Today we’d like to introduce you to Lily Merriman.
Hi Lily, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
While studying to get my degree in journalism at KSU in 2019, I was casually pursuing photography on the side and mostly just for fun. I’d occasionally take pictures of my friends and my travels, but I always knew I loved taking portraits the most. That’s when fashion photography sort of fell into my lap. After graduating, I moved to an apartment in midtown Atlanta with my boyfriend and decided to reach out to a local modeling agency to do some testing. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing or how the industry worked. All I knew was that I wanted more experience taking pictures of people. From there, my career in fashion just started growing. I lost my first job out of college due to the pandemic, and at that point, I really had no choice but to pursue photography full-time. Luckily it worked out!
After building a good name and reputation for myself in Atlanta for two years, I started feeling antsy and a bit stuck. It no longer felt like I had room to expand my career in the state I grew up in. That’s when I made the leap to van life and decided to drive my camper across the country to pursue bigger and more aligned clients in California. Since then, I’ve made so many beautiful connections within the industry and have created some of my all-time favorite work yet. That said, I’ll truly always have a special place in my heart for Atlanta and my heart is full each time I go back.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Too many struggles to count! But that’s just part of the fun(:
I didn’t go to school for photography, much less anything to do with fashion, so this entire world has been a giant surprise and learning curve for me. I went in with literally zero knowledge of the industry and have had to learn as I go. I found great resources through Youtube and IG that have really helped steer me in the right direction. If I hadn’t had the internet, my career would have probably progressed much slower than it has.
A huge question for me when I started was, how exactly do I get paid for this? There’s a mix of collaborative and paid work in the fashion industry so that was really hard to find the right balance with at first. A lot of people in fashion like to be tight-lipped about “trade secrets” which I really dislike. Luckily that seems to be changing and I try to be as open as possible about what I know because there’s more than enough work out there for all of us creatives to thrive in the industry.
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’m Lily Merriman, owner of Lily Jay Studios, and I’m a fashion and editorial photographer based in Malibu, California. I recently shot my biggest clothing campaign yet for the Australian brand ELLIATT. That was easily one of my proudest career moments. We shot the campaign in a stunning home in the Hollywood Hills and the entire team was a dream to work with. That whole day was a pinch me moment.
My quality of work and fearlessness when it comes to reaching out to clients is what sets me apart from others. If a client isn’t over the moon excited about what I create for them, then I’m not happy with the final product. It’s a bit of an achilles heel as well but I’m constantly analyzing my work to see what I can do to improve technically, as well as what I can do to evoke more emotion and nostalgia in my imagery. I’m also not afraid to cold email the brands, models and magazines that I want to work with! Luckily I now have an agency that does most of that grunt work for me. And again, I was actually the one who reached out to them first!! So I never would have found representation if I hadn’t been making the first move.
So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
When it comes to my photography, a goal of mine is to take the viewer out of the mundane, if only for a moment, into a world of dreamlike beauty – because that’s what I love to feel when I look at work from some of my favorite photographers. It’s easy to feel like fashion doesn’t really matter, and editorial photography is nothing more than a pretty picture. But I truly believe photography and creative visuals in general help people escape and dream of something greater than the life they’re currently living – when done well.
Contact Info:
- Website: lilymerriman.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lilyjayphotos/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lily-merriman-4a6409176/
Image Credits
(Green Backdrop) Model @Arah Cho Agency @saltmodel, MUA @jchristopherbeauty, Hair Styling @schair.co, Studio @spaceoneatl, Videographer @cliftonblakeworld, featured in Mojeh Magazine (Black and white dress) Model @myoddfuture, Agency @saltmodel, featured in Photo Vogue Italia (white dress at beach) Model @jilliangoins Agency @onemanagementla MUA@beautybyeuni (Pink dress and featured image of two models in white dresses) Blonde model – Kendall Visser, Burnette model-Yulia Saparniiazova, Production – The NUE Group, Wearing – ELLIATT, MUA – Marlu Soria, Hair – Rene Cortez
