FEATURED INTERVIEW: HAILLEY HOWARD
Interview by Angel Quintana
Photo Credit: Hailley Howard
Magazine: Issue #29
Photography by: Hailley Howard
In this month’s issue of Holistic Fashionista Magazine, we’ve featured beautiful photography from Hailley Howard. Hailley is a California-born fashion and commercial photographer now splitting her time between both coasts. Hailley's clean and stoic eye is experimental and not afraid to push the boundaries. Self-taught, she doesn't adhere to the confines of rules and she lets her environment envelop her imagery; unique, free and feminine. Raw yet structured, her images evoke emotions of voyeuristic moments; caught and captured, intimate and still. When not shooting for work Hailley fills her Instagram feed with images of beaches, architecture, palm trees and stolen moments - camera always in hand, Hailley is ever defining her voice behind and through the camera lens. You can see more of Hailley’s work at www.Hailley.com
Who or what influenced you to become a photographer?
I was a kooky child. A mismatched ragamuffin running ragged with un-brushed hair, bouncing off the walls and always stopping visitors and friends for an impromptu dance performance. I guess you could say that I had an "artistic temperament". But I couldn't find my outlet. I would draw, I would paint, I would wake up early and write stories on a baby blue typewriter - but I never felt that I was "good-enough". Looking back I can see how drawn to images I was. I would pull magazine clippings and take selfies, before the word was coined, already creating stories with images before I realized what I was doing. I suppose it was so seamless and natural that it took nearly 23 years for me to hear that calling, that whisper - the pull into the abyss that is diving headfirst into a creative career, naked and vulnerable.
I had become the one that always had her camera out, taking photos, editing them {badly} and sharing them with strangers and random party-goers. I wasn't trying to be a photographer, I was just being. In saying this I am realizing that in this love affair, we found each other. I decided to move forward full-force after a soul-searching road trip across the country. When I got home, that is what I did and it's all I have been doing ever since. The movement was slow at first but it has truly become what I live, eat and breathe.
It's hard for me to tell you exact influences. I can tell you photographers that I love for various reasons. But I think what is more interesting is that I look back at things that I liked, people I looked up to, images I marked or pulled and I see how they seeped into my consciousness and somehow became a part of me and my style. It's an amazing thing what happens when you love and appreciate something. It becomes a part of you.
How would you describe your photography style?
Sometimes I will ask my subject to look at me as if they are putting a spell on me. I suppose I am asking this because I want them to go into themselves and find their power and share it with me through their eyes. I think my images have a sense of magic to them. There is a level of intensity but also a feminine whim. That juxtaposition plays into my sense for a clean image, nearly stark at times but never cold.
What is your favorite part of having your own creative business?
I love {and hate} that is all lies on me. I grew this with my work ethic. My honor to my word. My flexibility. My will and my perseverance. It is a deeply moving thing to step back and realize that regardless to what I am shooting, someone liked what I do and wanted to hire me. Someone appreciates the way I see the world. It's my gift to share a perception of reality. THIS is what I see, and you can see it too... it's sharing with others in a really beautiful way and it's an honor. Isn't that amazing that I get to do that and get paid for it?!
Photography by: Hailley Howard
What projects motivated you the most?
I find happiness in everything I shoot. But if I were to plan a "perfect" career, it would be filled with beautiful locations, beautiful light, beautiful people and beautiful clothing. I am motivated to create beauty, to capture the beauty in front of me and to share these beautiful things.
If you could give our readers one piece of advice about owning your own business, what would it be?
It isn't easy to find the thing that makes you tick, that feeds you and that keeps you going. If you find that, whatever it is, do not give up. Make. It. Happen.
What’s on the horizon for you? Any projects we need to know about?
I have a cover coming out this fall with Palm Springs Style - we shot at a super special top secret location - keep your eyes peeled... might be my favorite shoot to date!