Meet Hallo Smith: Photographer & Model

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

Hi Hallo, life can be so busy as an adult, and for many, especially those who’ve moved to a new city, making friends can be hard. We’d love to hear your thoughts?
Take people for who they are. I don’t place the expectations I have for myself on anyone else. Instead, I find it easier to make friends as an adult when we’re open and supportive of who someone else really is. As kids we’re all figuring out who we are so it’s easy to make friends anybody, whereas with adults it can be tougher since we can be more set in our ways and live in our own hermetically sealed bubbles. My number one rule for building a great friendship: invest! Listen, learn, support, be open-minded, less judgemental, allow room for error, travel together, and be generous with each other.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
As a photographer, my journey started with self-portraits and then led to me exploring several types of photography including portraits, headshots, editorial, etc. It’s a constant desire for growth that moves me forward. Once you add that desire with the artistry, you get something unique to the individual. People usually describe my work as either very clean, or very dramatic/moody. I think I can attribute my work ethic and curious mind to any success I’ve had as a photographer. I have this thing where I want to know how everything works. All the little parts that make the whole. When it comes to shooting, that translated to me spending so much time lost in learning all of the functions of the camera, studying lighting, studying retouching, and – most of all – critiquing everything I shot. The biggest lesson I’ve learned as a creative is to keep moving forward. Sometimes we want to wait until all the pieces fall into the right place, but that can keep us in the same place for longer than we need to be there. Keep moving, keep learning, keep growing.

Any great local spots you’d like to shoutout?
We’d definitely go to Marina del Ray and get some seafood, checkout the Broad museum or MAF, visit Little Tokyo and the arts district for food and drinks, catch a show at Laugh Factory, and do a lot of hiking.