Today we’d like to introduce you to Joey Lloyd.
Joey, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I started to take photography seriously in 2018. I have always loved photography and the art of it. I was living in Washington, DC, and a roommate I had at the time had a Nikon D70; I had asked if play around with it. Now I didn’t know anything about professional cameras or how to use one or anything. I started watching Youtube tutorials about how to use the camera and how to use the features. Then I just would go out and walk all over DC taking pictures. I started to post them on my Facebook and Instagram and was getting very positive feedback and praise for how good the lighting and composition were. That just made me want to go take more pictures and learn more. I credit photography for saving my life; what I mean is that I have suffered from depression most of my adult life and even almost committed suicide at one point. I was diagnosed with severe depression disorder. When I found photography, I found a love and a passion for something and was getting voids in my life filled that I didn’t know needed to be filled. Before I knew it, I wasn’t getting depressed as often or sometimes not at all. I would volunteer at the LGBTQ Center in DC, and which gave me more practice, and I learned even more about taking photos of people. I started Joey Lloyd Photography in 2019; I have spent the last almost 4 years trying and learning to grow this. I am very passionate about trying to find a way to combine my photography and helping people that struggle with depression. I recently started a podcast talking about my mental health Journey and also photography. Once again, I am doing something I don’t know anything about, and that is trying to learn the podcasting world. I am not afraid to try something new and try to self-teach myself how to do something like photography and this podcast. I want anyone who struggles with mental health that there is light at the end of that dark tunnel, and my light started coming through with photography. I am a gay man in my 40s, realizing what a passion and a love for something is
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The road to where I am today has been rough but also smooth. When I started doing photography, I found it hard to get anyone that was more knowledgeable to guide me and help me. I had tried to self-publish photography books that didn’t go anywhere or get much attention. I have had moments of self-doubt and thought that maybe I am not good enough or that my art isn’t good enough. I just had to shake those thoughts and feelings off because I know it takes hard work and sometimes years of work and mistakes to be able to reach my goals. I am not trying to be rich and famous; my goal is to again find a way to help people that suffer from mental illness to see that they matter and that they are loved, especially in the LGBTQ Community, I have found it hard to get anywhere on social media, and that has been a struggle. I have been trying to learn all this on my own so that also has been a struggle; I don’t know if I am doing things right or wrong.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
I consider myself a freelance photographer, it’s more of a hobby right now, I have a full-time customer service job. I prefer to do artsy photography and nature, landscapes, and other stuff like that; I make creative art photography as well as capture other art like museum art through my lens and interpret differently in my lens if that makes sense at all. I have been published in a calendar of Ohio. I have self publishes a couple of books, but I am not sure that I am known for anything. I am still a small photographer that is trying to get my art and work out there for people. My goal is to have some of my work in a museum or a gallery. I hope what sets me apart is the aesthetic of my photography, The way I do photography is it is a feeling, I don’t go out just take pictures to take pictures; it’s a feeling I get when I see something or the way I see the object. It is almost like the object is speaking to me in a way. I try to show art through my photography, and I hope it is set apart from others
What would you say has been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
Not to give up when I am not getting the results fast enough. That is a lesson that I have and continue to learn, and it’s something that I struggle with. Not to doubt me because I know and believe that I will reach my professional goals. Also learning to do things right, I am working on a new website with a store, and I made mistakes with my last one, so with those mistakes, I know what to do better this time around
Contact Info:
- Instagram: jlloydphotography19
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Joeyphotography19
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ2g-W7oqwpLHP2TjiqWhJg
Image Credits
Joey Lloyd Photography
