Meet Randall De Leon | Wedding & Lifestyle Photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Randall De Leon and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Randall, what role has risk played in your life or career?
When is comes to taking risks in my life, the main thing that comes to mind is figuring out the “risk vs reward”. In our daily lives some choose to play it safe and limit as much risks as possible, but for others, they see taking a risk as a living or a way of life. I truly believe that taking risks is a normal thing to encounter several times your life because it helps make you a stronger person, and it helps you learn from your mistakes if the risk you took didn’t go in your favor.

Throughout my life, I took several risks towards both my personal life and career, but without them, I wouldn’t have grown into the person I am today. As an over thinker/over analyzer in life, I have always contemplated on whether taking the risk was worth it or not. However, I knew that if I constantly played it safe I wouldn’t have gained the wisdom and knowledge I have today, but with taking risks, I have gained a sense of drive and determination to step out of my comfort zone and try new things.

Throughout my life, getting through school was my always my priority because I know the reward in the end was going to please myself and my entire family. As a licensed Physical Therapist Assistant, I always knew I wanted to help others who were recovering or those who were sick and needed treatment to regain a better quality of life. My medical career will always be something I love and cherish to this day, but when I took the risk to put my passion for photography first, I still do not regret it to this day. Working 9-5 shifts 5 days a week was fun at first, but when you have a family, spending more time with them on a daily basis, bringing them with me wherever my photography sessions take me and watching my family grow as a whole was the biggest reward I have gotten to this day.

So for me, without taking the risk of stepping out of my comfort zone, I wouldn’t have been able to travel and work alongside my family as I do today. Photography has allowed me to go on amazing adventures with and without my family as well as meeting amazing new people on a daily basis especially at weddings, during engagement shoots or even during little family sessions. When it comes to the though of “risk vs reward”, the risks I have taken have allowed me to see the world in a different point of view, and to have my family right by my side is just the icing on the cake.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My focus with my photography is to capture memories in the moment and to provide my clients with an everlasting experience for whatever event it may be. I love booking and covering weddings/engagements because its an amazing feeling to see different love stories from many different people around me ad around the world. What I believe sets me apart from others is that with my photography, I love to capture life in its more natural form. Sure posing and schedules are important during a photography session, but catching natural moments during that time helps preserve the raw emotion and feelings that my clients can relive every single time they look at their photos. I started my career focusing on becoming a license physical therapist because inside I knew that it was something that I loved to do and practice. It was a rewarding career that I still continue to do to this day. However I still felt that I wanted to do more with my life and wasn’t satisfied with where I was at in life. I wanted to travel more, see new places and do that alongside my wife and our family. Photography has really filled that void and it has become such a rewarding career choice in my life. Finances may have taken its toll from time to time when things were slow, but with constant work and effort, I expanded my portfolio and have grown so much during this transition in my life. I have learned so much from this new career path, but most of all I learned that sometimes you have to just take that chance and opportunity to see where lives choices will take you. What I want the world to know is that I don’t just do this photography thing for a living, its something I am very passionate about and I love giving my clients beautiful memories that they can cherish and share with their family and friends. My brand is simply me, by meeting new people, seeing new places and creating everlasting memories for my clients with something concrete and visible that they can hold onto for the rest of their lives,

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
My itinerary would consists of seeing different parts California and all it has to offer:

Beaches like Malibu or Newport or just even walking down the pier at Santa Monica
Natural adventures like taking a camping trip to Sequoia, Yosemite or Joshua Tree Natural Park
A drive down to San Diego or up to Santa Barbara for the day
Enjoy a day at Disneyland and Disneyland California Adventure
And of course enjoying the city night life with some nights out in Hollywood, LA or even Orange County.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
For my current success, I definitely thank two people who have been amazing support figures in my life when it comes to my photography business. First is my wife who knew that it may be a risk to step away from my everyday job to focus on growing my photography business. She has been an inspiration both as a mother to our two children but also as the solid foundation of our household. She allowed me to focus on my passion to help my business grow from the ground up. It’s such an amazing feeling now to take her along with me on mini vacations and trips to other cities and locations during my photoshoots, and turning them into bonding time with our little family, especially seeing our children grow and become adventurous just like us. Second is my partner Kenneth Soleta. He has been in the photography business longer than I have and so when I approached him to gain knowledge about photography, he took me under his wing and fed me information every single day. He gave honest critique about my work and detailed ways for me to improve and get better. He trusted me by allowing me to shoot alongside him for a wedding when I had very little experience or confidence. I thank him to this day because without him, I wouldn’t have gained the knowledge and experience to book events on a weekly basis, helping both myself and my business grow every single day. To this day he is always by my side for all the wedding and events that we book, and he has become the best business partner anybody can ask for.

Website: www.randalldeleonphotography.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/randalldeleonphotography

Facebook: www.facebook.com/randalldeleonphotography

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/randall-de-leon-photography-burbank?utm_campaign=www_business_share_popup&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=(direct)