Today we’d like to introduce you to Nelly Koz.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My name is Nelly Koz, and I am a young, 16-year-old, ambitious, and aspiring photographer. My photography journey began when I was younger: I had been lucky enough to have been gifted an iPhone 5. With that low-resolution phone camera, I began to experience the excitement of photography. After thoroughly enjoying this unintentional introduction to the art, I begged my parents mercilessly to get… not an actual camera, but a better iPhone!
After saving two years’ worth of my part-time job earnings, birthday, holiday money by 2017, I purchased an iPhone X.
After the prolonged use of an iPhone X for my photography, my dad had requested that I use a real camera. Stubborn, I said no- until one moonlit night, when I used his Nikon to get a photo of the moon. Though, that was not the turning point: my exigence was when my mother stood behind me as I took pictures of the moon. I turned around to see her under the garage light, with an orange glow dramatically illuminating her face. After taking pictures of her in that lighting, I became hooked on real, DSLR camera photography. This camera, which I had used until recently, was my dad’s “family vacation” camera: a Nikon Coolpix P900.
I began my venture into paid photography with this basic equipment, eventually saving up my earnings to buy a professional camera, a Canon EOS R with a portrait lens which I now shoot with.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has not been an easy path to where I am today. The first of the many challenges I have experienced is my anxiety. Despite this, I am a tremendous people person, and I enjoy connecting with the people in front of my camera. As a visual learner, one of the biggest helps with model interactions has been watching YouTube videos. Another big help was from interning for Atlanta film photographer, Jordana Dale (@jordanadale on Instagram), who taught me about interacting with clients, business management, and technical camera skills. After my internship, Jordana is still there as a resource to guide me in my path.
Another one of my roadblocks has been social media’s influence on me. With so many older, more experienced photographers online, whose worth’s are often determined by their commercial successes, I have felt pressured to “be on their level.” Though this kind of competition can be motivating, at the end of the day, I can look and learn from the work that I have accomplished, despite being only 16 years old. In 2018, I attended a presentation event by the famous American-portrait photographer, Annie Leibovitz. One piece of advice she gave to young photographers such as myself was that “you will learn the most by looking back at your own work.”
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
My audience knows me for my unique color-grading within my editing, which varies from neon green to natural lighting. Before each of my photoshoots, I plan and discuss my clients’ visions for their shoot. I am a firm believer in quality over quantity. Instead, I would give my models 30 great-quality pictures versus 100 photos that I put no effort in.
We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
When you are a photographer, you tend to have an eye for people and their stories. Though photography is the art of capturing light, some may know it as the art of visual storytelling through pictures. Last year, I had a school bus driver; he had been driving my route since my freshman year. Every day- before and after school- he would entertain the students riding his bus. I would often see him talking to his bus riders about drama at school or inspiring them to begin driving.
Most days, I sat in the front of the bus and enjoyed listening to his wisdom. He told us he was a keyboardist and played in a band. Immediately, my curiosity peaked, and I asked him about his music. Apparently, my bus driver had played keyboard for Whitney Houston- isn’t that incredible?
One day, when I was riding the bus home, I remembered that I had taken a photo of some musicians playing a drum circle at the beach. Connecting to my bus driver’s love for music and my love for photography, I showed him that photo. Afterwards, I asked, “I was wondering if I could take a photo of you with your keyboard sometime?” To my query, he happily responded that the next time his band played nearby, he would let me know. I was thinking more of a photo of him with his keyboard at Marietta Square or something similar. Still, the idea of performance was much better.
I got to see him play a couple of months later and was so amazed, I almost forgot to take pictures (this was my first time shooting a concert). At the end of the performance, I showed my photos to the band. They could not believe a high school student had been sitting in their audience, taking the images that they saw on the camera in my hands. It’s quite amazing how one question can lead you to new experiences like these.
Pricing:
- Please reach out to me via email to discuss sessions. My portfolio can be found on my website.
Contact Info:
- Email: nellykozphotography@gmail.com
- Website: https://nellykozphotograph.wixsite.com/nelly-koz
- Instagram: @nellykoz
