Meet Maria Hedrick | Photographer & Business Owner

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

Hi Maria, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
I find risk to be a very necessary part of the journey throughout life and career building. You can’t grow or learn from your mistakes and successes without allowing yourself to take risks. I will be honest, I haven’t always welcomed risk taking with open arms. At times it can be terrifying to hop into the unknown. Especially when I have pushed past my current skill sets to learn new things or when I have left stable career situations to focus on my business. I am naturally a quite shy person. In the early stages of my career, saying “yes” to work opportunities that took me out of my comfort zone allowed me to experience so many genres within photography. From weddings, event, and boxing sporting events, I was building my confidence and my professional network at the same time. This did not come natural to me. However, it made me see in real time how taking a risk, even if it doesn’t work out, was worth exercising. I didn’t become interested in food photography until I decided to “learn as I go” with a colleague who wanted to start a food blog. I wouldn’t have felt confident in studio lighting again until I took a job with Nordstrom. During the interview, I realized I hadn’t work with lights since I took a couple of courses in college. I was rusty to say the least. One of the most recent and risky moments in my career has been to keep my photography business open during the Pandemic. I shifted what services I offered entirely and narrowed my focus to food and product photography. It brought me to a new understanding of what I wanted to pursue full time as a photographer and business owner fostering new working relationships and career opportunities.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am drawn to fun and striking lighting that adds to the composition of the image. Light and shadows can evoke emotion, mood, while adding more shapes and structure to the image. I love experimenting with light as often as I can. I also love playing with geometric shapes and creating images with an illustrative or graphic look. Throughout my studies and professional career, I am excited to see how my different interests in art and varies mediums are incorporated in my current work. It has been an endless pursuit of exploring my passion and sharing this with all the business and individuals I have worked with over the course of my career. To not be afraid to pivot and try new things have allowed my style to evolve over time. I have wanted to be an artist and work in the creative field ever since I was a kid. I even dressed up as a painter for a career day. I am bringing my passion and love of photography to everyone I work with.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I love taking friends to the Arts District and Little Tokyo. Great places to eat and hang out and fun bars. If I wanted to put a nostalgic spin on an evening Eightytwo LA would be on the list.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I must give a shout out to my family, and especially my parents. I have chosen an unconventional career path and they have encouraged and supported me to pursue my interests and passions. Even when things got hard they always wanted the best for me. Also a special thank you to my husband, Alberto. From helping me on photoshoots to just giving me love and encouragement to keep going has given me the extra strength I needed to continue my path.

Website: https://mariahedrick.com/

Instagram: @mariahedrickphoto

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maria-hedrick-34455a32/