Today we’d like to introduce you to Kayla “Stone” Clemons.
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?
I always say statistically, I shouldn’t be where I am. Being raised by a hardworking single mom in New Orleans, money and time was tight which only laid extra strain on the unfolding events. After a brain tumor disabled my sister and my estranged, drug-induced alcoholic father was toted off to prison, I began to find it difficult to relate to others. Especially other people my age! I’d sit idly by while the kids around me would dissect the latest hair craze and gush over the money they earned for high marks on report cards. I’d awkwardly try to connect with them while my mind would drift. At home, we weren’t focused on smiles and giggly family jokes. We were surviving through errands, doctors’ visits, and credit extensions.
Seeing beauty in the nooks and crannies, I felt most involved with the world around me through a viewfinder. Being given my first camera at four years old (Fisher Price Perfect Shot), I remember being horrified when my mom relayed that I “cut off everyone’s heads” in the first roll of film we developed. This would become my first lesson in shot composition and figurative language. From that day on, I never was without a camera. I would continue on to being elected school photographer, giving a speech noting the importance of my grandfather’s influence. Though he sadly passed when I was a wee tot, his love of the photograph forever remains. Developing photos in his home, his work would proudly hang in important buildings around New Orleans as a visual model of his legacy.
Photography was in my blood.
Most impactful was probably my arts high school- New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA). It’s absolutely magical. A beautiful modern industrial-style building overlooking the Mississippi River steps away from the French Quarter in the Marigny district of New Orleans with each portion of the campus dedicated to a separate discipline- jazz music, classical music, drama, creative writing, theatre design, and beyond! Everyday I was enveloped with the synergistic energy of passions being pursued, not just boxes being checked. Knowing deep down I could never pursue art as a career, too many people relied on me. I was aware my path was paved to suits and CVs, but this buzzing never left my veins.
I carried on to college as slated and expected where I juggled three jobs to stay afloat until falling into teaching after graduation where I found a brief solace. Still baffled as to how one can devote most all of their time and energy to one job but barely have bills paid, life started to change. Leaving a tumultuous relationship, I finally fled to my dreamland of Austin, TX. A place weird enough to accept my style and a market big enough to nestle my passions. It was here that I started my small business, selling coasters with my photography and other handmade creations at art markets and online. It was also here that I started to grab some of the pie in my sky.
I began shooting friends’ bands around town, becoming a regular at venues like Stubbs. On a whim, picking up a Front of House side gig at the ACL Live Moody Theatre. Little did I know, this would blast my world with the face-melting, heart-pounding, all-consuming hunger to stay in this world. A world I belonged in. A world where I could breathe.
I eventually exchanged my teaching career for real estate, trading in my paycheck-to-paycheck lifestyle for six figures. Six figures that bulldozed my personal life. Six figures, but still no time and no passion when I wasn’t enraptured in live music at the venue. I realized that I was putting all my entrepreneurial skills into someone else’s business while keeping mine small and my dreams even smaller. All of it was for nothing if I didn’t have love. Further, all of it was for nothing if I didn’t have art.
So, I took advantage of the flexibility I had/have with making my own work schedule as a Real Estate Agent and cut my hours. This reduced my income, but I had the lessons of budgeting and stretching savings from my college and teaching days to get me by as I ramped up my own business. Everything I have been doing up to this point has prepared me in business and in photography experience for where I’m headed. Finally, feeling like my feet are in solid shoes, I chase opportunities to explore my art and experience the other artistic disciplines that I love so deeply. I cannot wait to continue collaborating, continue creating, and see where life takes me.
That awkward little girl has found her voice, and she speaks in photos.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Aside from the obvious struggles I’ve discussed, one of the biggest obstacles has been my own mind. Not that I think it’s easy to change my perspective (insert cringey phrases like “just forget about it” “chill out”). The more I recognize how much is in my control, the more control I feel over myself and my destiny, getting out of my own way. Seems simple, right? I have to give it to the brain, though, it does a great job at fighting for homeostasis and safety. I remind myself that I’m the thinker not the thoughts. I can reprogram myself.
Sure, I worry what people will say- strangers, acquaintances, and loved ones alike. But if there’s anything I learned from working in food service and real estate (and Tiktoks), it’s that you can like one thing and someone’s always going to like the other. I’m well aware someone won’t like my work, and I find that feedback to sometimes be very informative! I’m not interested in changing their opinion, that is their property and business. I choose to jive with the people in my crowd. It’s much more enjoyable to do what you love with people who love it, too, rather than constantly worry if you’re going to turn the tides of a hater.
Nothing worth having comes without opposition anyway. It’s up to me to choose where I want to go from there. In every success story, there is a common denominator- they didn’t give up! I could stop now out of fear of failing, worried what people would think if my goals and dreams changed later on, of judgment, of not hitting my financial goals, of not being the best, not living up to the hype. I could take myself out of the game to skirt risking the embarrassment of losing, but then that would also keep me from the potential excitement of a win. And I get to decide what a “win” means to me.
This often includes making choices I don’t want to and sacrificing other things I want or enjoy in order to rise to the person I am becoming. I find courage, strength, forgiveness of myself, and grace where they don’t exist within. Knowing if I gave up, I would silently regret that personal disservice my whole life.
Imposter syndrome’s terrible, but not living your truth is worse. I will be confident for myself. I will be strength. I will be proud of myself because in the end, that’s whose opinion matters most.
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?
Concert and Lifestyle Photographer at your service! At least that’s my most common venture. Simply put.
The majority of my work is in lifestyle and event photography with a heavy focus/emphasis on performances and bands. In the digital age, your online presence is basically your virtual identity. Pictures and videos of you, your craft, your services, and life are going to become even more pertinent. Capturing your essence and the moments important to you are what gives me motivation and fulfillment!
Between events, I truly enjoy portraiture (especially with a creative twist!). I find it invigorating collaborating on concepts that stray from traditional portraits and scenery. So if you have any wild ideas, let’s turn them into reality! While I make sure to capture the true spirit of an event, someone’s artwork, or a client’s vision, I always sneak in some artsy shots (and they tend to always be the favs, too!).
So whether it’s a sit-and-smile style, boudoir photos, fairy princesses, or rock bands, I got you! Ultimately, I go where I’m called and trusted. My fire is lit by capturing the fleeting moments, the personalities, the sights that bring you joy. I love bottling up the energy for people to experience over and over again long after that time has passed and to feel as amazing as they look to me. The way I see it through my lens, you are like…way hotter than you think. And you should be celebrated!
Side note – The need to categorize or define oneself is so strong. It heightens the awareness that if you don’t focus, hone in on one skill to master, you won’t master anything. I am fully aware having a specialty is mandatory for brand recognition. Someone wants your services because you are among the best of them in that avenue of the craft. Though I also think many times, we all need to diversify to accommodate the tasks at hand, and also I crave that! I love challenging myself, troubleshooting, planning, tending to details, learning/discovering/exploring. A variance to my regularly scheduled programming is always welcomed. Therefore, I don’t enjoy putting my life in a box and defining it, but I’ll do it for my art to reach and fill the lives of others!
The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
Fearing I’ll say an obvious answer, it is intriguing to me how there are collective realizations during this experience. Many things over the past few years have opened my eyes to how different people are from each other while at the very same dinner table. One sibling likes the orange toothbrush while the other likes the green. We all have our own stories of strife, struggle, beauty, and love.
As the extremely ethereal nature of life was staring us in the face, for a moment the veil was lifted and our eyes were cleared to see what was most important. As though the world simply stopped turning on its axis, and in response, we didn’t all have to carry on our hustle and bustle rat race to keep it turning. We existed. Suddenly so many things we were programmed to deem important were momentarily obsolete. As a Katrina kid, this wasn’t the first time I learned this. Loss lingered in my mind- loss of my livelihood working in the real estate market, loss of normalcy, loss of my personal tiny empire, and worst of all, loss of life.
I felt fear. I felt freedom. I wasn’t sure which was more damaging.
In this, many of us got a bit of space to explore our joys in life, discover work isn’t a cubicle, and decide we were changed for the better. We’re not going back to working and dying, we’re living. This bug bit me hard! Having worked multiple jobs simultaneously since I was legally able, I never thought I’d be able to consider working in my passions unless there was a guaranteed living wage, benefits, and 401K.
So I did the things. I got the career. And none of it made me happy. When this pandemic hit, my entire vision shifted like putting on my glasses for the first time. That perspective vertigo akin to when a loved one passes made me wholly aware of how much time I spent doing things that were ultimately unimportant to me and made life feel rote. Gray. Two-dimensional. I realized I didn’t want to leave this world without enjoying all it had to offer, including my own gifts and passions.
This whole thing led me to the beauty and importance of presence. Of enjoying the present moment with the present company, because we truly don’t know when or if a moment like that will come again. Presence battles the anticipatory anxiety of not ruminating over what the uncertain future holds. It fights depressive thoughts that arise from reflection on the past. It brings life and color and dimension back and holds us accountable for taking advantage of the moment we have right now. No feeling bad for not doing enough in the past. No paralyzing fears of failure looking forward. I am to give myself grace and realize I always surprise myself with how strong I am.
In many ways, I wish I would have handled this pandemic more insta-worthy. The belle of the pandemic ball. But the truth is, I just survived- good, bad, ugly. I made some lemonade from the lemons, but I also let some lemons rot. I’m learning to go easier on myself and hang my hat on how strong I am to even be able to haul that basket of lemons to begin with, and you are, too!
Pricing:
- Sessions starting at $250/hour including editing
- Headshots starting at $100
Contact Info:
- Email: photographybystoneatx@gmail.com
- Website: www.photographybystoneatx.com
- Instagram: photographybystoneatx
- Phone Number: 504-473-5612
