Today we’d like to introduce you to Deleigh Hermes.
Hi Deleigh, 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?
Thank you so much for having me! I’ll tell you what I do today and how my life led up to that. I am currently an adventure and landscape photographer and I am also a realtor in Austin, TX.
I graduated in 2009 with a photo degree at Texas State University. I started out as a photo teacher with the Totally Cool, Totally Art program, and then at the Washington Carver Museum.
When I was younger, I paid the bills by photographing events, concerts, and weddings but my goal was to be a photojournalist and work for big publications. I knew I had to travel and go find interesting stories so I sold everything and set off in my 98’ 4Runner across the country for almost 4 years! At that time I worked on my first big story and had it published in Yahoo! and High Times. It was a story about small cannabis farmers in the redwoods who would get wiped from the map once it became legal in California, and they did. From there, I just kept photographing, kept taking workshops, and kept entering my work to publications. I have now been published in National Geographic, Yahoo!, High Times, the WSJ, among others.
After several years of going on adventures to look for stories, I was getting more and more experience in the outdoors and getting much better at outdoor photography. People started to ask me if I had workshops for learning about the outdoors and photography. I began to take it seriously and started taking survival courses and wilderness first aid classes. After years of learning, trial and error and personal experience in the outdoors, I felt that the time was right and I was ready to take people out into the wilderness and host my first workshop which was called Digital Native Workshops. That was in November of 2019. Little did I know what was about to happen to the world. I had spent years preparing for that moment and, man, was it so amazing! It was the most rewarding thing I have ever done. I had two more workshops scheduled in April and October of 2020, but the world shut down and the workshops were dead in the water…for a while at least.
That led me to my real estate path. My father has been a realtor my whole life and he told me to get my license because, “You just never know, it’s always good to have.” That proved to be true! I got my license in 2017 but hadn’t put much effort in it because photography and the workshops were doing really well. After the major shutdown, I started to push real estate. I branded myself and started to market my company. I now work independently under Keller Williams. My company is called Hermes Property Group and in my “first year”, I sold $2,832,000 in volume.
A great photographer and mentor, Chad Copeland, once told me, “Whatever you do in life, you have to be the best at it. Whether it be photography or real estate, be the best.” I think of that often, so I strive to put my best foot forward no matter what shoe I have on.
Now, I am actively crushing real estate and photography has finally opened up. My photo world changed after the pandemic, but for the better. I take photos for large land developments doing drone and photo work for their marketing material and I also sell my fine art photography and work with interior designers such as Kristen Nix. I love how my two different careers coincide with each other!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Oh god, no! Do you know how many tears I have cried? Blood, sweat, and tears have been had but I don’t regret one day of my crazy experiences or any decisions I’ve made along the way. Everything has worked out just the way it should. I think that anyone building a business from the ground up knows just what I’m talking about, especially a creative industry where your competition is just about everyone else out there.
Be passionate, be smart, learn from your losses, learn your business, and be the best at it.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Something that I am most proud of is having two images picked as the top editor’s pick in the National Geographic Travel Contest. I remember waking up to an email stating that my image was in the top editor’s pick, which meant it was in the top 20 images for that week out of thousands of images. A week later, the other image I entered was chosen. Top pick means you are in the running for the overall first, second, or third prize. I did not win overall, but being chosen for the editors pick was winning to me! I was also an assistant to Ismail Ferdous for his story “The New American Dream”, in National Geographic Magazine. Definitely the time of my life.
Right now I am currently focusing on real estate and, believe it or not, NFT’s for my photography work. I am building up a very important project right now that I will be minting in a couple of months. It is a whole new art world that is so invigorating, I can’t even explain it. The community is amazing and so very supportive. In the future, I plan to sell limited edition NFT’s and in return, collectors will get an adventure trip with my company Digital Native Workshops. I really want to mesh the digital world and the real world. I can’t wait to see what’s in store. Be sure to follow my Twitter @deleigh_nft for updates on that.
Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
I’d say keep your part-time job until you know you have enough income coming in from your creative job. Also, work under someone and learn the business from them. The business side of your company is so important.
You don’t always have to go to college for a creative career. I know many very successful photographers who only took workshops and worked hard to become published. And on the other hand, some photographers are literal scientists who started taking photos of their work and became known for it. You just follow your path and create one that will provide income and a sustaining life. Don’t let being a creative blind your money-making motives. There are so many ways to earn money from photography, you just have to find out what niche you are good at and go with that. Focus on one area and become the best at it.
Take workshops, no matter what career you have. For photo, I took editing workshops, photo workshops, storytelling workshops, and even business workshops. Same goes for real estate. I am constantly taking classes and talking to leaders in my industry to be the most informed that I can be so that I am the best asset for my clients.
Find out how the people who inspire you most got to where they are and see if they offer workshops. They will teach you how to work the business. It is a huge benefit and asset to have for your career portfolio.
And of course, never give up!
Contact Info:
- Email: deleighhermes@kw.com
- Photo Website: www.deleighhermes.com
- Real Estate Website: www.
hermespropertygroup.com - Instagram: @deleighhermes | @hermes_property_group
- Facebook: https://www.
facebook.com/deleighhermes - Twitter: @deleigh_nft | @hermesatx
Image Credits
Personal photo by Leticia Smith with White Light Exposure
Deleigh Hermes
