We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Femke Tewari a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Femke, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
Mine is a very diverse family – I’m Dutch, my husband is from Nepal, we have one mixed-race daughter and an adopted Indian daughter. Early in the pandemic, when the racial debate raged through America, I was in shock about what was happening and wanted to use the power of my photography to show the beauty of diversity. I started working on a coffee table book called Miami Women with photographs and stories of inspiring women in Miami of all different backgrounds.
The project was a lot more work than I thought. It took me two and a half years to finish and includes 40 women, like the first female mayor of Miami-Dade (Daniella Levine Cava), the first black mayor of Miami Shores (Crystal Wagar), several activist-influencers like Paula Carozzo (disability activist), well known Miami fashionista Angeles Almuna who organizes the annual breast cancer awareness month and artist and women’s rights activist Danie Gomez Ortigoza.
Getting to know these women and hearing how they overcame their challenges and found success was an extraordinary experience and gave me purpose to continue showing the beauty of diversity in my fashion photography by working with people of all backgrounds.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I help a range of swimwear and fashion brands to create photographs and promotional videos for their marketing and social media. The most exciting thing in my career right now is film and video creation. It’s something I have really fallen in love with. A very different thing from photography, in terms of creation, editing and adding music. It shows a more encompassing experience to the viewer which is why there is so much demand for it right now.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
It’s important to just be a nice, honest and professional person in whatever you do but especially as a photographer. You need to gain the trust of people you capture in a short timespan. If there’s no trust, you can see it in the photos or film. Also as a photographer, apart from your art, you need to be a business person, you need to be good at marketing, etc. So if you’re interested in this kind of career, study business along with photography.
How would you describe your ideal client?
My ideal clients are brands that care about the environment and have similar values as mine. They like to show diversity in their marketing. And they’re nice people :-). I really love working with all female teams.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.femketewari.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/femketewariphotographer/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/femketewari/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCk2ZJJUBnz0bAvFE7trq1Ag
Image Credits
Femke Tewari
