Today we’d like to introduce you to Lily O’dell
Hi Lily, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I never really knew I wanted to be a photographer, and now that I look back I was always passionate about photography, or just taking pictures, whether it was for my friends or family or of something in my back yard. My grandpa was even a film photographer back in the day, and I was lucky enough to be passed down his film camera when I was younger, so I like to say I was destined to be a photographer. I was always super creative and after high school, I wasn’t really sure what path I wanted to take down life. I decided to work and save money while trying to figure it out, and it was some time until I realized that I’m super passionate about photography so I decided to pursue that. It was several months until I actually bought my first camera, and shortly after I started attending my local community college, majoring in photography and working to build my business as a freelance photographer.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Honestly, I feel like it has been a pretty smooth road, and I’ve loved every part of it, good or bad. It’s been about a year or so since i’ve started, and it’s crazy to see how much I’ve learned and improved within this year. Each project feels like exploration (sometimes into the unknown), and even during the rough times, I’m still led to new insights that better my work. Photography has been the best creative outlet for me to express myself through and I take everything for what it is and learn from anything I can. This business is not easy, it’s competitive, and taking pictures is only 20% of it. My main focus right now is to create work that represents me and my brand.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a portrait photographer located in Southern California. I specialize in creative and conceptual photography, and I’m super drawn to editorial fashion photography. I focus on creating cinematic, evocative images with use of color and light. I’m really passionate about diving into the core of my subjects and bringing out their creative spirit, I feel like that can set me apart from others. To a lot of my viewers I might be known for my recent personal project, “ENDLESS NIGHTS” which is a collection of photos i’ve curated that portray a deeper understanding to our own complexities. This collection is for viewing on my website if you wanted to check it out! Im super proud of that collection, considering it was my first. It was tons of planning and execution for a month and I was super ecstatic to share that work with everyone.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I was a super passionate and goal oriented girl. As cliche as it sounds, I always knew who I was growing up. For years I played softball, and my plan was to get a scholarship to a good university and I had a variety of things I wanted to be “when I grew up”, a detective, a nurse, if you asked me when I was 5 maybe a singer (I can’t sing). I worked really hard at it for years and once I got to high school, I was super burnt out and decided to just let it go. At that point, I also knew I didn’t want to attend a university to devote years to school and softball. I truly knew deep down I didn’t want to be any of those things. I knew I wasn’t made for a more traditional job. I was interested in making art. Always creating whether it was crochet, painting, drawing, editing videos etc. I was just so passionate to create, and photography clicked for me one day and I ran with it. Photography is truly something I enjoy. Not a throwaway hobby. I want to be big one day, I want my art to be seen and known and appreciated. I want to be someone’s inspiration and I can say, that is something I’ve carried with me since I was a little girl.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.endlesslenses.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/endless.lenses/profilecard/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@endlesslenses?_t=8r5j5p2IcJ9&_r=1
Image Credits
Photography by: Lily O’Dell
Models:
Tiffany Fales
Bryce Alonzo Roberts
Meilana Valdez
Carolina Lepe
Matilda Wray
