Vanessa Hreha (35) – Born With A Camera
Photographer, Graphic Designer, Illustrator
Born With A Camera In Hand and A Pocketful of Art Supplies – VANESSA HREHA is an American artist born in Ohio in 1985. Raised in California from 1990-2008. At a very early age, she started practicing drawing and distinguishes herself thanks to her bright, rebellious and creative mind. After having children, she sparked an interest in Photography and Videography by capturing a moment of her children. Vanessa had Four children, the First being born in 2003, the final child in 2009
She began her art journey in grade school through to Highschool where she won art competitions, participated in local gallery events, and won first place. Her first time winning was in Kindergarten, where she won one-hundred dollars for a single art piece. Her next major competition win came in 2015 for the Music Meets Art competition, where she won the online vote and the in-person gallery vote both times.
Vanessa Attended several colleges for graphic design, as well as computer information systems and networking. She stuck with majoring in Graphic Design, where she received her master’s (6 years of college). Vanessa chose to continue with Graphic Design after getting her Ph.D. in CIS-Networking, and it was not a very available career field on her side of the universe. She could utilize her photography to create her own stock image for use with photo manipulation and sell stock images online while staying in the graphic design field. The graphic design field held more of an advantage due to being able to work from online as well as working locally. Graphic design and photography had a higher success rate in the field, with the right word of mouth, advertising, and networking.
First, a non-remote job was working with a local UPS store as their graphic designer, creating content for businesses for yard signs, wedding invites, RSVP cards, banners, vinyl door clings, etc. The business marketing was there! She then joined the local screen printer team, where she still works doing Apparrel designs and Merch Stores in a Family-oriented business. Attending her first interview was real simple, as she looked up the best way to go about getting and landing the job, as far as having an online website or gallery portfolio of her work and having a hard print just in case. When doing an interview, you really want to have that portfolio ready, whether online or in hand!
Book recommendations for graphic designers or photographers, She would recommend reading: Designing Brand Identity, Logo Modernism, and The Elements of Typography.
Adobe also offers some handy tools on adobe.com and their youtube channel where you can engage and follow along in discord, with fantastic tutorials and historical information on design. This industry is changing every single day. I really keep up by keeping and subscribing to Adobe on youtube. Podcasts such as Creative pep talk and Creative Playdate. Advice that I can give to anyone looking for a career in this field will be tedious, and it will be tough, keep strong. Make your online presence known, build that portfolio, share it, spread it as far as you can. Work on getting clients online to help build your clientele. Many websites cater to freelancers in our field. And remember…
“There are three responses to a piece of design – Yes, No and WOW! Wow is the one to aim for” – Milton Glaser
Also read Follow Your Dreams – Your Enthusiasm is Contagious!
