We recently connected with Brian Parillo and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Brian , thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?
There’s a reckless nature to pursuing a creative endeavor as a career. It’s a risky choice. You have to acknowledge it may take years for it to support you. It may never support you. I wasn’t chasing money or fame. I knew I wouldn’t get far if that was goal. My goal was to make a full time living as a photographer. That’s what I focused on along with growing my skill set. The real question was how much do I love it. Wanting something badly is fine but that alone would have burnt me out. I knew I loved photography enough that I was willing to sacrifice for it. So my work ethic came naturally. I was willing to put in countless hours of time without having anything tangible to show for it. What I did get was knowledge. I was constantly getting better and I was loving the process. Love what you do so the hardships of the pursuit becomes more tolerable.
When I first started I jumped in without a net. I put myself in a place where I had to figure out how to survive. It felt terrifying at times and extremely exhilarating. I always believed in my abilities and more importantly I always believed in my ability to work at getting better.
I realized that work that wasn’t handed requires a different type of motivation than a regular job does. I was often looking for inspiration that could send me in a direction. Feeling inspired was all I had early on and it constantly needed to be reinvented. I’d find inspiration often just by sitting with other creative friends over coffee. People who are other artists themselves. None of which were photographers but it didn’t matter. I felt that by surrounding myself with people that I respected creatively it gave me inspiration for what I wanted to do.
The fear of not being prepared has always motivated me to work hard. Being incapable of doing a job at a high and consistent level just seemed incompetent. I never wanted to appear flustered because I couldn’t accomplish an aspect of my job. That just seemed wildly uncomfortable. When you work to just get by in life then be prepared to just get by. I had no interest in that. I’ve never let my pride get in the way of learning something new and getting better. Even now having reached my goals I’m still challenging myself sometimes more than ever.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I’m a Los Angeles based portrait/headshot photographer. I get to know people on a very personal level in a very short period of time. It’s what makes this type of work unique and exciting. I’ve created a workplace that feels welcoming and positive for my clients. I want people to enjoy themselves and more importantly know that they are being looked after. I work with a team of talented hair and makeup people. Besides being gifted they are good people. They are kind and open. That’s important to me. One of the best choices I’ve made in my life has been surrounding myself with friends and coworkers that feel like family. I care about being in the company of people who have positive intentions for others. That is a must for me. The closest people in my life are authentic and I carry that authenticity while working with my clients. I truly want people to feel great about themselves in a session with me. Creativity flows naturally in a positive environment. Having your picture taken is a very vulnerable experience, so I put people in a safe space to win. I’m hyper focused when I work and often remind people to not take my intensity as anything else but excitement for exploring creative choices for them. I feel charged in that state. I’m never bored working. After years of doing this it still feels completely fresh. Every year my work has gotten better. I say that not to boast. It’s about me loving this work and putting the time in so naturally it’s evolved. Work has been very good to me. I didn’t choose it with the intention of making a lot of money. I chose it because I knew I could do it well. I have always loved looking at imagery. Every photographer sees things in their own unique way creating their own personal narrative. Our past experiences and the people who’ve influenced us tell that story. I’m constantly inspired by others in my industry. I’ve always looked up to other photographers with admiration and inspiration. I’ll never be Richard Avedon or Peter Lindberg because I’m not them and they weren’t me. I will, however, always feel something powerful when I look at their work and I take that energy and put it into mine. I’ve drawn even greater inspiration by looking at Linda Cantello’s incredible work with makeup. Seeing what she’s done creatively with makeup has motivated me in so many ways. How I choose to see things reflects either how limited I am or how free my imagination is willing to be.
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?
I don’t know if I can narrow it down to three distinctive qualities but I will say that my own personal growth has depended largely on the patterns I’ve set up in my life. Artists tend to drift because they don’t always have regulated hours especially when they’re starting out. I think it’s important to not only set short and long term goals but also create a regulated schedule for yourself. Having a morning routine is important to me. I’m disciplined, but not rigid. From the beginning, I felt confident in my abilities. I believed in myself. I was certain that if I put the time in I could turn this into a full time business. I watched and learned from others I admired. Every artist who has ever lived took inspiration from others. I figured out what I was drawn to style wise and moved with a clear intention in that direction. I showcased exactly what I wanted my clients to expect when they booked with me. My goal has always been to deliver images that feel beautiful and provocative but more importantly they capture the essence of someone at their best.
Personally I’m very hard to please when I’m shooting so if it doesn’t reach my standards then I refuse to move forward. You’re collaborating with others but it’s you as the photographer that is seeing what’s really happening so you have to be able to navigate and communicate. Your job is to deliver the best possible imagery you can create so it’s a must to figure out how to communicate what’s going well and what needs to shift. It’s important to be competent in every aspect of what you do. Because if you’re not, then your lack of ability will be exposed. Being able to work creatively is a privilege. The people who continue to work consistently are never complacent.
On the other side of that, I constantly remind myself that this should be fun and more than anything your clients should enjoy themselves. So my main advice would be, get your system tight, but not rigid. Consistency is a must. You have to understand how to shoot all types of people. This is extremely important. When you’re prepared, you’re confident. When you’re confident, you’ll completely inhabit your space. Only then does the fun begin.
“I work hard to make it look easy”-Steve McQueen
What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?
It was a mindset shift several years ago. In the beginning there was an overwhelming sense of wanting to succeed and compete with others. It’s the voice in your head that says you’re not good enough. Be better. So you start climbing the mountain with the weight of the world on your back. You forget about what’s in front of you and you can only see the summit. That type of thinking got me off my couch, but it wasn’t sustainable. It’s negative energy. It’s working from fear and desperation rather than a positive intention. I was aware of it but I was struggling to move beyond those thoughts. I remember shooting an elderly woman years ago. She came in flustered by the process of having to shoot headshots. Every challenge she had in life seemed to be exuding from her pores. I was failing at shaking off her negative energy and found myself completely out of harmony while shooting with her. I worked frantically trying to deliver images that she would be thrilled with. When I finally did, I remember her reaction. She was thrilled and I breathed a sigh of relief. I felt like I was off the hook. She left my studio in a complete opposite state of mind from how she arrived. She was blissful and charged. I, on the other hand, felt depleted and I wanted to put the entire experience behind me.
I thought about that same woman a month or so later. Instead of focusing on the difficulty of the shoot, I focused instead on her revitalized transformation. In a small way I felt like I was contributing to positive energy in people’s lives. It felt humbling. So I started working with that in mind. The experience people were having while shooting with me became equally as important as the results. In doing so my results also improved. I stopped working from my ego and became more open. I realized that a major part of my job was to serve people.
Work seems so much easier for me now. In fact it doesn’t ever feel like work. It feels like play. I’ve worked hard to develop a system that seems full proof and designed for people to succeed. The sum total of all I’ve learned is a reminder for me of how far I’ve come. My maturity as an artist and as a human has made me a clearer and calmer person.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.brianparillophotography.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brianparillophotography/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brian.parillo.7
Image Credits
The photo of myself is shot by Jamie Arentzen
