Meet Derek Latta of Derek Latta Photography in Miami Beach

Today we’d like to introduce you to Derek Latta.

Derek, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
As most photographers, my love for photography started at an early age. My parents gave me an inexpensive plastic camera when I was six years old and I made pictures of anything that would cross my path. Growing up we lived in four different countries so I had a lot of opportunities and subjects to photograph. Fast forward to my adult years. I graduated from college with a degree in Film/TV administration. I worked from every position from Production Assistant to Executive Producer for various production houses. Once I grew tired of that, I turned to real estate investing and eventually I opened my own real estate brokerage supervising 13 agents. I did this for 15 years. Despite being financially comfortable with real estate I was not completely happy. There was a void that I needed to fill. So, in 2001, I left the secure field of real estate and ventured into the ‘secure’ profession of acting and photography. I closed the brokerage and went full steam ahead in both the new fields. I did well with the acting, which enabled me to purchase professional photography equipment. I re-discovered my love for photography and was able to turn it into a career as well.

Great, 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?
As the acting profession in Florida started waning because Florida discontinued their tax incentives program for film producers, I had to crank up my photography business. At the time I was exclusively making my income in photography by shooting stock photography: I would research what the market wanted and I made pictures on spec and gave them to my agents to sell. The photography stock business also began to slow down. I had never made images for anyone for compensation. All my shoots for over 15 years were self-assignments that I organized and produced myself – I had no one to answer to. Because the marketplace had changed, I had to make the adjustment of working for hire. Now I had someone I had to answer to – the client. That was tough for me. Eventually I felt that clients that were paying me thousands of dollars really valued my work. It became easier once I realized I had what clients wanted. I can now say I am quite comfortable doing assignment photography.

Please tell us about Derek Latta Photography.
My photography agents for a long time have been telling me to specialize in one or two areas of photography. I can’t. Why limit myself to only a couple genres. They’re so many to choose from! I believe that once you know the fundamentals of lighting and composition and learn the mechanics of your camera and be empathetic and learn to connect with people or scenes truthfully you can make a great images of anything. That’s what I do. I make anything that crosses my lens look good.

If I had to pick the top categories of photography I specialize in they would be: portraits, lifestyle fitness & medical, hotels & resorts and landscape photography.

You will find my work all over the world in newspaper ads, blogs, billboards, postcards, calendars, buses, and on TV shows like the David Letterman Show, Doctor Oz, Key & Peele.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
My favorite memory from childhood is all the times my parents would take the road less traveled. We would explore places no one else would such as small winding streets, eclectic neighborhoods, states and countries. Every time we went for a drive, it was an adventure!

Contact Info:

• Website: DerekLattaPhotography.com
• Phone: 305-494-8546
• Email: Smile@LattaPictures.com
• Instagram: @dereklattaphotography
• Facebook: @dereklattaphotography

 

 

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