We recently connected with Dave Tada and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Dave, thank you so much for opening up with us about some important, but sometimes personal topics. One that really matters to us is overcoming Imposter Syndrome because we’ve seen how so many people are held back in life because of this and so we’d really appreciate hearing about how you overcame Imposter Syndrome.
This is something that I still struggle with to this day. Though I believe having a small degree of it, at least as you’re coming up, can help push you and stop you from becoming complacent. I experienced that complacency when I was working full time as an in-house photographer for a local clothing brand. There was no struggle and I really became too comfortable with my work situation. On retrospect, I can see how that complacency really affected my work at the time. That said, I think figuring out which aspects of your work that create the feelings of imposter syndrome are very important. When I first started out, I really struggled with posing, and so I studied other photographers work and watched a bunch of youtube tutorials and as I practiced with more and more models, I started feeling much more comfortable.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
My name is Dave Tada, I’m an LA-based fashion/editorial photographer who predominantly shoots lookbooks, campaigns, and ecomm for fashion brands. However, my interest in photography actually began in documentary/journalism idolizing photographers like Mary Ellen Mark, Eugene Richards, Lauren Greenfield, amongst many others. I used to shoot concerts and shot for my college paper. My parents didn’t believe that I could make a living as a photographer and pushed me into something more “conventional” and so I ended up with a bachelors in economics. After graduation, I planned on suiting up and looking for a job at an investment firm, but that little voice in the back of my head kept pushing me towards photography. After some time, i got a job assisting a local photographer and he taught me about lighting, posing, and retouching and I eventually started working for a model agency as their in-house photographer.
After a year or so, I ended up in Los Angeles landing a job as a photo retoucher for Jill Greenberg and though it was short-lived, I learned a lot, and also realized how underqualified I was for that job haha. After working odd retouching/photo jobs for a couple years, I got hired at Guess Jeans as a retoucher and I worked there for several years. Eventually I got hired as the in-house photographer at a men’s clothing brand called Five Four (later called Menlo House). This was the first time in my career where I really felt this is exactly what I need to be doing, every day. After a couple years of doing that, my entire team got laid off and I once again became freelance, which is what I am still doing to this day.
Honestly, I always feel a bit sheepish when asked about what’s the most exciting or special about my work as I always leave that to every individual’s interpretation. I’ve been doing this for a long time and spend most of my waking hours thinking about photography in some form or another, so I hope that’s translated into my work haha.
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?
Persistence
How would you describe your ideal client?
Though I still would love to work with brands like Rick Owens or Yohji Yamamoto, the older I get, the more I realize, ideal clients are clients that appreciate you, are easy to get along with, organized, oh and they pay you on time haha.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.davetada.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/analogpics
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davetada/
