Meet Alyssa Danae Stocker-Keefe | Photographer & Art Director

We had the good fortune of connecting with Alyssa Danae Stocker-Keefe and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Alyssa Danae, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
I think of myself as a responsible person who is not afraid to take risks. One of the biggest risks I took in my photography career was leaving my stable job shooting for an up and coming fashion startup in San Francisco and taking off to backpack (and shoot for a few clothing brands) through Southeast Asia. Eventually I landed in Australia and I decided to stay and see if I could work in a new country. I didn’t know anyone, had no connections to any industry, and my travel buddy from California decided to go home. At first I took any work including front desk at a hostel for accommodation, and after a month got my first job doing retouching for a production company. Eventually I started shooting for a model agency which connected me to a brand where I became the head photographer eventually shooting Billboard and posters that were pasted all over Sydney. Then I decided to start all over again in Melbourne. If I didn’t believe in myself and have the positive mindset that I would find clients and everything would work out, I would never have even left California. Now I know that I can go anywhere and land on my feet and that knowledge fuels my inner power.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Fashion and ecommerce photography are the foundation of my photography career, which created this sense of focus and urgency when I’m shooting on set. To get through high volume of products I have to know how to buckle down and work hard in a team – while always keeping an eye on creating beautifully aesthetic images. This has lead my career down a path of storytelling: I love to capture movement through people to tell the story whether it is a brand or an event or a portrait. I love color, vibrancy, and using film to capture unexpected moments and my fashion background informs all of my other photography work in a way that has become my own perspective. It can be tough to find your eye in photography and that can lead to feelings of imposter syndrome, but letting go of that pressure and getting into the flow state of creativity made me feel more and more confident in my own natural ability. Now I feel confident taking on new opportunities and networking because I have that inner strength and belief in my own vision and I know I will be able to bring it to each new photoshoot.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I’m an East side girl so if my best friend was visiting the area we would stay on this side of the city. We would take my dog Maeby for a hike at Eaton Falls or walk down to Sunset Blvd and try a new coffee shop every day. We love going to see live music so we would take in a show at the Hollywood Bowl, a Leaving Records concert in Elysian park, see my friends band at the Lodge room, or maybe my new favorite the LA Phil at the Walt Disney concert hall. We would find an art opening at Jeffrey Deitch or visit the latest exhibit at Hauser & Wirth or the Broad. We might go thrifting at the bins or the Silverlake flea market on Saturday. LA is filled with gems both in residents and in restaurants, so we’d finish our nights grabbing some food and drinks close by and laughing with friends on a patio with a view.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Shoutout to my mom (and dad) who believe in me more than I do and raised me to go after my goals no matter what. Shoutout to my LA creative community who are sweetest most supportive people who always try to help each other out with gigs or sharing rants or an encouraging word.

Website: www.alyssadanae.com

Instagram: lofirobot

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/alyssadanae

Image Credits
If you need the model, team, or brand name, let me know.