Meet Diana Mantis

Today we’d like to introduce you to Diana Mantis.

Diana, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I started doing photography in my early teens, maybe 13 or 14. Most of the photos I took were self-portraits in my room. For some reason shooting other people made me nervous in the beginning.

I took a break from photography for a few years and through a rough patch decided to use photography as my outlet, taking photos and videos every single day no matter what I was doing. Looking back on them now I think most of them are pretty terrible, but it got me really comfortable shooting on my own terms and shooting people how I saw them in a day to day life.

The first regular photography job I had was shooting a rodeo once a month in Lake View Terrace. I was pretty much given free rein to explore anywhere, climb on anything. It felt really liberating and that’s when I realized how much I love a photojournalist approach to photography.

Towards the end of 2015, I got interested in band photography and went on tour with Dead Sara for a couple of weeks. I really liked shooting them before, and after shows, they’re an incredible band to shoot. After that trip, I decided to fully transition into doing photography and videography as a full-time profession.

I’m never fully committed to being in just one branch of photography, I’ve worked on movie & TV sets doing stills, magazine shoots, live performance videos, weddings, etc. and each time I learn a little more about what I like and what I don’t like.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Definitely not, I think as an artist it rarely is. There are times I have the hardest time continuing and that when I try to stay the busiest.

One of the biggest things I’ve had to overcome is feeling comfortable showing people my work. I had my first solo art show at the end of last year with over 100 photographs and I remember looking at all of them and thinking that I was proud of them which was a huge accomplishment for me.

We’d love to hear more about what you do.
I do freelance photography, and I’ve started to get more into videography. I specialize in being a fly on the wall. I’ve been told I have a definite style that is very my own, a lot of times it’s that my photos look like their scenes from a movie.

I shoot digital, 35mm, 120mm, Polaroid’s. I’m constantly trying out new cameras and trying to learn more things and love meeting people who are like-minded and building professional relationships that way.

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
I think it’s measured in how great your sphere of influence is and how you use the power that you have to positively affect the areas that matter to you.

I would never want success just for myself; I think that would be lonely. But if I can use what power I have to teach or inspire or be a shoulder to cry on, I’ll be happy trying to make myself more successful so that I can impact more people.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.dianamantis.com
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: @dianamantis
• Twitter: @diana_mantis

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