We recently connected with Ila Wist and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Ila, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
Throughout my life, I have learned to stand up for what I believe, and if I am not certain of the correct answer to a question that has presented itself to me, I learn to find answers and not believe just what one person has told me, or what something says in a book, or what one doctor’s diagnosis is, or believe what one teacher in school labels me as. I think it that my resilience is an innate quality. For example, when I was 6 months-old I learned to speak – a baby does not speak at that age and it freaked my mother out, when I said my first word; “mommy”, she literally screamed. It’s kind of funny to imagine it now, Why did I learn to speak so early? I really do not have an answer. But because I did, I also learned to read quickly and early in my childhood. My father, being a lover of literature, would read to me, and also have me read out loud, stories before bedtime at the age of 4 yrs. old. He would take me to the local library on weekends, and by the time I was 8 yrs. old, I had read one of my favorite books; “Johnathan Livingston Seagull” :by Richard Bach. I loved the story of how Jonathan, the seagull, learned to fly, and questioned life. The fact that he could do something unusual which represented freedom of thought, and freedom to be who he was and nothing could stop him, because he could fly! This is a book meant to be read by much older children, but because i spoke so early I just knew how to read it. It did not mean I was smarter in any way, it was just a part of me. However when I got into 1st grade at 5 yrs. old, the teacher would have “read out loud” sessions, This teacher, who to me seemed, like a scowl-faced, large square -shaped, judgmental woman with thin lips and short tight brown curls on top of her head; aroused my instinctive feeling, that she just ,for whatever reason did not like me and judged me. Every day she would ask the question, :Who would like to read out loud today?” While all the other kids hesitated, I would shoot my little arm up in the air with excitement, but she never ever picked me to read for the whole school year, and to make it worse, she would give me “Fs” as a grade on my English papers (which i knew I deserved better grades on). Did that deter me from pursuing reading and writing in my other classes or hurt my self-confidence, in what i knew I was good at? Hell no. It is your own belief in yourself that defines who you are. If you believed every negative thing told to you, you would shrink as a person, instead of blooming into the beautiful flower that you are. On the other hand, if someone gives me constructive criticism, I will consider it, and measure whether or not it applies, and it if it does help me improve in any endeavor I will welcome it as a challenge, and a way towards self-improvement. Today that would be my craft, as a photographer.
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?
The funny thing is, I started my business with the name as : Butterfly Beauties Photography, to represent ALL women in 2008, with the concept that all women are beautiful in their own way, no matter what their race is, how much they weigh, how old they are, or what their style is or super-abitily, (as opposed to disability); I break barriers. The concept of ‘Butterfly Beauties Photography,” being that, yes, I am the photographer, but I am a mirror, it is really the women (all the butterflies of freedom), that I photograph that represent my brand, not so much me. I say It’s ‘funny’, because today in 2023, I see so much of the positivity toward ALL women in every respect manifesting that concept through #womensempowerment, through various businesses, brands, and genres, and…. as part of Wikipedia states for women’s empowerment:”…:Women may have the opportunity to re-define gender roles or other such roles, which allows them more freedom to pursue desired goals.” Back in 2008, the idea of what I was representing was more of a novelty; there was huge outpour of support on my Facebook fanpage for what I was representing in 2008 , Now, in 2023, it makes me very happy to see women truly supporting each other today including the photography business, just take a look at Sports Illustrated today Vs. 2008, you can see a huge difference and a wonderful unity in the belief that all women are beautiful. Sadly, when you look at other media forms, such as Instagram, you can see that many women still measure themselves to movie stars or models, I can tell you a secret (most of them are highly or even just somewhat, photoshopped ). You can really see it when you look at a vintage photo of beautiful well-known actress, and you can tell someone photoshopped them. Why? I don’t know. I mean, why photoshop an already beautiful woman? Having over 10 thousand hours of photoshop skill development myself, believe, me, I can spot it. I use photoshop, mildly, meaning, I don’t want you or anyone you know to say, is that you? But I love some of the vintage effects and HDR effects that can accentuate you, not drown you out. But what I see on some social media venues, is even though barriers are being broken, the social pressure of the media’s idealization of beauty still exists, I believe one of my strengths as a photographer stems from my love of art, I truly can see beauty in angels, and lighting plays a huge role, I have no stereo-type in my mind of what is beautiful, I will find that angel of you in a most flattering light that you did not know you possessed. I am confident in that I will do this for you, even though you doubt it. I know I would not let not a doctor who is not confident in what they do medically preform surgery on me, nor would I hire anyone to preform a service for me who doubted their talent or skills. I am not everyone’s cup of tea, and I realize that as well, however, most of my clients are repeat clients, and plenty of referrals come from them. That is a pretty huge compliment to me as photographer. My clients’ friends see their photos, and they think, “wow, I want her to photograph me!” That brings me a lot of joy, as well as walking into their home and seeing that they have my photos framed and proudly displayed, or if they have them printed and framed in their bathroom, to remind them, that, yes, you are beautiful! A woman does not have to be Miss Universe or a movie star to be beautiful or feel beautiful in their own skin. Being photographed by me is wonderful experience, one where you truly live in he moment, and enjoy being you, you forget about the future, and the past, you just enjoy being you – what better gift to give someone, or for yourself, you deserve to feel beautiful, because there is only one you, after all! There is much to come in the future that I am excited about, but I am leaving some of that to be a mystery until the concepts I have in mind start to unfold. I am constantly learning new ways of approaching my craft, and I will be experimenting with different lenses and different equipment as well other types of photography and apply that to what I am currently practicing, I am very passionate about it all. I love variety and learning, and that is why love what I do, My motto? “Each woman’s beauty is as unique as her own fingerprint.”
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
I gave the gift of beauty (photographs) to my dear mother when she felt very unattractive, she had cancer and it was breaking my heart to see someone so full of life, and still so beautiful feel so down – so one day she was crying in my arms, and I said to her, “Let me take photos of you to show you that you are beautiful.” she agreed, and we had so much fun playing with the photoshoot, and that was my very first photoshop experience – I have always loved art – and I applied that to photoshop, as far as color, lighting, shadows, glamour effects, ect… I took to it naturally, Her photos came about truly amazing, she was radiant, no one would ever guess the trauma she was going through, in fact, she forgot all about it, when we did her photos. I became obsessed with it, my friend saw my mom’s photos and asked if I would take her’s for a dating site, and then her friend saw her’s and she wanted some photos, then so on and so on…it grew – and I loved it. I would say 3 things: 1. Do it with passion & kindness or don’t do it all.
2. Advertise in a group like “phoenix models and photographers” where you do a trade for photos – You take the photos & advertise the ones you choose, the model gets the photos in return. This will help your business grow. Or if you are confident enough and a friend agrees to it, take their photos if they allow you to show them off. Get your work out there on a page on social media. Make sure you have legal contracts, for advertising, liabilities, etc. That is standard practice.
3. Keep your mind open, experiment, create, learn, make it fun, don’t follow every rule, play around with your tools, painter, photoshop, Corel, if you don’t get it right, don’t worry, it will all unfold and do what you know you are good at when you photograph your clients, you will continue to learn and grow your skills.
Awesome, really appreciate you opening up with us today and before we close maybe you can share a book recommendation with us. Has there been a book that’s been impactful in your growth and development?
There was one book: “The Moment it Clicks” by Joe McNalley
The nuggets of wisdom are in the title of the book itself. It’s something within us all, we may be out on a snowy night with a person we are enamored with and we may be walking and it’s the first time they have seen snow… all of the sudden, they stop and reach their arms out up to the sky, and say in awe wide-eyed, with a big smile, “Wow…I’ve never experienced snow’, then click.
It’s that expression, that is genuine unrehearsed smile on their face, the wideness of their eyes as they look up, like a new-born, it’s a moment you will never see again, click it. Some of the best photos I have ever taken have been completely unrehearsed and the person was not ready at all for me taking their picture – but then….viola!
I mostly photograph the non-model, but, do this practice with models and non-models. Models are harder because they are always posing, but I am happy I caught them when they were looking somewhere else, or tossing their hair (getting ready to pose…he he he). And guess what? Those happen to be their favorite photos of themselves.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.butterflybeautiesphotography.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/butterflybeautiesphotography
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/butterflybeauties…
Image Credits
Image Credits: Photography: by Ila Wist :Owner/Photographer of: Butterfly Beauties Photography
