Meet Mikaela Helane

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

Mikaela, we are so appreciative of you taking the time to open up about the extremely important, albeit personal, topic of mental health. Can you talk to us about your journey and how you were able to overcome the challenges related to mental issues? For readers, please note this is not medical advice, we are not doctors, you should always consult professionals for advice and that this is merely one person sharing their story and experience.

This question comes at a very intriguing time of my life. Let’s rewind back to last year: my business was starting to gain momentum, getting two to three bookings every week or so. Things were looking up for me and I was so excited to see what all I would accomplish in 2025.

And then I had surgery.

And then I had issues recovering from surgery.

And then, on the way home from getting the all-clear from my doctor that I can return to work, I was in a near-fatal car accident. Just 8 minutes from home, my life completely changed.

No one other than me was hurt thank god, but it involved a semi-truck, me and a concrete wall on the highway. My car was cut in half twice with the jaws of life to rescue me. I walked away with a concussion, two face fractures, debilitating tailbone and knee issues, facial paralysis and now CRPS. I can’t sit longer than 25 minutes, can’t walk much longer than that either, and lifting objects over 8 pounds is very painful. I can’t kneel, can’t squat down to the floor. Life just looks very different right now. It’s been six months and I have still been in PT, am still recovering to get back to where I was before the accident.

I’ve been in darkness many times before, but an even worse depression and debilitating anxiety welcomed me into its arms as my recovery started and then became painfully slow. I stopped watching my favorite shows, favorite YouTubers, stopped listening to music, stopped making designs for an Etsy shop…I was as deep into the abyss as I ever have been. How have I managed to keep going despite all of these new hurdles in my way?

No matter how bad the all-encompassing shadow gets, I’ve always aimed to fulfill a promise to myself to watch one thing related to photography a day. This could be a 60-second reel or a 10 or 20 minute lighting tutorial or an hour long behind the scenes video. Just one thing.

I primarily shoot fashion, so that’s what I would search for on YouTube. Even though I was in no shape to do shoots, I created mood board after mood board of what I wanted to do when I’m recovered enough to withstand the duration of shoots. Just watching a 5-20 minute video, seeing others do what I love, it comforted me when little else could.

Photography has been my superpower. You won’t catch Mikaela the attendee going up to talk to people, but give me a room to network in for my photography or put a camera around my neck and I can go up to anybody. I believe because I continue to invest and learn and grow as an artist, whether I’m physically out shooting or watching a photography reel on my phone, is why I’m able to climb my way out of the dark hole time and time again. Right now, I’m almost to the top of the hole. And maybe I’ll fall down deeper in it again, but you know what I’ll keep doing? I’ll keep trying to get out.

So go ahead and give yourself the challenge to do one thing a day in your chosen career. This isn’t something I’ve mastered, especially not overnight; there have been plenty of times I’ve fallen short on that promise to myself. You have to make a commitment to yourself when you’re in the trenches that you will still nurture yourself, nurture your craft. It’s not an easy task. But if you won’t invest in yourself and, most importantly, in your own mental health — how will you convince anyone else to invest in you?

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?

Who knew that what started as an 8 year old being given a camera to distract them from losing everything when they became chronically ill would become that same little girl’s entire world and career as an adult?

Let’s rewind for a second: my name is Mikaela Helane and I am a fashion photographer based out of Indianapolis, and occasionally Chicago and Columbus.

Now, back to where we started: it’s me. I’m that little girl.

22 years ago, my mom handed me her Canon to take on a walk around our neighborhood. I was home after being in the hospital for a week or so, a place that quickly became a second home for me. On that walk, my mom didn’t know if I would like shooting or not but something in her gut told her to let me try it. It’s a good thing she trusted her gut, because I don’t know what my life would look like without a camera in it.

It became an extended limb of mine; I didn’t go anywhere without it. It was a tool of self-expression back then, having at a young age clinical depression. Not much has changed in that regard, both in it continuing to allow me to express myself today and still with me battling depression. But my Canon became the hands, along with my parents, that would pull me out of the darkness time and time again.

I’d always loved every genre of photography and I tried every one. I started in documentary, then nature, then street, then portraits, then fashion and beauty. Now, I enjoy all of them but fashion and beauty are the two areas that restore my soul every shoot I do. I graduated from Columbia College Chicago in 2022 with a degree in fashion photography and a minor in journalism.

I moved back home to Indiana after graduating, and have been working with my business Mikaela Helane Photography since then as an editorial, beauty and test shoot photographer for agencies. I do events, headshots and portraits on the side which I enjoy too, but if I could only shoot one thing for the rest of my life? It would be fashion.

I am open to travel for shoots but also have a studio I work out of in Indy that I would love for you to make your presence in. While I still write, both journalism and fiction, and make art on the side for a separate business, my primary focus has always been and will always be photography.

Capturing the essence of the human in front of me to be permanently remembered in print is my favorite part when working with others. I have been out of work since a near-fatal car accident in March, but I have my first job since the accident of doing headshots for a client next week. It’s baby steps but to have that camera back around my neck again? Oh, I can’t wait.

Send an email to [email protected] for any inquiries!

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 would say the top quality in my journey has been finding my voice through perseverance. If we go back to when I mentioned I got my start in photography because I became chronically ill and my mom wanted me to have something no one could take from me, perseverance might make more sense. Half of my life has been in the hospital or at doctor’s offices or at pharmacies. I had obstacle after obstacle, as most of us do, but it really shaped me into who I am.

At a young age, my life motto became Beauty from Pain. Many times my images focused on showing the beauty in mundane objects, or, even me working through my physical pain to create something beautiful in front of my lens. It’s been true for most shoots I’ve done since, where some element focuses on showing Beauty from Pain. My skillset in persevering brings about that motto for me day in and day out.

Now, let’s talk other technical and applicable skills. There are two that I think are the most important: it’s not the equipment, but the soul; and learning the language of critiques.

The first pro tip that any photographer can tell you is it’s rarely about having all of the top of the line products, but more about honing in your skills on how to use what you already have. Canon makes great entry level, prime lenses that you can spend $100 on which could be your start into photography. Should you invest in better gear at some point? Of course! There are scenarios for everything. But can a person with entry-level gear still create gorgeous work? Yes. I have been shooting since 8 years old and didn’t upgrade to a full-frame camera body until seven years ago, but I still had regular paid shoots, won competitions and had work in magazines with my entry-level gear. It is way less about what you have and way more about what story you want to tell in your images. It’s easy to get caught up in the former but oh-so-important to pivot your focus on shaping what’s in front of your lens. It’s about the soul, not the gear.

Finally, there’s one other skillset I think is important as a photographer: knowing the language of critiques. Now, this is coming from someone who has a love-hate relationship with critiques. I think back to when I was applying to art school and there were portfolio days where you’d travel to a college fair to participate in. I would carry around my documentary project and show it to faculty at top art schools who wanted to entice you to come to their program, if they liked your work. These were absolutely terrifying for me as I always want people to like my work, so getting a critique on it opened me up to hear negative feedback. Here’s what I quickly learned: one person will love your project, but the next will pass it over. Critiques are purely subjective, for the most part, and as photographers we need to learn to be open to them so we can continue to learn. You have to grow thick skin at times and take some feedback with a grain of salt, but critiques in themselves are not inherently bad. Once you learn how to speak the language of critiques, or can handle when a negative one comes your way, it only facilitates growth for your craft. And isn’t that what we’re all striving for anyways?

What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?

I get easily overwhelmed from anxiety, which has only worsened since my accident, and my therapist taught me the 5-4-3-2-1 grounding technique. Essentially when you’re really anxious or feel like you can’t breathe, you get yourself to name 5 things you see, 4 things you touch, 3 things you hear, 2 things you smell and 1 thing you taste. By identifying those 15 items, it helps ground yourself — but it hasn’t always worked for me, so I take it a step further.

Whatever your career is, make it related to that if you can. For example, as a photographer, I name 5 things I see but I put a little twist on it by adding a step. Not only do I name 5 things, but I think about how I would photograph those 5 things. Let’s say I see a tree across the street from me as one of my 5 things. Am I wanting to shoot it wide and show context that it’s surrounded by other trees? Or do I want to use a macro lens to photograph the little ladybug resting on one of the branches? How would you photograph the shoes you feel on your feet, the kids laughing as they get off the school bus, the perfume you smell from a passerby, or even the taste on your tongue for an advertisement shot for the restaurant you just ate at? Or say you’re a writer — how would you write about that item? Let’s go back to seeing the tree. Does the tree have a happy ending in its story or is it sad because it’s about to be chopped down? By adding that extra step in the 5-4-3-2-1 grounding technique and your focus then solely on the items you see, touch, hear, smell and taste, it allows your mind to decompress and lessen how anxious you are. I know my method may sound weird but it works for me a lot more than just identifying the objects on their own!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://MikaelaHelane.com
• Instagram: https://Instagram.com/MikaelaHelane
• Other: Tiktok: MikaelaHelane

Image Credits

2 BTS photos: Kivonte Houston

All others: Mikaela Helane