The Beginner Photography Podcast

Making an Impact with Photography with Michelle Tricca

• Raymond Hatfield

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#437 In today's episode of the podcast, I chat with Portrait Photographer Michelle Tricca about her journey as a photographer and the inspiration she found in creating impactful art, which not only transformed her career but her life. You'll discover the importance of intention, personal projects, helping others, and finding fulfillment through your photography.

THE BIG IDEAS

  • Intention: Set clear intentions for your photography, whether it's for personal projects or commercial work, to align your passion with your output.
  • Meaningful Projects: Pursue personal projects and assignments that deeply resonate with you, allowing you to create work that has a meaningful impact.
  • Impactful Art: Learn to make art accessible to everyone, especially to those who may not have the means to experience traditional art venues.
  • Quality Over Quantity: Emphasize the significance of choosing the strongest images over flooding your portfolio with numerous, mediocre shots.
  • Balancing Work and Passion: Discover how to balance commercial photography with personal projects that fulfill your soul, leading to a more rewarding photography career.

Resources:
Check out Michelles Website - https://www.michelletricca.com/
Follow Michelle on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/mo_tric/

Sign up for your free CloudSpot Account today at www.DeliverPhotos.com

Connect with Raymond!


Thanks for listening & keep shooting!

Michelle Tricca:

We get our ideas at the most inopportune times, when we're blazing down the highway, when we're diving below the water, in the shower, tying your shoes on the way out. I have a perpetual list, in the notes app on my phone or just writing things down. And actually pursue them and, double bonus, if you can work on them, it's one thing to create personal projects, you know, just for your own gratification, which I highly encourage, but when it affects and impacts other people, I would say that that's really the most tremendously gratifying is like knowing your work, your visuals. have an effect. I feel like your photographs can connect and evoke thought and promote social change. So those are the ones for me that are the most gratifying and just really figure out what's most gratifying for you. Set your intention. That's what I want to say. Set your intention with your work.

Raymond Hatfield:

Hey, welcome to the beginner photography podcast brought to you by cloud spot, the easiest way to deliver and even sell your photos online. I am your host, Raymond Hadfield, and each week I interview one of the world's most interesting photographers to learn what it really takes to capture beautiful images and compelling stories so that you can start to do the same. Now, today is an episode from the BPP Vault, where we revisit our treasure trove of interviews from the past to offer both new and old. And long time listeners, a chance to uncover these powerful insights and practical tips to enhance your photography skills. So whether you are listening with fresh ears or simply a new perspective, there's always something new to learn. In today's interview, we are chatting with portrait photographer, Michelle Tricca about pursuing personal projects that create. impact. Michelle is an insightful artist, I think, who saw a problem in her community and decided to do something about it. And I think it's easy to say, you know, what can I do about this? Or, feel helpless. but as a photographer, you have a tool. That is as powerful, if not more powerful, than a pen, and Michelle knows that. And today she shares with us how she made change in her community and how we can do the same. So get your pen and paper ready and be sure to stick around to the end where I'm going to share with you my three biggest takeaways from this interview. So with that, let's go ahead and get on into today's interview with Michelle. Michelle, my first question for you is a simple one. I just want to know, when did you know that photography was going to play an important role in your life?

Michelle Tricca:

Well, I was always the one of my friends to take the camera out when we were growing up in high school and when I would be home for college summers and. My friends would, you know, we'd go out partying or go to the beach or take road trips and they'd always come to me asking for pictures. I just, I absolutely loved it. And I also used to get, I don't know if you remember W magazine, a fashion magazine. W magazine is a large format. Fashion magazine. And I used to get that back in the day when it started, when it was actually in newspaper form, it was like a glossy color folded newspaper form. So the photos, when you'd open that newspaper, the fashion magazine, the photos were giant. And I had my room in high school and college plastered with those. photographs, those portraits. And then, growing up in preppy New England, I always got the J. Crew catalogs and I would, you know, have the pictures of the cute J. Crew models on my walls. So it's funny in retrospect looking back to see how that kind of was a metaphor for How I be spending my life. So I went to college for broadcast journalism, and I was avoiding taking an art requirement to graduate and get my bachelor's degree, and I take in black and white dark room one summer, this is like way back, like prehistoric, just after the dinosaurs, 1990, 1987 is when I entered college, but I graduated in 92. So way back in the day, long before pixels were a thing, I took black and white darkroom, and I absolutely loved that class. And then second semester, senior year, it was time for me to take my art requirement to fulfill my college degree. And my advisor said, so we need to get you into an art class. I said, I can't paint or dry. Like I'm not, I have no artistic skills whatsoever, but I said, Oh, there's an advanced art photography open. I'll take that. I love taking black in my dark room last year. So I took advanced art photography and I became absolutely obsessed with the teacher, with his. Theory and philosophy with the technical aspects with his assignments. So I would actually spend all second semester, senior year. I would get up at the crack of dawn and pretty much spend all day on Saturdays and Sundays in the dark room, developing film, making photographs. Like I was. I took assignments for the college yearbook and the college newspaper. I photographed my friends and then I thought, and then it was time, you know, to sort out my startup job in the television industry after college. And I said, I don't want to do that anymore. I want to be a photographer. And I remember my parents saying, we're not helping with any more school. And so for my graduation gift, I got a top of the line camera of what the, my parents got me a gift. They got me a camera and they researched what all the national geographic photographers were using at the time. And so they got me that camera for graduation and they put a little note in like, good luck, but good luck out there. Graduated, and I spent the summer on Cape Cod interning for the Cape Cod News, working for no pay, but incredible experience getting sent all around Cape Cod on different assignments every day. I was like, this is it. This is what I want to do with my life. I was so happy. And then after the summer was over, I moved out to Southern California with my best friend. And with the small portfolio I had, I started doing freelance assignments for a local newspaper there, and then I worked for a surf company photographing their surfers, and for a model management company doing test shoots for their models, so I was happy. it was joy for me making photographs, but here's the thing. I think this is, it's important to know from the start, like when you're going on in life and you're discovering a new path, it's like one thing at a time, I was all about photography and building my portfolio and making images. The business aspect. I was not a business person. I was an evolving artist So I was making all of these images and developing a portfolio and making contacts and meeting people But I didn't know the first thing about how to price a job in what I should be making in The money I needed to sustain my life and pay my bills. So, living in Southern California, I had access to some influential people in the industry. And I connected with the rep for Canon USA and with the Kodak rep. So through them, they would bring me to, ASMP, American Society of Media Photographers meetings in Los Angeles. And I would meet, The journalist, the photojournalist from the Los Angeles times. And I just really learned by spending time with these people and, and seeing what they were doing. It was like a mass mentorship. So does that answer the question?

Raymond Hatfield:

Yeah. Yeah. And

Michelle Tricca:

I know I want to get into it, but I was just slowly evolving and it really stemmed from having to take that art requirement. And well, I liked photography and going into advanced art photography. And that was it. That's when the light bulb went off and it's just been. Like with every art, it's kind of has a snowball effect. And if you're in it, you want more and there's different avenues to take.

Raymond Hatfield:

I want to know though, because you said that you had taken photos plenty of times before. what was it about this advanced photography class that made you stop and think, Hey, actually, I want to pursue this more.

Michelle Tricca:

So in black and white darkroom, we just learned about F stop and its relation to shutter speed and printing black and white images. And we would have assignments like panning and stop motion and macro, all those different things. But with advanced art photography, we did things like we would colorize black and white. So we would use the photographic pens to colorize images and Our teacher was very liberal with, um, having us experiment with lighting and just being non traditional with making photographs that resonated with our soul and like pursuing personal projects. So for me, as I said, not really being an artist my whole life. I draw stick figures. Like I just never considered myself one of artistic ability. it just. A light bulb went off. It was like this. A few layers of the onion of my adolescence just peeled off. And I was like, wow, this is it. I just felt this innate connection with photography and art. Making photographs. It was a form of like self expression and also a means of connecting and communicating with people because my favorite thing to photograph was people. And it was the process of planning photo shoots, having that connection, directing, and then having them involved with not only the picture making, but with appreciating the image. I always tell my clients nowadays, like when I do family portraits, I'm not taking your picture. This is a group effort. Like this is a collaboration. It's like both of us. So all these things that encompass photography, I started learning on my own at, that very young stage.

Raymond Hatfield:

That's beautiful. What were some of those things that you struggled with? You know, you mentioned the ISO and you know, all the technicals and whatnot. Was there any aspect of photography that you just was having a hard time grasping?

Michelle Tricca:

Not with the technical things, because I learned from the very start when I took that initial black and white darkroom class. On the first day of class, the teacher on the chalkboard, he compared it to a funnel, like when you, you know, use a funnel a measuring funnel in the kitchen, so says, you know, you have a cup of water and you have a funnel. So you pour this cup of water down the funnel and the holes that big. And it'll take maybe six seconds to go down. But if the hole's a lot bigger, you open the funnel, you pour the water down, it's going to go down in one second flat. If you make the hole the size of a little pin, it's going to take maybe 15, 17, 18 seconds. And so that always stuck with me, the relation of aperture and shutter speed. Like if it's super bright and sunny out, The whole, the aperture needs to stay open this long, or if it's, sunset and we're dealing with very low ambient light, your aperture needs to stay open wide and for a longer period of time to let the light in. So that's how my brain works visually. So I was always clear on aperture and shutter speed and how that relates to everything I'm photographing. But I think what I struggled with was learning to edit. There's no social media. Back then, So, I can compare it to nowadays, like sometimes people will, whether they're not photographers and they're just sharing personal photos, or if they are photographers, sometimes there's, A struggle with editing. Like I like to choose one strong image nowadays with social media, one strong image, but someone may also choose, say they're showing a picture of their child, 17 images that are pretty much the same, like, very similar shots. So I think editing was one of the things I struggled with because back then I had an actual leather portfolio that zipped and I would put. Printed photographs and 11 by 14 pages, so I struggle with editing and learning to take the strongest image that it's quality over quantity, five solid pictures over 20 substandard pictures, because it's about making a mark and affecting the mind and the soul. Learning to edit was one of the things I struggled with and also knowing that as I said, learning the whole business aspect of photography was an evolution. It's learning that not everyone is your client. When I was still kind of sorting out my genre, I was taking jobs to shoot product for a company, to photograph an event, to shoot an editorial for a magazine of a business person, to shoot a surf event. And I was kind of all over the place, but as it came to realize, not everyone is your client. And I had to learn to say no to some jobs and know that I wanted to just only focus on portraiture. I'm a portrait photographer. And actually I think the affirmation was, as I said, spending time with the Los Angeles Times photojournalists, I would have them look at my work periodically and they would say, you're going to make your money shooting people. So that just kind of solidified everything. So the struggle, business aspect, learning to edit, and that not everyone is your client, or not every job is for you.

Raymond Hatfield:

How do you get better at editing? how do you get better at choosing which photo is, the best versus which one you can toss.

Michelle Tricca:

It's just a matter of, to me, I consider myself a sentimentalist. So it's really, it's something you can't explain. It's the, the most solid image. if I narrowed down my own work, sometimes I use the metaphoric phrase. it's hard to see the picture when you're inside the frame. So I become personally attached to images because you know, all the backstory and you created it, and then you look at what you created. But someone else at third party, who knows? nothing about it except for they see the actual visual document. I will take, I will call my images down to the strongest. And a lot of times I get a second or third opinion. People can innately go to one solid image and I get help that way. So for me, it's more about a feeling.

Raymond Hatfield:

That makes sense. And, sometimes it's difficult, I think, for new photographers to sense that feeling, right? Like, you got a bunch of photos, especially because a lot of newer photographers are, you know, as you said earlier, taking photos of their kids. And, it's hard to say, actually, these photos of my kids aren't good. But these photos of my kids are good. So it really does just come down to that experience so that it can, become that feeling. When you were in Southern California and working with the, LA Times photo journalists, that had to have been a unique experience for sure. Was there any like big takeaways that you got from taking that job?

Michelle Tricca:

I think I just learned about. professionalism. The thing with photography is that it's an art. It's not like being an accountant. or an engineer. It's like a photographer. It's an art. You can be a hobbyist. there's so many different aspects of photography. So I knew I love photography and I wanted to be a photographer. The business part came later, but I think I just learned about photography and seeing these people who were. Like at the top of their game, literally living their dream, but it's also, it's not all, I hate that saying, but it's like not all daisies and sunshine, but it's like actual it's work and it's accountability and there's, you know, a code of conduct and professional standards. So I think I learned all that at a very young age and I always remember this. So. The Canon rep that I was friends with would bring me to a lot of, presentations. And so we went to one hosted by National Geographic and this was in 90, 92 or 93. So Nick Nichols, who was a National Geographic photographer was presenting. He has a bit of a Southern drawl and He had done a story a few months prior on, I think he was in maybe a story in Kenya about wildlife. And so he was talking about how we spend a month up in a tree to get these certain shots. And like, it was just very technical and, very like physically and emotionally intense. And so it's cool to hear the stories behind the pictures you see a, beautiful lioness in the Serengeti and you don't think about the blood, sweat and tears that goes behind making these images. And so, after hearing him speak, I don't really get starstruck, but I kind of got starstruck meeting Nick Nichols. And so after he presented, I went up to him and we were talking and I was talking about just not related to his experience in Africa, I said, I have on my wall, the cover of The June, 1995 issue of National Geographic, there's like an, a blurry photograph of an elephant charging the photographer. And I guess it's the first time National Geographic really took a chance and put an out of focus structured technical picture on the cover. And he was just kind of smiling. He's like, yeah, I shot that. And I was, I remember turning bright red. I was like, it's just so impressed that like this man is living his dream. And, you know, This is what I want to do. So your original question was what, I'm sorry, you were talking about,

Raymond Hatfield:

learning

Michelle Tricca:

from it, being influenced by people working in the industry.

Raymond Hatfield:

Exactly. Exactly. And I guess what comes next is, you know, you were told that you're going to make your money photographing people. How did you transition into doing that? Were you just doing, you know, you're in LA, you're taking headshots or how did you get to where you are now?

Michelle Tricca:

So as I was establishing myself, I did the responsible thing. I had a temp job. And so every week, I would have a job as an office or data entry, whatever, while building my portfolio. So, as I said, I connected with a surf company and they would send me on assignments, photographing their team riders. but living in Newport Beach, I would get up at the crack of dawn and I would photograph a dawn patrol of the riders out in the ocean and take some product shots with the new body boards or surfboards they're representing and then working for the model management company, they would give me work photographing their models. And I got a job at Abercrombie and Fitch just so I could take those, you know, massive life size black and white photos when they would take them down, when they, changed out their clothing lines every couple of months. I would go home with these massive photographs, kind of like the ones behind me, like the massive, you know, the Abercrombie and Fitch. So, working there, I also worked with a lot of people who were My age in my twenties who were also fun loving. So I was always photographing them. I was photographing their kids and just working all the time, whether it was paid jobs or portfolio value, and then. it's the portfolio building jobs, your actual work, your creative energy, those are the pictures that get you more work. So I ended up, going to Africa. I went on an African safari in 1994. And the reason I went to Africa is because after living in Southern California for a year, I got into a car crash. And it was a near death car crash. So I, I have a reconstructed arm and ankle and my lung collapsed. I was on life support. So I went through six months of physical therapy to regain use of my arm and leg. And at the age of 24, it was a very dark time. So I think that whole experience was. Really my catalyst to self growth and assessing my priorities. So I made a, started my bucket list, which I've been living ever since. And the first thing on my bucket list was African safari. So one day when I was very close to healing, like I had graduated to a Walker, I was regaining strength in my arm and leg, I got an adventure catalog from R E I R E I that recreational equipment incorporated. They also had a travel adventure company. I opened it up. I see this. Two page promotion for two week African safari in Kenya, Tanzania. I just picked up the phone and I signed right up. I said, I'm going to be there August of 1994. So I went to Africa and right before I went, I connected with the Kodak rep and they provided me with 50 bricks of slide film, T max black and white, and. slide film. And then Canon, I was actually shooting Nikon at the time, my Canon rep friend provided me with, a couple of zoom lenses and Canon bodies. So I went armed with my toolbox and That was a life changer, that trip. My goodness, I bet. So, I get back from the trip, and that Christmas, I was home for the holidays. My parents invited me to go to a Christmas party with their friends, and I was like, no, I don't really want to go to a party with a bunch of little people. They went and my family, like we're always the ones that go to parties were always like the last ones to leave. So it was the end of the night. We were helping them clear dishes and stuff, including the kitchen. And I remember I was throwing away paper plates, and there was this guy leaning against the trash, trash compactor and I was like, excuse me. Like just kind of, I was in like work mode. I just like, okay, excuse me. And he got out of the way and people resumed talking. Everyone left. And then by folks and I left, and as we were walking out, I look at their bookshelves and I see a thick book that says a hundred years in the history of photographing America, and I was like, Oh my gosh, you have this book. I've seen this at the bookstore. I love it. And I just, can I look at this for a second? And I'm flipping through it. And they're like, sure. You could actually take it home to look. Marty, Marty just left. And I was like, what do you mean? Marty just left. And they're like, Martin Sandler. I'm like, I'm not sure what you're talking about. And they said, Martin Sandler, the author of that, he's a Pulitzer prize winning writer of photography. He just left. I'm like, left where? And they said, you actually shushed him out of the way when you were pleading and going to the trash compactor. me? Martin Sandler, the author of this. Was just here. That was the guy. Why didn't you tell me?

Raymond Hatfield:

Yeah.

Michelle Tricca:

So they said he's a, super guy. Here's his phone number. Why don't you give him a call? And I was like, my gosh. Okay. So I called him the next day and he just laughed. He's super easygoing. And he said, I told him I had gone to Africa. He said, Michelle, I tell you what, I'm currently working on a project, commissioned by Simon Schuster Publishers. It's Macmillan's Dictionary for Children. And I'm still on the hunt for photos. So why don't you bring some of your work and meet me. At Starbucks. So, as I said, I had my little portfolio with prints. I had my, some of my Africa photos of the Maasai and Tamborine, some wild animals. So I went and met with him and I was just like, As I said, I never get starstruck, but I was just like, you know, sometimes as an artist, sometimes we have a DD brain, but I was just like a million percent focused on this man. Yes. And everything he had to say. And I just showed him my work with no expectations. Just honored that this director of photography for this project is even looking at my work. And he goes, I tell you what, send me this, this, this, and this. I have a meeting with the publishers in a couple days, and I'll tell you what happened. So it ends up that they ended up using my, photo of running zebras on the back cover. To for the word gate G. A. I. T. Like a zebra's gate running through the surrogate and then a bunch of my portraits of the, Samburu women with their necklaces and their babies and several images throughout the book. So It was just stuff like that. It was, I think for me, just putting myself out there, showing my work to anyone who would look because you never know.

Raymond Hatfield:

So how does that transform into, portraits?

Michelle Tricca:

So I was just always focused on portraits. As I was saying, one of the hard things of when you're starting out in photography, was that not everyone's your client and. Knowing what genre you really want to stick with. I, that was just my interest. That's where my interest lied was portraits. So I would photograph family portraits. I would photograph friends and all these people that I was collaborating with to build my portfolio, they were showing people the photographs and that work because I made it note from my soul with my heart, that was attracting clients. People would see it and say, Oh, I want that. So they would call me and that's how my. portrait business started evolving. And then I moved out to Hawaii. As I said, going down my bucket list, I moved out to Hawaii in my late 20s, and I brought my work around. actually, there was a gallery there. Canon USA had a gallery where they, Sponsored artists every month and within a few months of living at Honolulu, they offered me a show. So I invited all the art directors for all the magazines and publications and newspapers I wanted to work for. And they came, saw my portfolio on the wall, and then they started giving me work. So it was just really about putting myself out there. And then I started working for the Triple Crown of Surfing, which is the biggest surf contest in the world that ends up on the North Shore every November and December. And from there, I was Meeting the world's top surfers on the world tour. I worked in the press room. So I had literally all of the photo editors from all the top surf magazines coming in to get press badges for me. So it was just an incredible experience. So I was photographing, shooting portraits in the surf industry with the. That look with the international surf press.

Raymond Hatfield:

is so cool. That is so cool. today you're in Florida. So did you move to Florida after Hawaii to start doing portraits there?

Michelle Tricca:

I left Hawaii after seven years to move to San Diego, where I worked for a snowboard magazine. I wasn't a photographer for the magazine. I was the photo coordinator. So our office was based in La Jolla. The photographers were all over the world shooting snowboarding. So I worked that for seven months, you know, it was like my Paying the bills job while I was establishing myself because I left Hawaii where I was established and then had to reestablish myself in San Diego. Sure. So, I quit the magazine after seven months with the small savings that I had. I wanted to start a t shirt line based on my photographs. So, I ended up Moving into, it was kind of like a Warhol factory. So you know how Andy Warhol had his whole art factory in New York? So I moved into this 1920s Spanish villa McMansion with five artist friends. I lived with a fashion designer, an industrial designer, a creative director, an art director, and a model. And they were starting a clothing line. I was starting my t shirt line. So we would all collaborate. I would photograph. their clothing lines on their models and their fashion shows. And like my art director roommate was making a lookbook for my t shirt line. We were living the life of creativity. However, being artists and not business people, we are in out of money at the same time and got evicted. Oh my goodness. So after a year and a half of living this beautiful life. I mean, this is where the term starving artist comes from, and I learned a lot from this experience, and I wouldn't change a thing. This was the time in, you know, when the whole real estate market crashed, when they were basically handing out credit cards with 0 percent interest. So a lot of us were taking out these credit cards and just charging our lives, charging our business expenses, car payments, and, you know, Growing these businesses that we naively thought when they started blooming, we would pay off our credit cards. So I had maxed out three credit cards. We got evicted from this house because we all ran out of money at the same time. And I ended up moving to Naples, Florida, where I currently reside in 2005, because my folks had recently moved here and they bought an investment condo to rent out. And when we got evicted, they made an intervention call and they said, Instead of living on the streets of Tijuana in a cardboard box, why don't you come to Florida? You can rent a room in our investment condo while you get back on your feet and go back to California. And I was like, thank you so much, but I'm not going to Florida. Everyone's a hundred and there's no surf or mountains and I don't play bingo or golf. So no. But after tossing and turning for two weeks, I ended up driving across the southern route of the United States in the middle of summer to come to Florida, absolutely depressed. I just felt like my life is over. I lost, I'm an irresponsible artist. a lot of shame and regret and guilt. So I planned on staying in Florida, maybe a year, paying off all these credit cards, tearing them up and going back to California to resume my life. And that was in 2005. And now it's 2022. So I got here. I launched my t shirt line. I got a website and I was making these t shirts. They're based on my photographs from my travels. And I had some success with that. They were boutique t shirts. So they were selling for 40 each, but the thing was, I was making them all myself. I was a one man band. So I would get an order, you know, take me all day to create a couple dozen t shirts. It really wasn't economically viable. So I did it again. I started. meeting with local photo directors for publications I wanted to work for. And I was meeting with, planners, event planners and showing them my wedding portfolio. I had photographed weddings, like per special requests when I was in Southern California and Hawaii. So that's how I started evolving here was shooting editorial for magazines and shooting weddings, which I absolutely love, love shooting weddings. The last wedding I photographed was three years ago, and I will photograph one on special request, but I took my wedding portfolio down and I'm really focused on portraits now, but I loved it. just the whole spirit of it, the beach, like just the whole energy of the day. I really loved that. So I ended up within the first year, cutting up all my credit cards and just forgetting about that, going into debt, learning situation in California. And I've been building myself in Florida since,

Raymond Hatfield:

wow. So Focusing on portraits now, can you tell me what kind of portraits you focus on professionally?

Michelle Tricca:

So the majority of my bread and butter is multi generational family portraits. I live in a destination location in Naples, Florida, Southwest Florida, the Gulf of Mexico. So a lot of my work is I'm busiest around the holidays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, spring break, where sometimes families come together one or two days of the year. So I'll shoot multi generational photos. mostly on the beach and I really elevate the family portrait. So it's not just about the photographs. It's about creating, how are you going to enjoy your images after a lot of these families come together, multi generations, they'll keep in touch via FaceTime, but they're never physically together. So I create giant pieces of wall art, photo galleries for their walls, and I do fine art coffee table photo books. So we plan on the intention is for the work to either live on their walls as their custom art or coffee table photo books that they can look at every day. You know, while they're heading out to shovel snow in Indianapolis.

Raymond Hatfield:

Yeah, that was me yesterday. Absolutely.

Michelle Tricca:

So I do that. And, um, and editorial, I shoot editorial assignments and some branding work, but mostly family portraits.

Raymond Hatfield:

When it comes to those family portraits, they obviously know what. It is that you're going to be offering in terms of like wall art and coffee table books, beautiful albums. how does that conversation go when they first show up? Because I am friends with somebody who's in the beginner photography podcast community who lives, in Pensacola and says that very often, you know, she'll do something similar. Very often, they just want digitals. They, just want something quick, like a mini session or whatever. How do you, differentiate? From, doing simple mini sessions on the beach to what it is that you deliver, which is much larger than that.

Michelle Tricca:

I'm a full service photographer. I'm not a shoot and burn. I was a shoot and burn. so backing up, I didn't mention this. I know I've been talking fast, but so much has happened. So while I was living in San Diego, after I moved from Hawaii, This was around the time when people were starting to go digital. And I was like, nope, not going to do it. Nope. I'm too invested on digital thing. Computers. No, I ended up, getting a digital camera and I took a digital, I went to Los Angeles for a week to take a digital photography workshop and I just, I was so overwhelmed. It started to take the pleasure away from me. Sure. With all of a sudden this investment in digital and pixels and SD cards, I was really overwhelmed and kind of not rethinking my career, but thinking what, what is going on? Like, is the dream over? Is this bursting my bubble? Should I look for another career? I don't have any other skills. I can make banana bread. Should I be a baker? I was, it was horrible. It's an important

Raymond Hatfield:

skill though.

Michelle Tricca:

It went from, you know, what I would do as a film photographer, as I would do family portraits, and then we would look at the contact sheets. I would have a contact sheet in a loop for my client and we would select portraits and I would sell them the prints. But with this digital, it was confusing on every round. It was like relearning the industry, like literally even the technical aspects, like the learning how to shoot with digital and the editing. So it took me a while to adjust. So once I was digital, we didn't know what to do. So we Shoot pictures and offer a bunch of digital files to a client. But that really, after a while, I was like, this is not gratifying for me. And the weddings I was shooting, burning someone a disc, and then I would run into them a year or two later and they'd say, Oh, we are pictures around a disc in the drawer. Like that just was not gratifying for me. So it took me a while to evolve to where I am now. I am strictly a full service photographer. I'm a print advocate. And I offer images as I would want them as a family member or as a partner or a mother. I'm actually an auntie of, I don't have my own kids. I have a twin niece and nephew. They're like my kids, but I am a print advocate and it's important for me to create art for my clients. I'm talking my retail clients, my family portrait clients. I offer digitals when it's for commercial usage or editorial, but my. Family portrait clients, they get wall art and coffee table books. And as I was saying earlier, not every client is your client. I'm not for every client. there are a lot of families that come here and just want a quick mini session or 20 minutes with their kids on the beach. And I'm not the right photographer for them because I want them to have Wall art and coffee table book photo books and fine art prints. But there are plenty of photographers who do work on the shoot and burn model and who will shoot a session and give them a disc. that's not my core value. And I don't want to leave a client hanging with the digital files.

Raymond Hatfield:

So for you, is it in the message that you're sending out that, Hey, when we leave, you're going to have prints, you're going to have an album to show so that clients kind of self, determine whether you are the right photographer for them or not.

Michelle Tricca:

that's established up front. So my work is word of mouth. A lot of people find me online that come from out of town. And I do have examples of my wall art, my full service offerings on my website. So that's established from the get go, and a client will either want to move forward with that or they'll, they'll interest in just getting a bunch of digital files and then they can move on because there are a lot of Awesome photographers here in Southwest Florida that they can choose from. But as I said, a lot of my work is word of mouth. So someone will enter a family's homes, see their wall galleries or a book I did for them, and then I'll get a call saying, I saw the work you did for someone. So we actually have a, a wall in our living room, or we just moved to a new place and we'd like our own personal art. And that's how I'm really attracting my clients is that they're. Seeing the work I've done for other people. Mm hmm.

Raymond Hatfield:

Mm hmm. Now, I know that you have been shooting essentially professionally for, decades at this point, right? You've been working on this a long time, been in business for a long time as well. but, the way that I found you was through your personal projects that you do. And your, project specifically, People of Immokalee. Did I pronounce that right? Yes, Immokalee. Immokalee. Perfect. So, this is where you go out and you document the people of the community. is that right? Mm hmm.

Michelle Tricca:

No, it's actually the face of Immokalee is a portrait installation celebrating the soul of Immokalee. So actually the portraits behind me are from the project, the face of Immokalee. So I live in Collier County, which is one of the wealthiest counties in the United States, Naples specifically Has a lot of money. Not me personally, I'm still working staff, but within Collier County is Naples, one of the wealthiest zip codes. And we also have Immokalee, which is the, one of the biggest migrant farm worker communities in the United States. And there's this vast juxtaposition. It's the, Immokalee is where the. Countries, tomatoes are grown. And so it's an agriculture industry, just 40 minutes away from coastal Naples. And we're in a bubble here. There's people who have grown up here, but a lot of people are transplants who come here for better weather and relaxing life. And this juxtaposition is that there's this disparity of wealth versus just very, very humble means just they're under recognized And under shirt, and I am actually a mentor for the Immokalee Foundation, which is a foundation that provides education and support for kids to break the cycle of poverty and to see them through high school and into college. And so spending time up there, I see all these agricultural buildings and just blank surfaces. There's a lot of homogenized walls in Collier County, just building walls that are white with no art or murals. Miami is Very supportive of the murals in the art movement, but not so much in Collier. So my artist brain sees these as canvases and being up in Immokalee and seeing these White semi trucks that go between the farms and the factories and the packing houses and then the building walls. My artist brain sees art and since my only means of art is photography, I saw portraits of Immokalee residents on these walls. So I made a pitch to the Community Redevelopment Agency in January of 2019 and I got approval to go ahead and do it. So this is a project I've been working on for the past three years. There's been a delay because of Covid, but I'm back at it shooting portraits, and I'm partnering with an agricultural company who's providing me their buildings and their semi-trucks to install these portraits. That is cool. And this is loosely based on a project I did in 2011 in Naples. I was given a golf cart repair shop, a 1000 square foot. wall by the owner to use as my canvas for a portrait mural I did there. I photographed a thousand portraits of local residents and installed them as a photographic tribute to human diversity. So this one in Immokalee is going to be in a larger scale with massive life size portraits as a public art statement because I don't feel that a high dollar ticket should be the only means by which someone can enjoy art. So this way with the portraits being exhibited publicly, they can be enjoyed by all. And Immokalee residents don't spend a lot of time in Naples and Naples residents don't spend the time to get up to Immokalee to get to know them. So the trucks will be able to drive through coastal Naples and bring the exhibit to people who didn't know it existed. So it's my means of activism as a photographer.

Raymond Hatfield:

That is so cool to get your message out there and to get your photo scene. that's perfect. Trucks are just a giant billboard, essentially giant. That is so cool. I know that, and I've, I told you this right before, one of the biggest things that I hear from members of, the Beginner Photography Podcast community is that, they want to start a business. They want to earn money with their camera, which is something that you do, but they are worried that once they start doing that, the joy of photography is going to be lost and that photography is now going to become their job. It's not going to have that same, fun and excitement factor. And I wanted to ask, you know, with you doing personal projects, is that how you combat that?

Michelle Tricca:

For me, as a career artist, photography is my career as well as my lifestyle. Photography pays the bills and all the jobs aren't all fun and they aren't all glamorous. And, People see the work you've created. They don't know the backstory. So yes, being a photographer, can have this moments of glam, but really taking pictures as a business is like 20 percent of it, you've got all your technical aspects, you've got calling, you've got editing, you've got invoicing, you've got taxes, you've got reedit, you've got, you know, client approvals. So that's something that you really need to be sure you want to do and commit to. I just do it because I know other skills. I'm just kidding. it's very hard work. but aside from that, that's why I maintain personal projects. I put my heart and so that my commercial work pays the bills. I'm able to do something that I love to pay the bills, but I'm also a photographer in the means of working on personal projects that, are humanitarian nature that help other people that champion other people. So I think it's always important to stay involved in personal projects. You've got your work life as a photographer and your personal projects that will fill your soul. And it's okay. I get burned out. Sometimes it's okay to take a break. I'm going on vacation in May. I'm going on a two and a half week vacation. And you need that sometimes to recharge yourself, and it's okay to, take other jobs to pay the bills while you're establishing yourself, but I would say, stick with what you love and what fulfills your soul as a photographer. I remember, one of the Los Angeles Times, the photojournalist I was talking about another thing I learned from him. I remember I had gotten a call from someone who was offering me a job for very little pay like peanuts. And it was kind of, demoralizing what they were offering me as an artist. I remember him saying in my ears, I was on the phone. He said, Michelle, you don't need to take this job to be a photographer, like you don't even you don't need to take any job this month to be a photographer, you are a photographer, take the jobs you want like because you're a photographer doesn't mean you need to accept every job and I always remember that. So, to avoid burnout I would say it needs to be who your portfolio, or your bank account, either pays really well and you, know your work. You work to make the client happy or it behooves your portfolio and it's something you absolutely love and work you'll be proud of and work you'll be able to show people to attract more clients.

Raymond Hatfield:

Does that answer the question? It does. Yeah. And that is a huge, huge lesson that I think, oh my gosh, so many photographers, myself included, when I first Got started, I didn't listen to that. I thought, to be a photographer, my ideal client was anybody who's willing to pay me. I thought that I had to take every job. I thought that I had to, do senior photos, do those newborn photos, do everything under the sun if somebody wanted it, because that's the validation. Otherwise, if you didn't, you know, how could you call yourself a photographer? And that is, obviously now with. You know, years of experience, you learn that that's absolutely not the case. And I hope that somebody listening today realizes that and makes a change in their business to do something that, they are to change doing something that they don't want to do into something that they do want to do. So keeping with the personal projects, then there are a million different ideas that you could do, especially within the humanitarian realm, right? There's a million things. How do you choose what? You want to focus your specific attention on to have the biggest impact

Michelle Tricca:

you mean as far as personal projects

Raymond Hatfield:

Yes

Michelle Tricca:

for me. These projects are things that they kind of come to mind and they haunt me They won't let me go and if it's something that keeps resonating in my mind and my soul I can't stop thinking about it. I need to pursue it and Another project that I'm working on. The thing is is these projects I figured out, I looked at the pattern, is that they're not just myself. I see myself as the conduit between the art and getting it out there into the world and making an impact on not only the subjects of the photography, but on other people's lives. Like with The face of Immokalee championing this underrecognized community. It brings me it just fills my soul. Like it's just it's a feeling I can't explain. It's gratifying. And this is a not for profit. I've been putting three years of my own time, energy and money and efforts into this. Three years, I got a fiscal sponsor for this. I've been getting donations to help with expenses. I found a printed installer, but I've done all the work myself three years, but it's the gratification is seeing this come to fruition and bringing, life and spirit and engagement through my photographs. That's really the most. Fulfilling for me. I bet. And another project that came to me that wouldn't let me go happened over quarantine. Most of my jobs were canceled or postponed. And so I sat. In my office going through archives years and years of old work. for me when you take a break from your work and you go back and you can see images that didn't necessarily resonate with you before that you maybe reedit and that you'll consider not for your portfolio. So I was finding all this work that I did in the Bayshore Arts District, which is the community where I live. And a lot of this work I've done because of urban sprawl and a lot of historic places being plowed over to develop newer properties. I was seeing that. I have some historic photos here, these places that don't exist like this community of artist shacks. It was this artist in fishing village made on the water in the 70s and two years ago it got plowed over with concrete and it's now part of a new marina. And the place was awesome. I photographed musicians, And, younger families there just created some super cool work. There used to be a skateboard park that's gotten cut over. And now it's pickleball courts because Naples is also the pickleball capital of the United States or the world or something. And so over quarantine, I was thinking I should make a zine, make a little zine of like historic work of the Bayshore Arts District. And then I had a light bulb. We're an up and coming community. And there's a lot of mom and pops. Entrepreneurs, independent small business and artists moving down here. I thought, no, I'll create a publication, not only including editorials and the sister work, but I want to promote and champion all these small businesses that aren't necessarily given the exposure that the larger big box scores stores and corporations have by advertising in the magazines and the networks and the major newspapers. So I just started, decided to start this independent print publication. Called the Bayshore Independent. So I've been working on that since quarantine and the whole, the baseline of it is collaboration. So for instance, there's a, developer that's developing properties based on porches. He wants to bring back porch culture, how in the 50s and 60s, people would Gather on their porches in the mornings or in the evenings. And, kids would play and they'd have cocktails and play music. And that was a means of, celebrating each other and communicating. And so this local developer is wanted to promote his community. Some of his portraits. So I created a photo shoot where I had a couple of my friends model and I got food from one of the local restaurants. one of the, the local kayak company provided food. I got popcorn from the local popcorn company, jewelry from my friend who's a jeweler down there and everything you see in these shoots. As a collaboration will be in the magazine. Everything will be listed like, you know, you'll see shoes or something cool in an editorial scene, a magazine. You don't necessarily know where it came from. So it's a means to promote everyone through photography. So the name of it is going to be the Bayshore Independent because it's, you know, The Bayshore Arts District and independent because all of the businesses and artists being featured are independent entities with being promoted through photographs with no advertising and not a lot of heavy text. It'll be photographic based, it'll be large format and printed on beautiful paper.

Raymond Hatfield:

So

Michelle Tricca:

that's something that's also, a passion project, but it's not about me. It's about. championing this whole community here, raising everybody up through photographs. So that's the way for me, I keep inspired and keep this decades long love affair with photography. It's just a matter of thinking out of the box and pursuing and actually some people will say you're lucky, but it's not about lucky. It's really just about pursuing and taking action to make things happen.

Raymond Hatfield:

Yeah. A lot of tenacity gets just kind of thrown out the window when people just throw the word luck out there. I totally understand that. These are like long term projects that you're working on, right? This isn't, hey, I'm going to go in there for a few hours, photograph some photos, put it out, project's done. This is ongoing. So, you talk to me about maybe the planning process or how you know which photos it is that you want to capture? Is it all about where they're going to end up or is it more story driven? Can you walk me through that? For the basher independent

Michelle Tricca:

publication

Raymond Hatfield:

or either that or back to face of Immokalee.

Michelle Tricca:

Okay. So with the face of Immokalee, I go to Immokalee and I'll spend a day or half a day with a select group of people and I'll make photographs. And then it's just a matter of choosing the strongest one. do have a section on my website that talks about the face of Immokalee, but. It has not been installed yet. All of the photos are artist renditions, but the photos have not actually been installed. What I'm waiting for is, I applied last year for a grant to the Florida Department of State. It was approved. It was actually one of the highest scoring for the Florida Builds culture genre, and it was just approved by legislature. The last step we have is our governor has until mid June to approve of it. He still has Redline veto power, but I'm hoping he does the right thing and If the grant comes through, then I'll hopefully be able to actually install the work I've been created on starting with the trucks first. So I've been progressively making photographs and it's just like, that's one thing. It's not about making the photographs so much administrative work after that, you know, culling them all selecting the best, and then they need to all be cohesive because it's about the face of Immokalee. So these are two young people behind me. We've got age ranges. We've just got The whole palette of humanity. So there's a lot of work in the editing process and selecting the strongest image, like this kid here, I've made me six strong shots of him, but this one just worked his personality. It's like right there. He just nailed it.

Raymond Hatfield:

Yeah. So when I look at that photo, I see personality that is like a kid who is having a good time right there and being truly who they are. I don't think that when I look at that photo, I don't think to myself, Oh, you know, clearly, Michelle here said, smile, look at the camera. Put on a goofy face, like whatever happened in that moment is, genuine. And I think that, you know, put on the side of a tractor trailer is going to bring joy to people driving around, looking at it. so I love, I love this idea so much. Um, of course, I feel like there are still so many questions that I have, about project, because it is something that, you know, not only is personal to you, but is going to help a community. And I think that thinking about those, that aspect, really warrants a longer conversation. But I know that we are at the end of our time today. so before I let you go, is there anything that maybe I wasn't able to ask you today that you want to make sure that listeners know about, creating it? Thank you. Personal work.

Michelle Tricca:

I would just say, write everything down. We get our ideas at the most inopportune times when we're blazing down the highway, when we're in the shower, diving below the water in the shower, tying your shoes on the way out. I haven't perpetual list, in the notes app on my phone or just writing things down and actually pursue them and, double bonus, if you can work on them. it's one thing to create personal projects, you know, just for your gratification, which. I highly encourage and, commend, but when it affects and impacts other people, I would say that that's really the most tremendously gratifying is like knowing your work, your visuals have an effect. I feel like. Your photographs can connect and, evoke thought and promote social change. So those are the ones for me that are the most gratifying and just really figure out what's most gratifying for you. Set your intention. That's what I want to say. Set your intention with your work.

Raymond Hatfield:

Michelle, I don't know how we could end it any better than that. That was perfect right there. before I let you go, I know that people are going to be interested in, seeing some of your work. So where can we follow you along online?

Michelle Tricca:

My website is michelletrica. com and I'm on Instagram at michelletrica.

Raymond Hatfield:

Just a quick thank you to Michelle for sharing everything that she did today. I have three big takeaways. The first one is to pursue personal projects that have impact. It sounds obvious, right? I mean, we get into photography because we all want to tell a story with our images, but if our images were able to make a change in our own community for the better, wouldn't you want to do that? Like this doesn't have to be a portrait. It doesn't have to be today. Maybe you photograph the dying trees along your favorite walking trail, simply to raise awareness for your park. Those images can make a difference in your own community. Takeaway number two is to embrace quality over quantity. It is so easy. you know, when shooting to come home with 10, 000 images, Lynn, I'm looking at you, but part of the power that we wield as photographers is not just taking the images, but also sharing the images and to make an impact with an image. Oftentimes, less is more. Just try to shoot 10 percent less. Try to be more intentional when pressing that shutter button. Cull down your session a bit more. You know, they don't need three variations of, them walking or whatever. And then, share even less to make your story stand out. Takeaway number three is to keep a beginner's mindset. There will always be more to learn and that should excite you rather than debilitate you. You know, just going out to shoot, try not to throw yourself for a loop, take a lens that you haven't shot in ages, give yourself a challenge of shooting only in portrait orientation, take a class, watch a tutorial, learn something that excites you, and you We'll in turn be excited and then you will excite others and what better way to make change. I want to invite you to share your biggest takeaway with me and everybody else in the free and private beginner photography podcast community where you can connect with others and share your ideas and ask questions. So come join us over at beginnerphotopod. com forward slash group. That's beginnerphotopod. com. Dot com forward slash group until next week. Remember, the more that you shoot today, the better of a photographer you will be. Talk soon.

Michelle Tricca:

Thank you for listening to the beginner photography podcast. Keep shooting and we'll see you next week.