Meet Demian Tejeda-Benitez | Professional Photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Demian Tejeda-Benitez and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Demian, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
I’ve been an artistic person my entire life. My parents have stories of them catching me drawing multiple times, things that seemed a little more advanced than what a typical kid can do. I was more interested in art than sports. I enjoyed going to museums and being absolutely stunned with the paintings, marble sculptures, and architecture.

In Highschool, we were told to start looking at what we might be interested in doing as a career and I noticed that a lot of students would choose careers that weren’t exactly exciting in any manner, but gave them job and financial security. Obviously, that’s a smart choice, but to me it meant becoming a drone, waking up to do the same routine every day, and potentially working the same job for the rest of your life until you’re burnt out and retire. I on the other hand wanted to do something that involved a medium in art, one where I was able to show off my talents, express my thoughts, tell stories with potential to also be financially beneficial.

And that’s when I discovered Graphic Design. But it wasn’t until I was in the middle of college is when I fell in love with photography. With that, everything just clicked.

Please tell us more about your work. We’d love to hear what sets you apart from others, what you are most proud of or excited about. How did you get to where you are today professionally. Was it easy? If not, how did you overcome the challenges? What are the lessons you’ve learned along the way. What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?
It’s very hard to set yourself apart in photography because it’s such an easy thing to get into. All you really need is a camera, that alone can take you pretty far. But back when I started, I noticed a consistent trend. Everyone had the same camera, or the same lens, and the same editing style. So I figured I’d just do the opposite. I got a different camera than everyone, I purposely used different lenses, and I used my own editing style. While everyone was capturing the same photos using the same dark and moody editing styles, I was capturing different perspectives with bright, vibrant, and sharp photos.

As previously mentioned, my brother saw my potential and told me if I really wanted to be a professional photographer, I needed to know artificial lighting. And I knew if I learned that, I could really set myself apart from everyone else. So I went forward with the challenge, I ended up incorporating artificial light in my photos and built up a reputation that completely set myself apart from most photographers.

On top of that, my personality is very different than what you’d expect from a photographer. Most photographers can be very straight forward, or they’ll act cool and composed. I, on the other hand, am a very goofy person, I make jokes, embarrass myself from time to time, and I’m accident prone. Because of this, I’ve been told by many models that they’ve felt the most comfortable with me. They felt they could be themselves, they didn’t have to worry about feeling a certain way because in front of them is a photographer that’s making them laugh and making them feel great. The photoshoot ends up being a fun experience instead of a job.

I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished so far in my career, but it definitely isn’t easy. I made the decision of pursuing it full time as a freelancer to be my own boss and to pursue as many creative opportunities as possible. But the road is and can be hard, some months can be rewarding, while other months are not. The best way to deal with it is to never give up and keep making yourself available to any opportunity because although some might not seem rewarding at first, it’s the people you end up meeting that could potentially open the door to bigger and more exciting opportunities.

On top of that, there’s unfortunately a lot of male photographers out there that do take advantage of other models, which can make it hard for not just me, but others to market themselves. The best way for me to deal with that is to be transparent and accommodating as possible to all my clients. I want anyone interested in working with me to be able to know me before meeting me. I keep up a presence on social media, I never hide my face, I show off my personality and I’m always available to talk. When meeting in person, I always encourage and welcome clients to bring a friend or family member to help them feel comfortable. Because if a client is ever having any doubts, then I will not go through with the photoshoot.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Well, I’ve only lived in Los Angeles for about a year, and a good portion of that I spent traveling out of the city. So I’m still learning and discovering things about LA. But an absolute thing to do is to go to the beach, preferably the ones in Malibu as they’re far enough away from the city to be a peaceful spot and relax at.

Sunsets are absolutely amazing here in the west coast and so far the best place to see it, in my opinion, is at Point Dume. It’s a short hike to the top of this hill, but the view is gorgeous.

Hikes are a must, there are even a couple that have hidden gems such as waterfalls so that’s definitely something we’d be doing.

Food trucks are the best way to experience the cuisine out here in LA. You can honestly go to just about any and you won’t be disappointed with what you eat. There’s a favorite of mine in Glendale that serves the best menudo.

Museums are great places to go to, the LACMA and the Getty are the popular ones.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My brother, Gabe. I say it every time, I wouldn’t be in photography if it wasn’t for him. He always loved movies (I mean, who doesn’t) but he had dreams since he was a kid of becoming a filmmaker. He wanted his name to show up on the big screen with projects and stories he wanted to show the world.

When we were teenagers, my brother started to delve into filmmaking. He did he research, learned the basics, Youtube was a huge help and even took photography classes in high school. He would do certain video challenges, make his own short videos, and even participate in movie contests. He had the motivation, the drive, and the passion. Me being the younger brother who already looked up to him, how could I not support him?

During college, I ended up taking a break due to financial reasons, but I was also at a point in my life where I wasn’t exactly sure anymore about what I wanted to do. Graphic design wasn’t fun anymore and I was disconnected from the art I used to do. And eventually I figured maybe that was the problem. Because of my involvement with my brother’s video projects in the past, I knew the gist of how a camera worked. So when I decided to participate in art shows, my brother lent me his old camera so that I could display it as another medium of art that I can do.

To my surprise, my photography is what got most of the attention in the art shows I was in. So, I decided to learn more about it and after my brother started to see that I had an eye for it, he supported me in any way he could. I would have him critique my photography, I’d ask him questions about any dilemma I encountered, and after seeing that I made headway in photography in such a short amount of time, he challenged me to become even better in it. That’s when I started to learn artificial lighting which at first, was a hard concept to understand, but like most of my journey in photography, it eventually clicked and I incorporated into my style of photography.

I will always have my brother to thank for where I am today in photography.

Website: www.demiantejeda.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/demiantejeda

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/demiantejeda

Facebook: www.facebook.com/demiantejedaphoto

Other: https://www.pexels.com/@demian-tejeda-benitez-87266096/

Image Credits
Madison Santos, Kimmie Tu, Bere Gutierrez, Cheyenne Goode, Sharaun Brown, Sitara Masilamani, Dana Tamer, Elizabeth Kaminski