Today we’d like to introduce you to Sheryl Wachtel.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I’m a Canadian who was raised in Los Angeles, which I guess makes me almost a native Californian. After getting my BA at UCLA, I began my first career in TV development that lasted until a week before my first of two children was born. While I was home with the babies, I started shooting photos of my them and friends kids and found myself falling in love with the entire experience. I came to realize my creativity took form visually, and that I wanted to do something different. I proceeded to take a wide variety of technical classes to supplement my newfound creative passions. Then, when my kids’ preschool was looking for a new photographer, they offered me the job. I jumped in and this “trial by fire” experience was the start of my business, Sheryl Wachtel Photography. I began taking portraits of preschool children throughout LA, which lead to family portraits and events, and now I do a wide variety of shoots, ranging from portraits and headshots to weddings and Bar/Bat Mitzvahs. My work takes me across Los Angeles and other destinations around the globe, where I’ve started shooting street and travel photography.
When I’m not taking photographs, you’ll find me hanging with my amazing husband, face-timing with my daughter who is a junior in college or managing my high school son and two adorable pooches. In the Fall 0f 2018, my husband and I are moving to London, where I plan to continue my work in Europe as well as back in the US.
Please tell us about your art.
I completely lose myself in the creative process. I travel with my studio in tow, cameras, lighting and other gadgets. As I enter a new surrounding and am immediately starting to figure out several important pieces to my puzzle and my goals – I aim to get to know my client, get a sense of their comfort levels and put each person at ease.
I take in the surroundings — the lighting and the spaces that can create the ideal setting for the photoshoot.
As much as the images we capture, I want to make this a fun and relaxed experience for everyone involved, including myself. Although I come armed with a loose framework of ideas, I seem to end up finding hidden gems once the camera and lights are on.
I hope people walk away from their experience with added confidence. Most people, including myself, hate to be in front of the camera; they feel judged and too vulnerable. This is about capturing a moment in time or a dynamic that they cherish.
Do you have any advice for other artists? Any lessons you wished you learned earlier?
Practice, make mistakes, ask lots of questions, every step is a step in the right direction, there is no right or wrong in the creative process, learn the technical rules and then break them, be courageous!!! Take advantage of the many incredible classes online. I wish I would have spent more time assisting other photographers. There is nothing better than watching someone else in action.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
Currently my work is either on my website or on my Instagram page. That said, as I begin my new chapter in London, I hope to shoot more travel and street work and hope to mount a show and enter my work into photography contests.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.sherylwachtelphotography.com
- Phone: 310-633-0896
- Email: sherylwachtel@me.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/sherylwachtel
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