Meet Chelsea Best | Destination Wedding & Elopement Photographer

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

Hi Chelsea, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
Creativity has always been the most important thing to me. Since I can remember, I grew up with a camera in my hand. Whether I was documenting family vacations, or making little music videos with friends, there was a feeling behind it all that was just unmatched. I felt free. What I didn’t realize as a kid running around with a camcorder was that it would shape my entire future and career. I joined the video production classes in junior high, earned a spot in my high school’s daily news broadcast, and eventually found myself applying for college’s and university’s film schools. Attending San Diego State University was when it all became more real. It’s when my work went from fun to real. I was telling stories, I was evoking emotion and it was making a real impact. I tried new things in college too. I helped direct a major theatre show, I attended the Cannes International Film Festival for a few shorts I directed, I studied abroad, I interned for the Television Academy, and I dipped my toes in film photography. Film photography reignited all the creative freedom that I felt as a kid when I first picked up a camera. It was a new form of art for me to play around with and I loved it.

Once I graduated from SDSU, I immediately landed a job in TV post production. I achieved something that so many people would spend years trying to break into. At the time it all felt so easy. The timing of it all was just crazy to me. And I realized soon after that nothing worth having comes easy. I worked as a Post PA for a while, and I was so eager to do it all the best I could. I really loved all the shows I worked on and the people I met along the way. I was then promoted to Post Coordinator. I began to notice that making time to see friends and family was really difficult. I was expected to bring all my time, energy, and efforts towards my job. The more I focused on the urgency of little tasks, the more I started to wonder if this was the type of job I’d envisioned for myself when I was young. I’d lost almost all of the creative juices I once had– even a couple years back making short films in school.

It became apparent to me that what I really needed was an artistic career that truly gave me the creative freedom I fell in love with as a kid. I was no longer free in the TV world, I was stuck. I had no work/life balance, and my mental health was being majorly affected. I wanted to feel how I did making music videos as a kid, or capturing nostalgia through my 35mm cameras. So I decided to take a huge leap of faith, quit my job, and start a photography career on my own.

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.
Over the years, I’ve found that my biggest passions are traveling and photography. Since studying abroad in Edinburgh, Scotland my junior year of college, I’ve taken advantage of seeing more of the world during any free time. When I dabbled into film photography for the first time my final year of college, that’s when I realized the true power photography holds. Being that film only allows for so many photographs to be captured in a roll, I started to really appreciate the world around me. Modern life has taught us to be so dependent on our technology, but film almost gave me the opposite viewpoint. I wanted to only capture the moments that I truly never wanted to forget. It made my photography so nostalgic. Every photo brought me right back to the moment I hit the shutter. I remembered the people I was with, the conversations I was having, and even how I was feeling. How magical is that? The more I used film, the more I appreciated what it really meant to capture nostalgia through photographs. I started taking my camera on my personal travels, and soon seeing the world became more magical too.

Professionally, I went from a good paying job in TV to the unknown struggles of a photography business because creative freedom and human experience is way more valuable than money to me. The transition of my career path hasn’t been a smooth and easy one, but I know it will be worth it in the long run. It’s only just the beginning, after all! Each day I’m learning more about my business, myself, and growing into the photographer I want to be for my clients.

There’s a thrilling satisfaction documenting real, raw emotion out of people. Storytelling has always been a huge part of my life, but there was a clear shift between video and photo for me. I came from a world revolved around directing people on every little movement, inflection, etc. and entered the reality of photography. I’ve recognized the importance of taking a step back and allowing genuine moments to unravel authentically. I’ve found my love for photography is so much stronger than any other art form. Rather than directing people on what to do and how to act, I’m simply a stepping stool of comfortability, laughter, and clarity for my couples. It’s so much fun to work with different personalities & experience different love stories. I can learn something from everyone I meet, and we can create a real human connection.

My favorite part about capturing my couple’s authentic love stories is witnessing their individuality. Like I said, rather than directing my clients, I love giving fun prompts that get them moving and focusing on one another. It not only makes for a unique experience, but it distracts them from being photographed. When you tell people to do silly things like play tag, dance with one another, and walk like your drunk, a few things happen. First, they’re very confused and wonder if you really know what you’re asking of them. Second, they start interpreting the prompt as best they can and start paying less attention to me and more attention on what their partner is doing. Third, they’re now completely focused on one another, laughing at how ridiculous this is, and making some very fascinating but wholesome memories with one another. It’s the perfect formula for the genuine, happy, cute moments people want captured. And it’s always exciting for me to see how each couple interprets every prompt. Every session ends up being unique to the couple I’m with.

My goal is to eventually document sweet couples’ weddings and elopements full time in beautiful destinations all around the world. It would be absolutely wild to work with like minded travel addicts to authentically tell their love story. I’ve already been lucky enough to capture nostalgia for couples in both California and Oregon, and I can’t wait to see where I may go in the next couple years.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I think it would be a mixture of major places that LA is known for and small places that tourists wouldn’t know about from any website providing tips on “things to do”.

So of course, we’re hitting up Disneyland for a day, cause I grew up in a Disney family. (I’ll be honest, I didn’t think I was in a ‘Disney family’ until my boyfriend who works for Disney saw my energy and strategy upon entering the parks with him… guess we are a little die hard… Haha!). But really, what’s not to love about the Happiest place on Earth?

I’d also take them for a beach day, of course. So LA, am I right? Maybe somewhere along Malibu… El Matador Beach seems like a breathtaking spot for someone visiting. It’s touristy enough, but is a way better option than the Venice/Santa Monica route in my opinion.

And I’d also make sure we hit up a flea market at some point. It would be awesome to show my friend the Rose Bowl Flea Market, but if it’s not open that weekend a more low key option works too! Melrose Trading Post for a more trendy, boutique experience OR the Topanga Vintage Market for the antique, rare finds route.

A few other spots that are pretty touristy, but worth the visit in my opinion would be: The Griffith Observatory, a concert or movie at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, either Descanso Gardens or The Huntington Library.

As for a few places to eat, we’re for sure hitting up Portos for some snacks to have on hold for the week. I’m taking them to my all time favorite Mexican place. It’s a little hole in the wall in my hometown of Valencia called “Dario’s”. It’s the best. It may be fun to grab a bite at the Grand Central Market too! And if they’ve never had it, let’s pull into the In-N-Out drive thru for the fun of it.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I’d probably say all my friends and family in general! All throughout my life, my closest loved ones have supported my crazy ideas and life goals. No matter how big or scary my ambitions have been, there are always people in my corner cheering me on. Whether that looks like a dear high school friend sharing my new business on their social media to shout me out, or my mom sitting me down to have a real conversation about what I really want out of life. Starting a business is a challenge! Trust me, I’ve had a couple tough nights wondering “did I make a mistake?”, but luckily my boyfriend was around to talk some sense back into me! It would be so hard to start a business all on my own, and because I know I have this support system, it makes everything that much sweeter. The love and encouragement from everyone really goes a long way.

Website: https://simplybestphotography.com/

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Image Credits
Photographer: Simply Best Photography (me!)