Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Moretti.
Hi Michael, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start, maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers.
I started my journey into photography in 2016. Just two years before I married a Polish girl who traveled quite a bit as most Europeans do. In 2016, we started to travel together, and of course, I was the husband who had to take her photo. People told us we should post our photos on Instagram, and my first reaction was… that’s just a place to post what you’re eating or photos of your pets. Once I realized that I could be a platform to showcase beautiful photos… it clicked. I was hooked and I invested in equipment and time to really learn my new hobby. It didn’t take long for it to turn into a business. By 2018, we were the #1 US-based travel account with almost 1 million followers. We were traveling so much that we were only home for days at a time.
At the end of 2018, we split up and went our own ways, with my ex being the face of the account, got to keep it, while I had to completely start over.
I started to travel again, but with different models, and rebuilt my Instagram to what it is today.
I am now hired by tourism boards, influencers, hotels, and resorts, as well as people that want their photos taken all over the world.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It was definitely hard to start over again after my divorce. I literally thought my photography career was over. She got to move on with all of the followers and contacts, and I had nothing. But little did I know that there were so many people that wanted to shoot with me and travel as well. I ended up meeting my friend Nicole, who loved to travel as well, and we both had a similar mindset to explore and shoot everywhere.
There are now new struggles in this world, and that is called the Instagram algorithm! It went from a platform of photography, to only promoting people who created reels. And not just reels, but “trending” reels, which means, you would only get promoted in the algorithm if you copied what someone else has already done. If you even tried to be original, no one would ever see it because it wasn’t trending. Instagram was literally punishing anyone who was creative or anyone that shoots photos.
It’s still a bit like this now, but I feel like it’s finally going back to photography again and being creative… but now… what’s next???
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am known for my travel and lifestyle photography. I believe my job with this setting is to capture what the travel experience is through the eyes of my subject. There are many photos you can find showing landscapes anywhere in the world, and many of them can look ext. the same from one to the other… but the minute you add a human element to it, it becomes a one-of-a-kind.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
Two words… STAR WARS
Haha, well it probably had the biggest impact on me growing up, I was obsessed with “how” the made it. The creativity and storytelling were things that I wanted to do as an adult. It’s the reason I ended up moving to Los Angeles to work in the film industry and eventually become a director.
My dreams did come true, and I did start to direct commercials and short films, but it actually fell to the wayside as I started to travel.
Contact Info:
- Website: Moretti.com
- Instagram: @Moretti
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/MichaelMoretti1
Image Credits
@aggie
@nicoleisaacs
@marilalombrozo
@corneliaalma
