Meet Sky Hellie

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sky Hellie.

Sky, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My photography journey all started when my dad got me a camera for Christmas in 2015, I had no idea that it would bring me the life it has. Christmas Day, I did not put that camera down, taking pictures of the mountains, flowers, anything I could find I captured it. Then I started using my friends as models, I had no idea what I was doing but I was doing it with confidence and loving every second. Once my mom caught on and realized that “this wasn’t just a phase” she took me to New York City, it was love at first sight, I fell in love with everything about the city and its energy… cliche, I know but it’s the truth. The summer going into my junior year of high school, I went to photography camp at NYU, as you can imagine, it was a dream, I fell so in love with photography and everything that came with it. This camp was such an incredible experience because it taught me so many different things in only two weeks. From shooting in a full studio, asking strangers if I could take a picture of them to learning night photography and light drawing, I was blown away. I gained so much of my photography knowledge through this camp as well as the internship that came after it.

After I came back from New York, my mom encouraged me to reach out to local photographers and see if they had any internships available. This is when I met Matt and Alicia Larkey, the owners of Make It Happen Photography, they took me under their wing and showed me the behind the scenes of a business and everything that goes into it. They took me along on photoshoots and showed me how to work with real clients, it can be scary when first starting your own business, there is so much pressure, you are the person they chose to capture this significant moment in their life. I worked with Matt and Alicia for about a year and after was on their spokesmodel team, this gave me more experience in front of the camera and truly understanding the other side of my job. Starting my business, this was the hard part, I was doing free photoshoots left and right just trying to get my name out there, after two years of learning, many free photoshoots, and many hours of editing, I figured it was time I saved up for a new camera.

Finally, I had enough money with the help of my mom, and grandparents I bought myself a Canon, this was a huge moment for me and I believe this changed my style and outlook on photography, I was suddenly more confident in myself and in my photographs. I was at a standstill in my photography when it came to my senior year of high school, I was taking senior pictures and enjoying it but I wasn’t making any big changes which is just the kind of person I am, I love to experiment and challenge myself. I then started my college journey I started off as a communications major thinking I was going to change my major and go into Photojournalism. After I came to the realization that I am a terrible writer I realized it was time for me to follow my passion and I changed my major to fashion photography. I am now doing photoshoots consistently, spring 2019, I was lucky enough to work with Goodwill Arizona on their reclaimed fashion event and my pictures were displayed in over 15 stores in phoenix. Being in classes that are helping me to better my photography and learn more about something I am so in love with makes me excited to go to class. I have recently been applying for many internships and am hoping for the best! There’s a lot more to my story but I am still adding to it every day but that’s a basic outline of how I ended up where I am now.

Has it been a smooth road?
Of course, it has not always been a smooth road, nothing is as perfect as it may seem through the lens of social media. I had to learn how to deal with people who may have placed filters over my already edited photos that I spent hours upon hours editing, or clients not giving me credit when posting on social media. Another big issue I had was when people first meet me, they think that because I am so young there is no way I can know what I am doing behind the camera, I have always been judged based off of my age. It is always a learning experience and every time I finish with a session I realize I learn something new and that people are really starting to value my time and realize that I do know what I am doing behind the camera.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
My business is something I am very proud of, I have grown so much through it and know I still have so much room to grow. I would say I specialize in fashion photography, photographing models and fun outfit looks is my absolute favorite. I do seniors, families, sororities and couples and I love doing them but what I love the most is definitely fashion. I believe what sets me apart from other photographers is the fact that I started at such a young age, I am not afraid to step out of my comfort zone and try something new. For example, if a model were to ask me to shoot them at a certain angle, I wouldn’t be offended I would take it as a learning experience and do my best to achieve the shot they are wanting.

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
I have always said, I don’t think Arizona is the place for me or my job, I feel like some people don’t value photography as much as they do in other places. Photography isn’t just picking up a camera and pressing a button, there is so much more that goes into it, you have to understand the settings on your camera and know how and when to change them, you also have to know how to edit, editing can be difficult to learn and hard to figure out what kind of look you are going for. As for someone who is just starting out, I think Arizona was a more difficult place for me to start, I started by just shooting my friends and getting a senior session here and there through my high school, I didn’t make any connections till I took the initiative and put myself out there and started reaching out to people asking if they wanted to collaborate. I know it is 100% possible to start your photography business anywhere you are, if you really want to start this and have a passion for it then it is possible to be anywhere and get it done. I don’t think there is anything we could do to improve the photography community in Tempe necessarily. I just feel as if fashion photography isn’t as important here, I could be wrong and maybe I just haven’t found it yet, maybe I haven’t found my place in Arizona yet.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://skyhelliephotography.wixsite.com/mysite
• Phone: 623-239-9077
• Email: skyhelliephotography@gmail.com
• Instagram: @skyhelliephotography

Image Credit:
All of these photos were taken by Sky Hellie! Models – Top Left: Krystal Lockhart; Top Right: Peyton Toledo; Middle Left: Alexis Vail; Middle Right: Pascale Bushaw; Bottom Left: Jasmine Suetrong; Bottom Right: Kalani Hilliker

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