Daily Inspiration: Meet Charity Baker

Today we’d like to introduce you to Charity Baker.

Hi Charity, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I’ve always loved looking at Vogue magazine since I was about eight years old and I always assumed I would be working in fashion. I went through a couple of fashion design school programs but never had enough interest to stick with it and graduate. I started working assisting wardrobe stylists and enjoyed it and had a career in wardrobe and fashion styling for about four years but still felt I should be enjoying it more than I did.

I started snapping behind the scenes photos on some of the photoshoots that I was styling for and a couple of different photographers really liked my shots and said I had a good eye. My friend and fellow photographer Asami Zenri really encouraged me to keep shooting and take some classes for the technical stuff so I did. I went to Glendale College and took some darkroom classes at the Armory in Pasadena and had some really amazing teachers who taught me so much and inspired me. From the moment I started taking the classes and doing projects, I was hooked. I was waking up early in the morning and staying up late at night to photograph, work in the darkroom and just learn everything I could. I knew I had finally found my calling. Now I can say I really work in a field I love.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It’s been hard to figure out which market of photography I wanted to be in. I love taking photos of people in general but taking photos of families or events like weddings seem to be in an entirely different realm then taking portraits or doing lifestyle/fashion. Luckily my boyfriend who is also a professional photographer had interest in doing wedding and family photography with me so we started a brand that just focuses on that called Charity and David photo. Now for Charity Baker photography, I can just focus on portraits/lifestyle and fashion. It’s hard to navigate when there is so much info on how to do a photography business out there and a lot of its great info but you have to find what works for you and what’s most authentic.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I really love taking photos of people so I mainly focus on portraits whether it be for someone’s business and social media or just to have nice photos of themselves. I really love to make people feel comfortable in front of the camera and create an atmosphere that feels like we are just hanging out and I happen to be taking photos. Even if I’m photographing a model while I may direct them on poses, I also like to observe their natural movements and expressions and capture that. I also love to document the Los Angeles landscape, the buildings and streets and that’s proven to be very interesting in 2020.

What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
One of the things I love about Los Angeles is all the different neighborhoods and parts of town and how different they all are. There’s always things to explore outside your immediate comfort zone of neighborhoods that are still in the city but just in a different area. Even if you’ve lived here for decades, there are parts of the city you may have never ventured into. I have been documenting my own neighborhood Highland Park for the last six years or so and I want to continue to photograph all of Los Angeles and the changes the city undergoes whether they are heartbreaking or exciting. The thing I like least is just how much time with traffic it can take to get to another part of town.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.charitybaker.com
• Instagram: @charity79

Image Credits
All photos by Charity Baker except the photo of Charity is by David Mayerhofer