Today we’d like to introduce you to Virginia Hernandez
Hi Virginia, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
One of my early childhood memories is begging my parents for a bright red Vivitar film camera I saw at Walmart when I was about 8. My parents took photos like any other family, but nobody had an innate interest in photography as a hobby. Coming from a Hispanic family on the south side of San Antonio, creativity and art weren’t pursued by anyone in our extended family. It never occurred to me as a child that it was possible to have a career in the arts; in college, I pursued sociology without much direction other than social concern.
Photography continued to be a passion of mine, but it was much more of a hobby. I shot vacation and family photos on a Canon Rebel film camera, not really knowing anything technical about cameras or film processing.
In my 20s, I worked a staff job in academia before returning to graduate school for a degree in Gender Studies in 2009. I had no specific plans for a career, I just knew that I enjoyed learning and that I felt strongly about the subject of inequality. I quit my job and went to school full-time on a fellowship until I graduated, after which I decided to take time off before looking for work again.
Throughout my 20s, I worked on film sets, video productions, and photo shoots mainly as an assistant, before finally taking a lead role as a producer during SXSW 2011. This led to the formation of my first production company – still, at that point, I did not consider myself a media professional or a photographer. When I think about this time, I realize how limited my view was of what a career could be. I consistently focused on traditional office jobs, while relegating my talent for multimedia to hobby status. I had even considered getting my master’s degree in photography, while ultimately deciding that my MA in gender studies would prove more valuable.
Later that same year, I was invited to shoot event photos professionally for the first time, and it was from that point that I really grabbed onto the opportunity and never looked back.
For the past 13 years, I have been a full-time photographer and video producer, embracing all the experiences from my “unofficial” years in the industry to launch my own companies, lead media departments for large organizations, and learn as much as possible. Currently, I’m a full-time freelancer, and have spent the last year networking with other professionals and truly making a push to take my photography in new directions.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
There have many more years of challenge than years of smooth roads. My independent career was launched off the back of my divorce nearly 12 years ago. I signed divorce papers and started a new full-time job at a media department the same week. I moved into my new apartment the next week, a single mom to a 14-month-old. Being a single parent to a toddler while forging a new career and a new life were some of the most difficult years of my life.
While working full-time at a company with a daycare was a godsend for the first several years after my divorce, the culture of the company began to gradually change. During the pandemic, it was nearly an unrecognizable place in terms of employee morale, my own included. My department completely fell apart in 2020, leaving me as the only employee serving dozens of divisions for nearly a year.
The change in management and the trickle-down mistreatment of employees eventually made its way to me, and I realized that my company loyalty had become misplaced. I left at the end of 2022, forging my path as an entrepreneur and business owner.
The decision was difficult and filled with painful hurdles, but I’ve never looked back, and the last two years have provided me with an abundance of unique opportunities. Coming out the other side of that onerous period was one of the biggest learning experiences of my life, and provided me with a new level of gratitude.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I specialize in event photography, portraiture, and concert photography. Most people know me for my event work, which has been the bulk of my business for the past 13 years. I have worked hundreds of events of all kinds and have many repeat clients.
There are several things that set me apart as an event photographer. First and foremost, I have a genuine desire to really understand the event I’m working. Whether it’s grandma’s birthday party or a corporate gala, I want to know what’s important to the client about the event. That inherently makes those moments important to me and they’re not always the same, even if many events look similar from the outside.
But the main reason I believe clients come back to me is because I make the job of hiring a photographer easy. I am not a photographer who needs handholding – I work hard to understand events so that I can actually help the clients. Many folks don’t know much about event photography and they really just want you to get the job done. I am seasoned enough to put clients at ease so they can focus on the event instead of what I’m doing.
While I truly love event photography, I get my artistic fixes doing portraiture and concert photography. Those are ventures I’ve started deep-diving into the past two years. I’m currently working on a documentary photography and portrait project for a nonprofit I helped found called Long Covid Collective, featuring folks with long COVID, exploring their lives and realities.
I make portraits of musicians, nontraditional headshots, and studio portraits of all kinds, and have found that work to completely stretch my skills and creativity in new ways. I recently dipped my toe into maternity photography, and I just loved how whimsical you can be in the edits. It’s truly unlike any other field of photography.
Concert photography combines my intense love for music with my favorite thing to do in the world – take photos – but it’s most certainly a labor of love, even if I will do it any chance I get. Some highlights this year were getting to do photography for SXSW at music showcases, and I had a big full circle moment getting to photograph the New Kids on the Block early this summer – they were my first-ever concert when I was 10.
We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
I like to think I’m a calculated risk-taker. I do like to take risks, but I don’t just jump off the deep end. It is an enormous risk to have your own business, and it’s a risk that doesn’t end. To some extent, you have to believe that you can and will succeed and continuously be motivated to get there. But most entrepreneurs aren’t satisfied with the first “success” – or the second or third. That usually just means it’s on to the next one.
I think my risk tolerance is bound up with my unending need to grow as a person and challenge myself with new things. Despite having successes in my career, there has never been a time in my life when I thought, “I made it, here I am. I’m done now!” It’s always about growth and seizing opportunity whenever possible.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://virginiahernandez.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/virginia.hernandezphoto/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/virginiahernandezphoto
