Today we’d like to introduce you to Leila Amia.
Leila, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My pleasure to, and thank you for this opportunity!
What drives me the most is my desire to share the intricate poetry of life I perceive across moments. I’ve engaged in film photography for about a year and a half. It became a mode to communicate the rapture of divine perfection I see all around. At the same time, I was extremely lost as to what it is I wanted to do with my life. I’d just graduated from business school in London, along with the realisation I would rather jump into the coldest river on Earth, repeatedly, than ever work in an office. Radical being my only constant nature, I became a nomad, flitting from country to country every few months. Jumping into the depths of an extreme range of human experiences was certainly entertaining and character-building, but I was still frustrated by my lack of discernible purpose.
Exactly how I got to where I am now, with an abundance of purpose, mission and definition is a separate story. Or perhaps, best left to be understood through my future art. Regardless, I now approach art in a completely different way. Photography still pleases me, but I am compelled to move into film-making. I am driven by a deep need to encourage people to dare look for the truth. Dare unpackage the layers of their psyche; believe they can heal themselves of trauma, and that they also deserve to (and can!) have a fully integrated and expansive human existence.
All I really do is explore consciousness and the nature of reality. I intuit that the wisdom I’ve gained doing that can be of use to others. The truth-seeker takes on the duty of finding finite forms for the transcendent to live in. If I can move just one person to pause for a moment and feel the depths that I feel, or inspire them to reach new depths altogether, it will be enough. My yearning to articulate what I experience grows in line with my perception, and thus devotion. Really, I’m left with no other choice now than to assume the role of the artist; becoming simply a vehicle.
I’ve always enjoyed a challenge, so film being the ultimate form of art: encompassing almost all others, is fitting. I am currently writing my first film. Writing has always been a dear mode of transmission to me, but I love visual expressions as well, so I may DP and direct it too. It’s an enormous topic I’ve chosen to unpack: self-actualisation, ego dissolution and reintegration, so I’m conducting the necessary research now to have authority to speak on the topic. Leilashotyou will continue, but soon I’ll deliver something I will have dedicated all my energy into mastering.
A level of abstraction lower, who is this Leila? I’m half Bosnian, half Welsh, grown up in Croatia, Sweden, and London.
Raised by UN parents united by a nasty war. A British army photographer (now an NGO post-conflict stabiliser) and a Bosnian journalist and Tai Chi Xuan master.
I’m 23 now and I’ve lived several lives already: I’ve been an army officer cadet, an international model, walked LFW, a business consultant, a teacher, a vagabond, an occultist, and much more I can’t mention.
Growing up with no sense of nationality or external identification enabled me to pick what I want to call home. California is easily the most fitting for my temperament, and I’ve been calling it home since January!
Oh, and Aquarius, evidently.
Has it been a smooth road?
Of course not, would it be a story worth telling otherwise?
Beyond the obvious circumstantial struggles, i.e., mastering this strange concept of money, family difficulties, inhabiting the body of a young female with a dangerously gentle and over-enthusiastic heart, etc., my prime contender was depression.
A product of my overly active and analytical mind, I’ve often cornered myself into dark existential and nihilistic places.
The point is I healed myself. Resolutely, utterly, found the weed and pulled it out at its root. Suicide was on my mind a few times, from the sheer weight of existence; its seeming absurdity, and the bearing of collective pain. But now, I stand before you unshakable, confident and ready to take on anything. The point is if I can do it, so can anyone.
And that’s ultimately what I’m going to show people. It’s actually incredibly simple! Different for everyone, yes, but equally as possible. I can’t have this knowledge and keep it to myself. We impose all these constraints and weights on ourselves, unnecessarily. It breaks my heart to see others live their lives with so much conceptualised weight on top of them.
About photography though, I mostly shoot on used analogue cameras and I have a knack for losing or breaking one every few months. I can’t seem to stop it, it’s funny to me.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
I’ve done many event shoots, BTS on music video or film productions, as well as fashion campaigns. I suppose you could say I specialise in film photography, though I’m now trying digital.
I like to tell whole universes of stories in my pictures. I like there to be a significant amount implied. I like it when the viewer has an experience with my photos which I will never understand.
I’m most proud of my ability to deeply connect with the models and evidence the instance of raw, vulnerable human recognition in the photos. I try to relay the soul & purest energy of those I shoot. It’s a fantastic opportunity to get to know myself as experiencing life from a different body, mind and vantage point. The feedback I usually get from my models is that it was a profound experience for them too.
I’m looking forward to experimenting with more radical and extreme shoots next. You could say I’m a “trippy” person and I really want to show more of what I see in my mind.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
LA is a great city for an entrepreneurial photographer. All it takes is confidence and the embodiment of power. What I love about the US is that, to an extent, everybody’s your friend here. Disregarding how deep that really is, it’s easy to make contacts who immediately try to help and bring you in. I think if you honestly let your enthusiasm for your art shine through, it is noticed and most often supported and reciprocated. If you can sustain a degree of compartmentalisation and not take to heart that a lot of people in LA are self-serving and fake, you can obviously make more influential contacts and opportunities here faster than anywhere else.
All it takes is mindset. If you believe you will only meet stupid and hateful people, you will. If you believe you will only meet amazing people who will help you on your journey, you will. Since I have a good understanding of the mechanics of manifestation, I frequently meet and work with specific people I set the intention to just a few days earlier. Anyone can do this!
Beyond that, LA is extremely inspiring because it is almost only comprised of creative people who never. stop. hustling. The ambition and audacity here is higher than I’ve seen anywhere else. All my friends are creatives and we really bounce our energy off each other. It’s made me dare believe in my ideas to a dangerous level.
Contact Info:
- Website: leilashotyou.com
- Phone: 2132147311
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @leilashotyou /@leila.amia
Image Credit:
Photo of me by Bella Stacia
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