Life & Work with Becca Menichetti of Los Angeles

Today we’d like to introduce you to Becca Menichetti

Hi Becca, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I think I have always been or wanted to be an “artist”. From when I was just a kid, always having my sketch books or wanting to paint like Bob Ross, and even pirating an early version of Photoshop in high school to make digital art.

Once it came time to really think about a career, I was deciding between going to art school for illustration or getting a degree in health education, so I could get a “real job”. I was waiting tables and making good money for a 17 year old, so I impulsively bought my first dSLR on eBay one afternoon. I knew nothing about photography, cameras, settings or where to even start. I read the manual front to back to understand how it worked and began snapping photos of nothing in particular.

Fast forward to choosing art school, realizing that illustration was not for me, and falling into photography as my backup plan. I always gravitated towards still life. The projects I loved most were the ones spent in the studio trying to perfect an object with the lighting and styling. When you look around, the world is full of product photography, so I knew I could make a career out of it. And it was something where I could actually be creative, which has always been really important to me.

After graduating in 2014 with a BFA in Photography, I was living in NJ and got my first full-time job, as a photographer! I was really excited to have that role fresh out of school. I worked for this small ecommerce linens company and learned so much right off the bat. Within the next year I went on to a larger home decor wholesale company, running the studio, shooting hundreds of products a week.

My ultimate goal was to get to Los Angeles, which is what I did next, where I began working as the photographer in-house for a stationery company, with a small but amazing team of other creative-minded people. I felt really at home and was doing the most creative work I had ever done. I think coming to LA and having that initial experience made it such an easy transition for me. But COVID of course changed everything for everyone, and so, just a little over a year into working and living in LA, I was thrown into the world of freelance rather than going to work every day. Since everyone was home, people were starting e-commerce businesses left and right, so I got clients pretty regularly. But like everyone that year, I was really just making it work. I shot everything from my 600 sq ft apartment. Needless to say, 2020 was a little chaotic, but it catapulted me into working for myself, a step I wouldn’t have taken on my own. And it’s been almost 5 years since then, and I’m happy to say it’s been going really well!

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?
The road has been mostly smooth but it’s has it’s up and downs! While I think a lot of things have worked out for me, I also have to recognize that I did have to put a lot of work and effort in. Not all of it has been, or will be, easy. Every project is different so you never know how it’s going to go. I can definitely look back at certain times and remember how stressed I’ve been, having terrible assistants, bad bosses, working 12 hours a day just trying to keep up…you know, just work things! It can be really mentally and physically exhausting.

The physical part especially is a struggle for me. It’s something people don’t think about, but there’s a lot of physical labor that goes into photography and styling. If you’re doing it for hours at a time, every day, it’s eventually going to take a toll on your body. Sometimes the biggest obstacle is having enough time to rest and trying not to push myself too hard for too long.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
It’s usually easiest to say I’m a “Product Photographer” but for me, that also includes being an Art Director, Prop Stylist, and Retoucher for all of my projects. I like to think of myself as a one-stop-shop photography service. It is a lot of hats to wear, but I’ve always been a really hands-on, do-it-all-myself kind of person. I’m not sure I’d ever want to limit myself and my creativity to just one role.

Retouching is a whole art in itself, and having that knowledge can be so helpful on set when you’re shooting and styling. Because I’m the photographer and the retoucher, I know what’s possible to do in post and what isn’t. You’d be shocked at how some of my photos are created! And if I was only the photographer, or only the stylist, I’d be really limited on my creativity and how my final photos look.

I also think my clients really love that they’re working and communicating directly with me from start to finish. Some clients have a specific vision, and some don’t know what they want – but all of them trust me to execute it correctly and it’s so fulfilling to be able to deliver that to them.

How do you think about happiness?
Honestly, maybe it’s a little corny haha, but I still get happy as soon as I nail a shot. Like when it’s all set up and you get that lighting right and you’re looking at it in camera like “yessss that’s it, I can’t wait to sit down and edit this!” Like that’s always and forever going to be the best feeling. It’s that exciting moment where you know you just created something you’re happy with and nothing is better than that…Except maybe my cats purring on my lap, because that also makes me happy 🙂

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.becca-m.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/becca_mstudio

Image Credits
Becca M