Meet Chelsea Proffitt

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

Chelsea, we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?

It took me a very long time to get where I am today confidence wise. I spent the majority of my life crippled with social anxiety and doing everything I could to fit in and blend into my surroundings. Although I fit in well and had a good group of people surrounding me I was not happy and I felt like I did not belong. This really took a toll on my confidence. Around my sophmore/junior year of high school I began cutting people out and isolating myself. While this is not a great coping mechanism it was definitely what I needed to become who I am. I started doing the things I enjoy and not worrying about doing things that did not fulfill me. I started focusing on my art and developed my passion for photography. If I was still worrying about pleasing everyone else there is no way I would have chose to go to art school, but focusing on things that bring me joy helped me have the confidence to follow my dreams.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I am currently at Savannah College of Art and Design studying photography. I went in thinking I wanted to do solely travel photography. I wanted to show people the beauty of the world. This dream first presented itself on a trip I took in the fifth grade to Yosemite, Sequoia, and Yellowstone National Parks. This was the first time I had seen outside of eastern Tennessee, where I am from, and it opened my eyes to how big the world is. I wanted to use my art to allow others to have the same experience. While that is still my dream, throughout my studies I have began to lean more on the documentary side of photography. It interests me for similar reasons. There are so many beautiful people, places, and stories, I want to use my art to show that.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

I think passion is the biggest quality that helped me. When I first started saying I wanted to be a photographer I had absolutely no artistic skills and no clue how to work a camera, but I had passion and it allowed me to keep going. Another huge quality of mine that has helped me is my determination. My family always jokes about me being the most stubborn person they have met, but I owe almost all my success to this quality. Once I get an idea in my head there is no stopping me. If someone tries it will only encourage me more. As soon as I decided photography was what I wanted to do, I knew I would do everything I could to make it happen. Lastly is just simply being observant and having an eye for composition. Anyone can take a picture, but knowing what will make a good image is completely different. I did not always have this quality, but just holding a camera for years allowed me to develop it. It is one of the reasons I am so drawn to photography, it allows me to be present and observe.

How can folks who want to work with you connect?

I would love to collaborate with anyone that has a story to share. I want to use my art to allow people to learn about the world. Whether you are a business, place, or simply just a person with an impactful story I would love to work together to share that. I recently worked with Lite Foot Company, a small sustainable home goods store in Savannah Ga, to create a short documentary sharing their story. I want to begin creating more work like this. Ideally it would be a video, photo series, and written piece to create a cohesive story, but I will happily provide more or less content.

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