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

Hi Sahand, how do you think about risk?
I think risks are truly essential. My life wouldn’t be the way it is if I didn’t take many risks over the years, so I look back and can’t imagine my life without each risk I took. I feel lucky, actually, to have taken a couple of creative risks earlier on when I was in school. I think with every risk you take, you are banking so much confidence for yourself that you can use later in your life. For me, it was things like trying to learn how to use a camera, playing the guitar, things like that. Crossing the bridge from not being able to do anything at all to being able to have fun doing it.

I’ve also quit a couple of jobs that were great jobs, and each time I did, to my family and friends it was a huge risk. I’m grateful to have had their support, but nobody’s advice at those times was anything like “yeah, you should definitely do this!” I quit my job at Condé Nast in 2017 to start a startup with my friend, and I quit my job at Apple in 2020 to start a small business for apps and photography.

So I owe a lot to risks. Risks have allowed me to make changes to the path I was on and to get to where I wanted to go.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My photography is entirely focused on people. At some point as a beginner photographer I turned my camera from trees, roads, and nature over to faces and I have been fascinated with photographing people ever since.

I’m constantly practicing taking pictures that are more natural, beautiful, and honest moments of the people in them. That’s really what I’m fascinated by. Someone is already who they are, but translating them into a two-dimensional photograph, with the world at your fingertips to use different settings, different lighting, different compositions, and different direction… I am fulfilled and made so happy simply by participating in the process.

I think what might set my photographs apart from others is the balance between being posed and natural. My pictures are often posed, but with my poses I’m trying to find the subject in a moment where they look their best naturally. So at the end of a shoot, I’m hoping you get this result where the person looks beautiful and looks stunning and it’s clear to see that, but they also just look like themselves.

It feels like I’ve only just begun my career as a photographer and like 99% of my story is still ahead of me. I got this far thanks to the generosity of so many people in my hometown who were excited to do shoots with me. Since college, reaching out to friends and friends of friends back home (we live near Laguna Beach, CA) has been where I learned so much. I’d do a shoot with someone (let’s say it was at sunset) and I’d look at the results and realize what I could have done better, how I could have communicated my ideas better, and so on. Many people have been nice enough to shoot with me twice, three times, and even more than that, so there are these people I owe a lot to for collaborating with me and giving me that opportunity to try and try again.

From here, I just want to continue getting better and photographing more people in new situations. I read this quote the other day that really stuck with me: “Do something not for the world to see you, but for you to see the world.” And that’s truly how I feel. Every day life goes on, people live their lives and have successes, failures, growing up and growing older. My brain sees that as an infinite well for art and meaning. I want to be there for the people whose timing and lives match up with mine, to photograph them and capture the moments that we live and elevate those into art.

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.
If you were in LA for a week, I’d recommend making a day trip down to Laguna Beach, CA. It is just beautiful. I’ve driven this way and that way through the city so many times now that I’m sure I’ve lost all sense for how small or large it really is. Here is what I’d recommend doing in a full day:

– Start with a morning trip to Banzai Bowls for an açaí bowl. Take it across the street to the lookout over the beach and take in the fresh, salty air.
– Next, I’d drive down to Victoria Beach with a beach chair or a towel, maybe a sandwich and a bag of chips and some fruit from the Ralph’s, and lay on the beach through the afternoon. Take a dip in the water, it’s not too cold once you get in, and enjoy the waves coming in.
– I’d catch the sunset at Crescent Bay or Woods Cove and take some pictures of your friends. Put them in some good light and make them feel beautiful!
– Finally, I’d end the night with dinner at Oliver’s Osteria for some wonderful Italian food. Just make sure to change into something that’s more real clothes after being at the beach.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?

I want to shoutout my family, my girlfriend Marisa, my brother Sohrob, and one of my best friends Nick. For years, they have seen my photographs after a shoot and excitedly given me their first impressions to my work. Like any artist, I regularly go through periods of feeling completely unhappy about my work, and every time I’ve come out of that hole you fall into, they’ve been there for me. It was quite the joke between my parents and I, actually, how often I would say “I’ve still got it” after showing them new photographs I’d taken. They were sure that I’d always had it, and never lost it, but it’s just so hard to feel that way sometimes. These people have seen my earliest pictures and my latest pictures and been warmly receiving my creativity the entire time. With every new shoot, they’re the ones I think and am most excited to show.

Website: www.sahand.me

Instagram: http://instagram.com/sahandnayebaziz/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sahandnayebaziz/

Image Credits
Ashley Wilhardt (For the photo of me)

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