Today we’d like to introduce you to Alexis Gloria.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I’m a mom, fiancé, and generally happy person. I love what I do but it took me over a decade to get where I am. Born in Rockford, IL, raised in Minnesota. Found the love of my life in Sterling, IL and here we are. We live in a quiet and generally nice little town surrounded by corn (secretly I love it but miss the big city life of Minnesota). I have always been a wander and dreamer, something they tell you not to do. Well, I went to college a handful of times and finally realized that I wanted to pursue my dream of capturing others dreams in portraits. I quit my job in nursing; something I loved to do, I loved helping people; it was just the wrong type of ‘helping’ I realized I was doing.
Photography has been in my life for as long as I’ve been able to hold a camera. I’m generally inspired by my family, especially my daughter. Her wanderlust and Neverland dreams are what drive me. The pure, raw joy I see when I get to photograph clients, especially innocent ones are what makes my journey worth it. I get to be able to read people a lot better than most, oddly enough, which you can see in the emotion of my portraits. I think a lot of that comes from moving around so much and never fully understanding who I was growing up. It took me 30 years to finally see what I am and I’m loving every minute of being an adult who can generally say that they love their ‘job’ and wants to continue learning and growing in this extremely competitive field.
Please tell us about your art.
Photography. Plain and simple I love it. I have a Nikon and a full array of lenses that I use for different approaches on what type of session I have. I feel like photography is something that yes everyone can hold a camera up but it takes a special select few to really capture that ‘something’ in the moment you rarely get to see. I photograph because I feel a connection with someone behind the eye, even when I’m laughing and joking with a client, that moment, that’s when I see something special in them and try my hardest to capture the moment we are having.
The inspiration is really my drive. I never felt like I ‘belonged’ behind a desk or in a room surrounded by people, kind of in the ‘dark’. With photography I feel like anyone, race, culture, religion, sex, anyone. ANYONE can do this if they have the drive, passion and inspirations. The audience looks at your portraits before they look at you. No one would ever assume I’m a mom, in my 30’s and doing this while raising our daughter, taking care of my family, home and everything else I need to do to survive when they look at my photography.
I really hope people learn from my photography that it doesn’t matter the subject, where you are or who you’re with, if you have a passion for it, a drive and generally love to do it, you should. You don’t need to be a ‘professional’ there are lots of novice photographers that simply do it for the joy of it. If you feel like you could do this as a career, for families, couples, heck, National Geographic, go for it! Just make sure you take the baby steps and follow through on every aspect. All in all, it’s worth it if you have a passion for photography.
What do you think is the biggest challenge facing artists today?
Honestly, the biggest challenge artists face today is a two-headed coin. The internet is a great amazing way to have word of mouth and find new clients, I do have word of mouth in my town and when I’m out with my camera I always have business cards handy, but with all of these photographers flooding the market with their work in the same area, competition is really hard. Online anyone can pretend to be a ‘legit’ photographer so then you’re having to deal with people who aren’t trustworthy at a lower cost to clients because they don’t pay their fees to be a legal legit business and pay their taxes when time comes. All in all, I really dislike to see clients that could have come to me for amazing work, but seeing the bottom dollar and thinking cheaper is better. A great saying we have is that “Great photography isn’t cheap and cheap photography isn’t great”.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
I have my website available to everyone via web at www.OTMImage.com if potential clients have a Facebook or Instagram my work is there also.
I am always open to online support through warm wishes and comments. Definitely LIKING and SHARING my site, Facebook page and Instagram page is always helpful for everyone to see my work and gain a larger audience. I travel for weddings and larger events so it’s always lovely to see new followers in new areas I could potentially have new amazing clients to work with!
Contact Info:
- Address: 1615 E 13th Street Sterling, IL 61081
- Website: www.OTMImage.com
- Phone: 8158212210
- Email: OTMImage@Gmail.com
- Instagram: www.Instagram.com/OverTheMoonImage
- Facebook: www.Facebook.com/OverTheMoonImage
Image Credit:
All Images are copyright to: Over The Moon Image
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