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

Hi Melinda, so given all the recent changes to how we live our life given the crisis, have you had any interesting epiphanies?
Major epiphany number one during the Covid-19 Crisis has been realizing how much I LOVE my job and how LUCKY I am to have it. I’m acutely aware that I’m living my dream with my job, when I quit Acting 4yrs ago to pursue Photography I was really scared. Acting had been my dream since I was a kid, but as I auditioned, worked and hustled much of my young adult life I inevitably became burnt out. Having my own kids reminded me what I wanted out of life, more time with family, the ability to make my own schedule, and the space to be creative….while getting paid for it. In walked Photography and the realization that it’s what I never knew I was missing! But also, in with this realization along came a new hustle, finding my voice and style, building a clientele, building a brand, building a business. Just before Covid-19 hit I was finding myself in a lull. My business has grown and along with that I was getting stuck in the mundane details of the job. Resenting the editing, the emails and all the back end accounting (remember I’m a creative at heart…no numbers please) was making me feel, Meh. Flash forward to now when I’m itching so bad to get back to my clients! Missing editing, missing new faces and friends, documenting all the love and emotion that comes with each new session. Covid-19 has reminded me what a gift it was that my “job” is what I would love to be doing even if I wasn’t getting paid for it. Documenting my kids more, my family, and anyone I can be 6 ft away from is a new found gift.

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.
I always strive for my style (my art) to give you a feeling, not just an image. I strive to capture authentic moments between my clients while they are in front of my lens. This can be crazy hard sometimes, I mean most people don’t love getting their picture taken and are often uncomfortable when we first start shooting. The biggest compliment I can ever get is when a client tells me after how much fun they had, or how their nerves disappeared as the session went on. I hope that when my clients look back at their photos over the years they will FEEL all the love they had on that day, the will REMEMBER why that one person was giggling or how adorable and tiny their baby was at their first model debut. I try not to add too much fuss or too many props, just letting the person, family, or wedding party even to be the main focus.

Any great local spots you’d like to shoutout?
Oh wow, this one is hard as I’m a pretty big homebody and self admitted “non hip” person. I love to hike and would probably start our adventures out with all the beauty surrounding us, make our way to the beach and then pick a perfect rooftop restaurant in the city where you can see all the LA lights twinkle.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Huge shout out to my Homegirl Alyssa Hagan at Feather & North Photography! Without her selling me her old Nikon and a few lenses (my first professional gear), without her taking an over excessive amount of phone calls from me asking every question under the sun, without her Lightroom tutorials, her tips on how to dive into social media, her tips on presets and editing and client communication, I seriously don’t know where I would be. She is the reason I’m always willing to unload any info to a new budding photographer. We all need an Alyssa in our lives, someone who knows the concept of community over competition and has so much talent oozing out of her she’s not afraid to share it! Also, not to go unnoticed is my insanely rad and supportive husband who has let me dabble and pursue about a million little things until I found my passion. Never making me feel flighty, always endlessly encouraging me and always pushing me to push myself!

Website: Melindarothphotography.com
Instagram: instagram.com/melindarothphotography
Facebook: facebook.com/melindarothphotography

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