
I think something that sets me apart from others is my tenacity and willingness to be a beginner. This combination has served me well in learning and exploring new avenues in the world of photography. If there was a photographer I wanted to work for, I would pursue them until they hired me. If there was a problem to solve I was happily knee deep in it.
In 1990 I desperately wanted to work for Patrick Demarchelier, he was at the top of his career and extremely busy that he was only using assistants with loads of experience and I wasn’t there yet. I was momentarily discouraged when told that by his studio manager Wendell, but did not let that deter me.
Instead I camped out on the studios front stoop for a week and whenever Wendell came out I would walk and talk to him about why they should hire me. After the weekend when Wendell found me on the stoop again on Monday he belly laughed and told me I had won him over.
Wendell got me in to observe and help on one of Patrick’s photoshoots. At the end of day Wendell told me that I had impressed them both and then he did me one better by getting me a one on one portfolio review with Patrick. One take away from that meeting was that I understood I had the moxie to do anything I focused on and I have spent my whole career in that pursuit.
That mindset allowed me to grow the confidence to pursue many genres of photography. I have photographed for a wide range of editorial, advertising, company branding for small and large businesses, and corporate clients. I am an avid storyteller of portrait, lifestyle images, food, and travel photography and I have been branching out into video.
I have a wide interest palate and pursue them intensely which has lead me to many different interconnecting pathways in my photography career from working in magazine and book publishing, coaching new photographers and teaching.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Be proactive not reactive.
Move like water. (Bruce Lee)
Remain a beginner.
For me, my life is my photography, my photography is my life.
Everything is a practice.
I practice to not be lead by my own ineffective habituated habits. There are so many intricacies in my photography field (& my life), so many details that sometimes it’s easy to become rigid in ways of thinking or processing or doing. So staying flexible and open to the creative processes or working with other egos in the room or business management styles is humbling as well as educational.
Okay, so before we go, is there anyone you’d like to shoutout for the role they’ve played in helping you develop the essential skills or overcome challenges along the way?
All the people I surround myself with (my mother and family, professional friends) and the people I listen to in podcasts and books read. I am always searching for my tribe and collecting people along the way.
The greatest idea I can recommend is to make a practice of surrounding yourself with like minded people as well as people with diverse and also more experience than yourself. If you maintain a beginner mindset you can leave your ego at the door and learn unobstructively. This is a powerful tool in one’s continued growth.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.dariaphoto.com
- Instagram: @dariaamatophotographer
- Linkedin: Daria Amato Photographer
- Youtube: https://youtu.be/PcHb1HQTTIY?feature=shared
Image Credits
Daria Amato Photographer
