Meet Zena Negron | Photographer

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

Hi Zena, any advice for those thinking about whether to keep going or to give up?
The answer to this, is to never give up. Even if you have tried something over and over again and feel like a failure because the results never end up as you have imagined. If you continuously make attempts at something, you’re putting out “I want this” energy. Sometimes it takes taking a step back and looking at everything you have done and figuring out other ways you can do it differently. Sometimes the thing we want so bad shows up in our life in a completely different way than we ever imagined. When you get to that breaking point of wanting to give up because you have tried for years in different ways, sometimes thats when that magic really happens. When the breakthroughs come. Never give up on the life you want to create for yourself.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
If you are destined for something, it will always find its way to you. I discovered my love for photography at a very young age, have broken up with it many times, and have always found myself coming back to it. After receiving my BFA in photography from the Academy of Art University, I did not end up in a photography career. In fact, I went the Property Manager route, which taught me a lot of valuable people skills that I’ve been able to apply to my photography business today. After hitting a major pivoting point in my life, I decided I was going to find a job doing photography.

I landed a photography job for an apartment marketing company, taking photographs of apartment communities throughout the country. After 4 years with the company, I started to grow tired of being gone 2–3 weeks out of the month, living out of a suitcase, taking boring photos of empty rooms, and not being able to build community around me because I was gone so much. I started the job search to see if I could find a photography position that was local to Dallas or Las Vegas. During this time, I had my LLC and was focused on my photography business part-time. I had always been afraid of focusing on my business full-time due to financial stability.

Without warning, I was let go from my job, and I felt my world turn upside down. I wanted to leave the company but on my terms and with the security of having another job lined up. This was around the time the job market was starting to get bad. I had applied to hundreds of jobs when I finally decided I needed to take matters into my own hands. I wanted to work for myself—it was always my dream, but I allowed fear to stop me. I viewed this as the Universe giving me that extra push, but to me, it felt like being pushed off of a cliff. I had to hit the ground running and start getting myself out there as a new photographer in the DFW area.

October will be my second year in business, fully working for myself, and nothing about it is easy. I have weeks where I’m stressed if I am going to make money. I wear a lot of hats, as I am a one-human show. I do my own marketing, plan each photoshoot, communicate with all of my clients and potential clients, show up to the photoshoots and take the pictures, edit all of the photos, etc. Running a business is not easy, but it can also be very rewarding.

During my weeks of no leads, getting ghosted by a potential client, or having someone tell me no—they are moving forward with someone else—those moments can be very hard, but I’ve learned to not allow them to discourage me. My people will find me, and I will find them, and magic will be created.

My business is still a baby in its growing-pain stages. I’m still trying to figure things out: what works, what doesn’t work, how I can go about things differently, and finding more of my artistic style and what I really want to fully devote my work to. What I do for sure know is, when it’s my client and I, my goal is to make my client feel fully seen—to feel confident in what we are creating, to leave our session feeling more in tune and in love with themselves than when they arrived. My client is the art, and I am just helping capture all of the beauty.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Food/Drink
– Lady Love
– Oishii (Off Wycliff)
– Las Palmas

Dancing
-Lady Love
-Round up
-Sue Ellens

Places
-Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden
-White Rock Lake
-Cedar Ridge Preserve
-Check what creative events are happening that week. Something around Oakcliff or Deep Ellum

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 want to dedicate my shoutout to the two most influential women in my life, my Grandmother María and Titi Migdalia. Both raised me from the age of two. When I came out as Queer a lot of family disowned me but they have always shown me unconditional love and stuck by my side. They have always supported my dreams, encouraged me to go after what I want and taught me to love deeply. They helped build the foundation for who I am as a human and I really love the person I have grown into.

Website: https://www.zenanegron.photography

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zena.negron.photography/

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/zena-negron-photography-dallas

Other: https://g.co/kgs/dCt9Q4x

Image Credits
Zena Negron