Meet Celene Stanley: 6x internationally published photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Celene Stanley and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Celene, what is the most important factor behind your success?
It took me a few years to really figure out my niche, or what I wanted my brand to focus on. I finally realized – I just love, LOVE! I truly enjoy capturing love, whether that is a wedding, family, or the pure joy of graduating. Capturing happiness, joy, and love makes me enjoy what I do, and makes it “easy” to capture those moments. My brand has ultimately been successful because I have found the perfect recipe of capturing love and adding my unique and artistic style behind it.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Many of my clients don’t even know, unless I bring it up as small talk during a session – but I’m actually a full time teacher. I juggle a busy work load and my photography brand. Many people tend to ask why I don’t just do this full time. My answer is always that I fear I’d lose the love of it. It’s not easy juggling my career, my brand, finishing my degree, and making time for Jesus. But it’s all so worth it, they all go hand in hand. My career funds my brand, my brand funds my degree, and Jesus funds it all!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I love my city! My boyfriend and I often find ourselves just finding a parking meter and roaming downtown for hours with no destination in mind. Trinity Groves/Margret Hunt Hill Bridge area is easily the most convenient location to take out-of-towners. You get a fantastic view of the skyline and some great eats, plus desert from Cake Bar. That or Deep Ellum, same concept. Great view of the city, plus all the cool eats in the area.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I owe it all to my best friend, Liliana. In high school we wanted to be photographers – we had this elaborate plan of attending UNT together and taking over the world. That dream died for me when UNT didn’t accept me. Lili never gave up on the dream, 3 years after high school, she asked me to model for her to build her portfolio. Seeing how her flame never went out, reignited the flame in me. THANKS LIL PICKLE! Couple that flame, with a new flame … my boyfriend. He deserves some credit in this too. He’s the muse behind some of my more creative pieces. He births the ideas, I just bring them to life! He definitely gave me the motivation to take my art seriously in most cases. Whenever I doubt myself he’ll be there to remind me, “you’re a 6x internationally published photographer!” and never let me forget it. Finally, my Queen. My mom. She may always want me to be more than a “starving artist”… but whenever I may doubt my artistic ability, she’s probably downstairs gossiping to someone about “how creative her daughter is”!

Website: shotsbylc.com
Instagram: instagram.com/shotsbylc
Facebook: facebook.com/shotsbylc

Image Credits
– Liliana Cornejo -Chris Bermejo – Celene Stanley