Today we’d like to introduce you to Daniel Arceo.
Daniel, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
To begin, my father was a big camera guy. He owned many cameras and always had at least one in hand to capture memories for my family. He wasn’t a professional or anything like that, but he enjoyed taking photos for us to look back on. Shortly before he passed, I asked him if I could borrow one of his cameras to take pictures of random places and some photos of my friends for fun. He gladly handed me one to use without questioning it and said, “Here, keep this one.” I enjoyed every minute of it even though I had no idea of what I was doing. From my memory, he and I had a few chances to explore and take photos together.
After he passed, I decided to take photography more seriously. I was still a high school teen around this time so I had no idea what photography could offer me. All throughout college, I continued to take photos on the side and try to improve each day. I learned how to operate the camera more in-depth and make edits to photos. I made the investment to get better equipment and made the money back by taking on small photo jobs.
I noticed a lot of people were posting their photos online via Instagram and Twitter so I thought it would be a good idea to share my photos as well. Prior to posting my photos that I took, no one was really interested in my social media pages. I would barely reach 20-30 likes on average.
Later down the line, my photos began to get some recognition online and my Instagram began to kick off. Through this exposure, companies started reaching to me and offered me some opportunities that I’d never forget. I had the chance to work with amazing companies, cover big events, shoot concerts that I once was an attendee too, and even shoot behind the scenes on music videos.
Photography has allowed me to meet so many talented people, make amazing friends, and taken me to places I never thought I’d be. I was always that shy kid that didn’t really know how to talk to people. Photography has taught me how to come out my shell and network. It has greatly impacted my life and I really don’t know what I would be doing if I never picked up a camera.
Has it been a smooth road?
When you’re truly passionate about something, I don’t think it will ever be a smooth road. I’ve had unhappy clients, camera equipment broken, and long hours of editing to get it done on-time. My biggest struggle was losing my father at 15-years-old. It was tough getting through the trauma, anxiety, and depression but I will be forever grateful for him gifting me my first camera. Also, I think all photographers face the struggle of feeling uninspired or stuck at one point. Getting through that is pretty rough too because once you feel unmotivated and lose creativity. All artists get these creative blocks at one point in their career, it’s really just how you just push through it and build your momentum by feeling inspired again.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Flicks By Daniel – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of and what sets you apart from others.
I am a Freelance Photographer. I specialize in lifestyle portraits and event coverage. I am most proud of my editing ability and versatility. I think what sets me apart from other photographers is my editing style and my own sense of creative direction/execution. Every photographer is different in their own way, I feel like I have a lot to bring to the table and I am very proud of how far I have come from where I started.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
Los Angeles is the city of opportunity. People come here from all over the world to seek an opportunity and change to their lives. I like that LA has so many creatives all over and it is essentially a playground to photographers. Whether you shoot landscapes or portraits, you have the whole city to use as your canvas.
What I don’t like about the city is the competition and how things are so saturated. That just gives you more of a reason to stand out from the others. It pushes me to find ways to set myself apart from the average photographer/creative out there doing the same thing as me.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.flicksbydaniel.com
- Email: flicksbydaniel@gmail.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/flicksbydaniel
- Twitter: twitter.com/flicksbydaniel
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