Today we’d like to introduce you to Will Utley.
Will, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
My earliest remembrance of wanting a camera I was about eight years old. One of our neighbors had a video camera, it was like one of those huge camcorders from America’s Funniest Home Video. And I wanted one because I thought it would be kind of cool to have a video camera to capture moments and memories. I remember asking my mom for one and she couldn’t afford it because at the time she was a single parent of three kids and just trying to make it on our own on a teacher’s salary. So I remember every week, going to the newspaper and time there was a store called Circuit City, that had a whole bunch of electronics. I also remember going religiously every Sunday…you know we divvied up the paper I think my mom got the news, my brother or sister got the comics or. I got the sports and also got I made sure I got the Circuit City ad to make sure that the cameras were on sale hadn’t gone up, but rather they went down in price. And I remember that at the age of eight, trying to buy my own video camera because that’s what I wanted so bad. We just couldn’t afford it.
Fast forward to me graduating high school in 1996, going into the military in 1997 and me saving up enough money to buy my own camera video camera. I just remember videotaping everything, every single day, videotaping recording. Just having piles of video cassettes of footage. You know nothing, I guess, professional it was just for the sake of recording stuff in the military. I went on vacation recording stuff like that. Some of my friends just talking about life and love and just really documenting other people’s journeys. When I got out of the military I went to San Bernardino Valley College, where I got my associates degree and then from there I transferred to Cal State LA where I got my bachelor’s degree in television and film.
I just remember always questioning if this is the right way to go because at the time, No one’s going to hire a filmmaker out the gate. No one’s going to give someone who has just went to Film School, a chance to direct the next “Indiana Jones or avatar or Black Panther”. Then a chance encounter of a lifetime happens with one of my classmates. He was just really into acting and filmmaking, his name is Deji LaRay Olasimbo. Good good good good friend of mine, he’s my son’s godfather.
We started a company, and started shooting music videos for local acts. In the beginning it was just like local rappers and singers. For the equipment, we borrowed the film cameras and equipment that we had free access and rented it on the weekend, shot our projects/assignments, then came back on Monday with an unedited quality music video in our hands. We just had to edit it and those became our school projects and extra credit tasks. So while we were still in film school, some people were just content with going to school and getting a degree. We were going to get our degree eventually but in the meantime while we were in school, we wanted to have something tangible that we can take to either the networks or just start our own business. So, we started our own business and it became. At the time, it was Guerrilla Film Junkies, a derivative of 8th Wonder Cinema.
I remember the very first music video was called “Letz get Stoopid” by an artist name Zone from Pasadena. And from there, it just kept bubbling like we’d go places and pass out A BUNCH of business cards and people will say “oh you do music videos?”. We’re like, “yeah we do music videos!” So while we were trying to find our wings, at music videos and commercials and things like that we were also gaining experience in the industry and, and it’s interestingly enough, it’s so funny that we learned the hard way of everything film school wasn’t teaching us by doing it on our own. There were so many things left out of these school books on what to do, what not to do that we figure it out, and how to fail that we had real-life experience so fast forward to 75 to maybe 90 music videos later.
Then the DSLR camera came out at the time that did both video and photos. And I started picking up photography and really started to make a name for myself as a photographer. And that’s how I got my start…it went from learning camera angles and learning lighting. Everything from my videography background and being able to transform one single photo to tell the right story. I think that it’s actually brilliant that I have a video background, and I was able to take that skillset and bring it into still photography. Fast forward to today, I am a photographer, content creator that is known for shooting Portraits, Maternity, High Fashion Photography, Headshots, Fine Art and Weddings/Engagements. I love what I do…I’d love to shoot you.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Has it been relatively smooth….Absolutely not. Nothing of value is easy. If it was easy there is no way you could truly and truthfully appreciate it. But its been worth it.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Will Utley Photography – what should we know?
I don’t think anything hard is easy to do. I’m not saying that photography is difficult. It’s just that I think that my personal goals and photography are difficult with where I see myself in the next 5-10 years. One thing that I’m most proud of is that I stuck with it. I found something that I’m, I’m willing to live for and that I’m willing to die for … even though I have two beautiful children and a beautiful wife, the passion to do photography is still there. I don’t think there’s anything else that I can do at this moment that I don’t mind waking up at three o’clock in the morning and working till three o’clock in the afternoon with no food, very little sleep and not have an attitude with or have to take mandatory breaks because I’m tired or I’m fatigued…photography feeds me, it’s my lifeblood it’s something that I love and I’m very passionate about and just these precious moments that God allows me to be able to capture are priceless. These moments that God allows me to see you’re priceless. And I’ve always said that I’m so many different things. I’m a brother I’m a best friend. So oftentimes I’m father figure or counselor or a pediatrician or a doctor or a surgeon, but I’m paid as a photographer and what I mean by that is, I’m a counselor sometimes people go to photoshoots and they might be very insecure about maybe their body self-image or, you know, do they look Alright? I think the thing is that a lot of times people have a desire to be able to justify the photos that are taking to be able to meet their level of expectation for themselves or even go beyond their level of expectation for themselves. So I think it’s always interesting to see what happens when you book a photoshoot.
And then you have to find a reason in the reason why you’re there, meaning. Maybe this person just needed someone to say they look good. Or maybe this person needed some human interaction with someone and was just like you know I’m behind these four walls every day I feel like I’m dying. This photoshoot gives me life and I feel so liberated by them. I feel so free I feel so beautiful. I did a recent photoshoot for someone that said that “Shes never felt this beautiful in her entire life.” Trust me, to be able to tell a story is oftentimes that intangible thing. That is the determining factor on why God has put me in the place that he has put me in because I’m sure if 1000 people had the same camera with the same settings, the same exact viewpoint and vantage point, the same exact lighting, the same exact height differential or 2020 vision, you would get 1000 different images because everyone sees something different. You can even have two people in the same room at the same model in front of them. Matter of fact, the person that might be the subject matter expert or the expert at photography could have one of those wind and click cameras from Kmart and still take a better image because there are intangible things that people don’t think about when it comes to photographing people. Such as; Is there a level of trust. Are you confident in what you’re doing. Do you have the right equipment to tell the right kind of story. Do you have the right intentions. Have you let the client know that they are in charge, and you are helping them facilitate their goals and dreams. And I think that there with that certain kind of level of trust. You really can’t go wrong once you kind of put it all out there, versus you kind of being all stiff and acting like you’re gonna control the shoot and you’re gonna do like I say, and I mean different people want different kinds of things. I just know what works for me is when I have a real heart to heart, with the clients on what it is they want. And I’m able to get them the desires that they’re looking for, hopefully at least talk about, well I leave photography. What do you do, what do you specialize in and what sets you apart. Well, only photography is a photography company that specializes in taking the ordinary and doing my best to make it extraordinary. What I mean by that is I want to wow people with pose with tone with intention with color with beauty with grace with class, and also deliver an amazing product. They say that when your on Instagram You have less than 1 second in the scroll. And if you can get somebody to stop their scroll to look at the photo. You’re winning!!!! You’re winning so my goal is to potentially stop people for at least three seconds. If I can get you to stop for three seconds you’re winning because I don’t know who’s above the post. I don’t know who’s below your post.
If you follow Rihanna Kylie and Beyonce and they all happen to post in that same minute that your post goes in and as far as the algorithm is concerned what’s gonna make that person who’s scrolling stop and be like, Whoa… what is this in between Rihanna and Beyonce what’s gonna make them stop. And I think that’s the intention I have when I’m shooting is I try to get really good images of authenticity and sincerity. You can tell when something is kind of forced you can tell when it’s forced because the person’s face is unbelievable and the people that know this person in the photo are going to be like, “what? they don’t do that. That’s not them”,but my goal is to capture authentic beauty and authentic emotion in people. So I think what sets me apart from other photographers is just putting the ME in photos, giving you the worldly experience me making sure you have a makeup artist and you making sure you have a stylist or you’ve been styled, making sure you’re comfortable making sure I laid out the photos as you want to take, me making sure that along the way of the session that you get what you want and that you don’t leave without getting what you want and photos getting the data, getting the dynamic pictures that you would like to have taken, and just having fun along the way I mean I don’t believe that it has to be a stressful thing, I know that I do my best work when I’m having fun. So I don’t want it to be too tense, definitely play music and make the person feel at ease if they feel like they need to bring some wine or something that’s going to make them comfortable I would definitely suggest that, and I guess all these factors coming together.
And then I was trying to find the midpoint, or the mean, median of what we both came for what I intended to do for you and what you intended to get from the photoshoot. I guess that’s what sets me apart and what makes me different, sometimes we don’t find what we both wanted but we do walk away with what we what was unexpected. Sometimes people might come with photo ideas that they were really looking forward to doing and we tried that and they came out okay and then before the shoot, we had maybe 10 to five minutes left before the time session was up and I said hey you know, put on those shoes, and you know that scuba outfit that you brought with you and also that funky Afro pick that’s over there and let’s try something creative because we have some more time before our session ends and we try it and that was the photoshoot that lasts five to 10 minutes and we were able to create something that no one else has ever seen. That doesn’t exist I mean we’re trying to copy or. We weren’t trying to reinvent what someone else did but we were very authentic and original sometimes that was the photoshoot so the whole one hour and 30 minutes was okay we’re trying something is working kind of cool, cool. No. Okay, well let’s start packing up our stuff, but before we go, and then that was, That was the photoshoot which is astounding to me now. Those things are amazing when those moments happen. Not often but sometimes we’ve walked away with what’s called lucky or happy mistake. Lucky mistake.
That’s what makes me different.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
It truly takes a village. First and foremost God. Beverly Utley (Realtor) and Dad (RIP Dad, you’re missed Sir) Deji LaRay Olasimbo, Ikem Chukumerijie realtor, Motaz Hassan, Rod G (video editor) Derrick Rodgers (photographer), Gordan Parks, Von Jackson (photographer) Calvin Baker, LaKiesha Davis (Agape Birth Doula), Elise Souza (photographer/nurse), Joan Fuller (photographer), Thomas Workman, Mellissa Guy of AMG studios, Janette Auguar, Allen Jackson, Mikal Salaam, Carmela Argueta (makeup artist) Nicole and Logan James (videographer of the year), Kevin Brunson (Actor/Producer) But most importantly My Queen Carrera Titus (Talented Human Resources Director and Consultant) and my sons Titus and King Chase (young Kings, CEO’s and future doctor school students).
Truthfully EVRY single client I’ve ever shot has taught me a lesson either directly or indirectly. The conversations that have taken place at my photoshoots has oftentimes been emotional, educational, BOLD, vulnerable, fun-filled and thought-provoking. So thank you to all my clients…you are appreciated!
Contact Info:
- Address: Will Utley Photography
Suite #207
1630 Centinela Ave.
Inglewood, CA 90305 - Website: www.willutleyphotography.com
- Phone: 3235732245
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @wutlife
Image Credit:
Photographer Will Utley
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