Today we’d like to introduce you to Shweta Mistry.
Hi Shweta, 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?
I grew up in a motel situated in a low-income area, many would refer to this as “the hood” of Augusta. It was a family business so I was essentially a maid as a child. A lot of people gave me the pity look when I tell them this story. This reaction forced me to be ashamed of my childhood, where I grew up, my culture, and more. But why? Why was I ashamed of something that I found so beautiful? The art of my immigrant parents running a motel business. The art of my mom carrying me in one arm while cleaning toilets with the other. The art of hearing police sirens after gunshots at nightfall. Were these things all positive and what a middle school girl should be used to? No, but this is all I knew and I saw the light and the beauty in it. Sooner or later, I realized that everything I was seeing was an art form to me. The good and bad, I always saw the light. Like a “ooou that’s beautiful, let me take a quick picture of it,” kinda feeling. So in 8th grade, my dad bought me a Nikon d3300 and I started a photo business capturing whoever and whatever I saw as art. The main thing I see art in today: athletes and their environments.
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 wasn’t the smoothest, but I’m happy with where it is taking me. I struggled mostly with disbelief and rejection. Most people, including my family, believed that my career as a photographer was merely a hobby. They even managed to convince me that it was just not possible to be a full-time photographer without living paycheck to paycheck. Now, I don’t hold this against my family, because I’m an Indian woman trying to get into the sports photography industry which is dominated by White men. They were just worried that i’d face disappointment. Sadly, their disbelief triggered my disbelief in myself. Then I got to college and realized that I’m not paying $4k a semester just to not study what I love. So I decided to make my dream of being a professional photographer into a goal in 2020.
Rejection was toughhhh. In middle school, I was a sports photographer. Since then, my dream was to be hired by the UGA Football Team. Not only is this an honor itself, but it would give me a chance at possibly being in the NFL or NBA one day. I applied to work for almost every sports team at UGA, sent thousands of emails to coaches, DMed previous creative media alums, and got rejected by every one of them.
I promise you, I wanted to work for the Georgia Football Creative Media Team as bad as I wanted to breathe. So rejection brought me so close to giving up on this dream. But thank God it didn’t.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Wait till you hear this.
I now work as a photographer for Georgia Football.
It does not even feel real yet. I still feel like I am the random Brown girl who just takes photos. But I guess dreams really do come true.
I specialize in sports photography now, capturing athletes on and off the field. My love for sports is that I see art in all of it. The athletes, how they were raised, how they dress, them working two jobs outside of practice because mom was pregnant again and money was low… the hustle. I see art in the hustle. Athletes are some of the biggest dreamers and hustlers you will ever meet. As a dreamer myself, I definitely appreciate that.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
I LOVEEEE the music culture and appreciation for art in Atlanta. There are not many environments where creatives feel fully appreciated, but Atlanta PRAISES artists and that is so rare.
I hate the traffic. Sorry not sorry, no can do.
Pricing:
- $15 for a headshot
- $60/hour for sports photography
- $100/hour for parties and events
Contact Info:
- Website: shwetamistry.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shotsonshweta/
- Other: https://www.instagram.com/shwetadmistry/
