We had the good fortune of connecting with Arianna Sharfman and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Arianna, why did you pursue a creative career?
Ever since I was 8 years old, I knew that I wanted to attend the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in downtown LA and major in Set Design. About ten years later, that is exactly what I did. I knew that working in the creative field was the right path for me. I wanted to use my artistic talents on a daily basis, and the idea of sitting behind a desk at a 9-5 job just didn’t feel right for me.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’ve been a fashion photographer for about 10 years now. I love to capture the details, textures, and movement of outfits. Something that I like to focus on is capturing my models’ confidence in the image. I help direct them with how to pose and I make sure to show the model some shots from my camera as we shoot and there is nothing more rewarding than seeing them light up and feel confident when seeing their images.

After high school, I went to an art seminary in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This is where my love for photography really began to grow. Every Sunday, I would plan a different photoshoot with one of my fellow creative friends from the seminary and we would go to the nearby thrift-shop, buy an outfit, and do hair and makeup, and start shooting. This is where I started to learn how to style a photoshoot and how to direct. After that year in Pittsburgh, I came back to LA and started attending the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising. During college, I was posting my photography to Instagram and I started to get a few photography jobs from there. After graduating, I got an internship at a company called Simply Stylist where they partner bloggers and celebrities with makeup artists, stylists, and photographers, etc. They sent me a few of their clients to photograph for their Instagrams and I had the incredible opportunity to be able to photograph Olivia Culpo (Miss Rhode Island), Audrina Patridge (from the series The Hills), and Jamie Chung (Actress and Blogger). These photoshoots started getting more attention on my Instagram and I began to get more fashion related photography jobs. This is where I felt my business really took off.

Something that I’ve learned over the years is if burnout hits, make sure to do photography for fun as well. Get creative. Have fun. Find ways to have it be something you feel excited about. Whenever I feel burnout, I reach out to either models or bloggers and offer to photograph them, and we plan and style the shoot together. This always lights me up and brings my creative spark back.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I would take them to Runyon Canyon for a hike (or photoshoot, you choose 😉) Grab some ice cream on Melrose and maybe pop into a few stores. I would drive to either Latigo beach or Big Rock Beach in Malibu in the early evening when it’s a little quieter and watch the sunset. If you want something indoors and you’re into Escape Rooms, there are so many great ones to choose from here in LA ( I love 60 and Out).

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Someone that has been a huge part of my success as a photographer is my friend Jessica Whitaker who is a photographer based in Seattle. She is incredibly talented and runs a Facebook community for fellow photographers called Build and Bloom. In addition to that, she creates Youtube videos showing behind the scenes of photo sessions, teaching how to pose models, talking about the use of different camera gear, as well as videos on how to use social media for your business. We lived in New York at the same time and started doing photoshoots for each other to use as marketing for our social media. Through those shoots, I’ve learned so much from her and I’m very grateful we became friends.

Website: http://www.ariannasharfmanphotography.com

Instagram: @ariannasharfman

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