Kayla Mendez

Though Kayla will be graduating with a degree in biochemistry this Spring, the self proclaimed daydreamer will be pursuing a career in portrait photography. Kayla Mendez has amassed over 2,000 followers on her instagram page dedicated to editorials of empowered women in order to celebrate diversity in beauty. As we spoke with her about her definition of beauty, pursuing a creative field, and gaining inspiration for shoots, Kayla proved herself to be a beacon of perseverance and passion. Overall being 100% a dreamer.

photography by KAYLA MENDEZ @kaylammendezfeaturing FOLASADE ADEOSO @lovefola

photography by KAYLA MENDEZ @kaylammendez featuring DANIELLE BUDD @thegreatdanielita

What moods/messages do you strive to reflect in your work?

With every image that I take, I always strive to have a deeper message behind it. All of my favorite work features women and reflects images of self love, diversity in beauty, and breaking down barriers. Allowing more spaces for love is the overarching message that I try to display throughout my work.

How do you conceptualize ideas for your shoots?

Most of it comes from just channeling my emotions and coming up with a theme of what I’m feeling that day. Overall my ideas come from out of me. I will even sometimes just get a random image in my head and be like “holy cow that’s what I’ve been envisioning”. When I get one of these, I will immediately take a pencil to paper and start writing it out.

What kind of vibe do you like to have while working at shoots?

I’m very chill when I shoot. I try to be the most carefree and go with the flow person because I know when people feel comfortable and safe, that’s where their true personalities can shine through. I love shooting in my apartment where I can just move everything around and create a clean space for whatever message or image I’m trying to make. Shoots can just be a fun time to hang out with all the people I’m working with so I try to make it as carefree as possible.

Do you feel you experience any difficulties/expectations being a woman in the field of photography?

I honestly can say I have not yet had any major difficulties being a woman in photography. Mostly, what I’ve felt is that I have to hustle a little bit harder to make my name known—I feel like there are a lot of talented male photographers I’ve had to compete against and it sometimes makes me feel like I have to have more of an edge to succeed.

photography by KAYLA MENDEZ @kaylammendez featuring DANIELLE BUDD @thegreatdanielita

What advice would you give to someone starting out and beginning to experiment with photography?

Just do it. If you want to start taking pictures, the first thing you need to do is pick up a camera and start taking them. It doesn’t have to be a “business thing” where you make all your money, it can just be somewhere to creatively express yourself. With so many platforms where you can share your work so freely, I feel like photography is such a cool opportunity to share who you are. The ability to creatively process your emotions to share them with the world is such a great opportunity I could’ve harnessed when I was younger. Start taking pictures, they may be blurry or imperfect or overexposed or underexposed or whatever but just do it. I promise it is going to be the most rewarding experience ever.

Did you/do you experience any criticism for pursuing a creative field?

I experienced criticism from about everyone when I decided to pursue photography. At the moment, I’m in college studying biochemistry. S for the past four years, I have been what my parents expected me to be. When I had this realization that photography is really what I wanted to pursue, I experienced a lot of well meaning skepticism. With so many people picking up cameras and calling themselves “photographers”, I experienced push back from my peers who were thinking “oh great another girl with a camera”. Stepping into a creative field is like stepping into the unknown; it’s all parts entrepreneurial, it’s all business, and it’s driven by your creative talent. No one’s creative career path is the same so it’s all just one big minefield. For me, I know this is what I was called to do. I’m doing this for me and I love it so I’m not going to stop just because of other people.

What do you find to be the most beautiful?

I entered portrait photography to capture beautiful people and I think a “beautiful person” is someone who is confident and at home in their own body. You can just tell when a person is just comfortable walking around in their flesh and they’re just able to be who they are: the weird, the crazy, the everything and I think that is just the most beautiful.

Issue 27 is dedicated to the dreamers. How would you define a “dreamer”? Would you apply this to yourself?

A dreamer, to me, is a person who is able to create a vision for who they want themselves to be and trusting that it can happen. They have the aspiration and ambition to dream. They will step out of what they normally perceive and take a guess. Someone who is ok with the unknown, someone who is ok with being unrealistic for a second and able to separate themselves from reality and imagine a better or different reality. I would 100% consider myself a dreamer. My family has always been so supportive of dreaming and achieving “The American Dream”. I come from a first generation hispanic family and the American Dream is what we lived off of- I am a product of the American Dream. I know that has become devalued almost in this day and age but twenty years ago, it was alive and well and I am most definitely a product of it. Something is always going on in my brain. I’m always thinking of a new concept or a new job or a new idea. I swear, I’ve been dreaming since the day I was born.

photography by KAYLA MENDEZ @kaylammendez featuring FOLASADE ADEOSO @lovefola

photography by KAYLA MENDEZ @kaylammendez featuring DANIELLE BUDD @thegreatdanielita

photography by KAYLA MENDEZ @kaylammendez featuring DANIELLE BUDD @thegreatdanielita

Have you ever held yourself back from an idea or passion of yours?

I definitely have. I picked up photography about two years ago but at the start, I wrestled with whether or not I should even pick it up in the first place. I felt like so many other people were doing it at the time and was worried people would judge me for just being “another photographer”. I was so in love with art in high school but when I got to college, I knew I had to pick a “big girl job” and so I majored in biochemistry and closed myself off from those creative fields and I’d say that would be the biggest way I have held myself back from something . I just didn’t believe a career in a creative field would even be possible until now. I think it’s just been in these past couple months that I’ve fully been able to say I’m a photographer and that I’m going to be a photographer for a living.

How do you respond to criticism of your work? What advice would you give to someone to deal with negative feedback on their own art?

I feel like a lot of artists channel who they are into their own work and I’m personally still working on how to accept criticism. Honestly, one of my goals of 2018 is to ask for more criticism because I want to be better and grow as an artist and criticism comes with the craft. When I receive negative comments I always write it down and I always think “Ok are they right in this? Is this a unique opinion?” and try to apply those constructive comments and make my work better. I think there’s also a boundary line where you should listen to outside opinions because some people just won’t like your work and you just need to stay true to who you are as an artist and create what you love.

Where do you draw your inspiration from?

A lot of my inspiration comes from the photographers that are absolutely killing it and those that came before me like Ben Sasso, Ale Vidal Kara Mercer. Even strong woman artists like Frida Kahlo or going to museums. I think the best tool to gather inspiration is Pinterest.

How do you believe your environment affects your creativity and ideas?

Your environment is one of the most important things in stimulating or hindering your creativity. The people who surround yourself with, the environment in which you live, and the space you have in which to create is so important to facilitate your ideas. Being surrounded in a beautiful environment- for me it’s clean desk, white walls, natural light, and a cup of coffee is where I thrive. If you surround yourself in a creative and supportive community, your ideas will flourish.

What growth have you seen in your work and self since having started photography?

I’ve grown so much since starting photography until now. Everything changed once I picked up photography for real. I first started photography after a trip to South Asia and after a really interesting breakup and I had to let go of a lot of different things in my life and I really feel like God called me to photography. I’ve learned so much about who I am and the messages that I hold dear to me and felt like I could really express those in a platform where I felt safe. I just got to process so many different emotions and have seen so much growth in my own personal self confidence, I love myself so much more now that I’ve picked up photography. It’s given me so much life and joy that I would have never expected.

At what point did you realize you wanted to pursue photography professionally?

As I said, I wrestled with it for a really long time but this past May, I took off from college and freelanced all summer- kind of like my “trial run” to see if I could do photography professionally and have a sustainable career and overall just do what I love. The overwhelming answer was yes and I’m so blessed to be able to answer emails and take on shoots every single day. Just being my own boss is the coolest thing. And that’s when I realized after I graduate college with a degree in biochemistry, that’s when I’m gonna be a photographer.

photography by KAYLA MENDEZ @kaylammendez featuring FARRAH @farrahetc

photography by KAYLA MENDEZ @kaylammendez featuring JOÉD @joedofficial

What is the first experience you can remember of working with photography?

Back in middle school, when Tumblr was super cool, I begged my parents to get me a DSLR camera- it was a Canon Rebel T3i — and I just thought “I’m gonna take really cool pictures, I’m gonna post them on Tumblr, and I’m gonna get a million notes”. I finally got the camera after months of begging and I decided to make a smoothie and then I took the smoothie into my room, put it on the floor, and started taking pictures with it and I thought they were the coolest pictures. I was so enamored by taking a photo.

What do you do when a shoot doesn’t line up with your vision?

I would always try to draw as a child and could never get the image on paper to look like the one in my head but with photography, I could do that so when a shoot doesn’t line up with my vision, I get in a really bad mood. It’s honestly hard for me to continue shooting since if I’m not inspired, then I don’t even want to waste my time. Most of the time, I try my best to get the most out of what I have in front of me even if it doesn’t line up with what I want. If I really don’t like it, if I don’t think it lines up with who I am as a photographer, I won’t share it. I’ll still show up and I think that’s the most important thing. Still showing up to things you might not want to do is really powerful and strong, you don’t have to showcase it to the world but doing things you don’t want to do is actually really healthy.

What do you do when a shoot doesn’t line up with your vision?

I would always try to draw as a child and could never get the image on paper to look like the one in my head but with photography, I could do that so when a shoot doesn’t line up with my vision, I get in a really bad mood. It’s honestly hard for me to continue shooting since if I’m not inspired, then I don’t even want to waste my time. Most of the time, I try my best to get the most out of what I have in front of me even if it doesn’t line up with what I want. If I really don’t like it, if I don’t think it lines up with who I am as a photographer, I won’t share it. I’ll still show up and I think that’s the most important thing. Still showing up to things you might not want to do is really powerful and strong, you don’t have to showcase it to the world but doing things you don’t want to do is actually really healthy.

Do you prefer to go into a shoot knowing exactly what you want or be spontaneous and experiment?

I need a healthy dose of both. Some of my favorite work has come from shoots where I’ve planned out everything. I’ve planned out the intricate details, I’ve placed a meaning in every single color and object, every image is curated by me and those are the images. I feel have the most meaning to me personally. Also, I love being spontaneous and just kind of showing up and letting the creativity flow. Just having fun with it is important. Never lose the fun in what you’re doing.

KEEP UP WITH KAYLA: Instagram: @kaylammendez kaylamendez.co

photography by KAYLA MENDEZ @kaylammendez featuring DANIELLE BUDD @thegreatdanielita & DEVYNI @devynistyles

by ANNIE LEMONNIER photography by KAYLA MENDEZ @kaylammendez