We had the good fortune of connecting with Taylor Cohen-caravella and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Taylor, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
I think this part of me goes down to my DNA. I have always been someone that wanted to paint, sing, play music, and just simply create. I don’t think there was any other path for me to choose to go down no matter how hard I tried. I feel the most alive and passionate when I can be creative!

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I think for me my photography is just in the raw emotions of things, I capture the moment of time rather than just the posed people or products in it. Photographs are memories more than a posed perfect moment and I love capturing the spark people bring in life. I have a tender heart so any time I can make people feel from their photographs, it means the world to me. I am so excited for the future and leaning into that ideology more with my shoots!

I got to where I am today by just taking photographs of EVERYTHING. It started with the Kodak disposables when I was a kid (90s kid), then it developed into digital cameras, and here we are today. It wasn’t always like this though, I had to shoot all of the time to understand manual settings on a digital camera and to figure out how to photograph people. I also owe it to my friend Heather who always taught me amazing tips and tricks! We would go out to random places in our neighborhoods and shoot until the sun went down. It was just natural progression of that over 11 years that got me where I am today; you have to always be shooting and trying new things so your creative muscles stay strong and grow!

Were there some failures to get here? ABSOLUTELY! But as a business person you just learn from them to make you awesome and better at what you do. I have always done photos as a side gig but after losing my big kid job during covid it forced me to do this full time. With that came the trials and tribulations of finding wonderful clients that aligned with myself. It took some time but now I truly feel after 3.5 years of being full time I can say even more than ever that I love what I do and I love the people I work with. I think the biggest lesson in this type of business is to find the people you love to work and create with, I feel the best projects come from that. If you are tapping into the most you, you can be at a shoot, then your creativity has no limitations.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
The first thing on the menu is if someone roller skates or skateboards I would take them to a local skate park in the morning to sesh and have a good time, after that? An AMAZING breakfast at Hash Kitchen. The next place is to go to Sedona. A lot of people feel it’s overrated here but for someone who has never seen it, there is just nothing like it on this earth. We would make a day trip and go shop at T’Laqapaque for some amazing balsamic vinegar from Spirits and Spice and then eat at Oak Creek Brewery. For other places to go to during the week, I would go to Old Tucson as well to see where the awesome old westerns that were filmed there, there’s a ton of amazing activities to do as well. Then being back in town we would visit Papago park and do the hole in the rock hike to see the amazing view of the city, then get brunch at Ranch House Grille. The following day we would visit Tempe Town Lake to do one of the paddle boats and then eat at Fuzzy’s Taco Shop. There would be a rest day and then after that go catch a show at Steel Cactus Brewing!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would love to dedicate this shoutout to my husband Jimmy who is always there for me no matter what and supports my dreams, my parents for ALWAYS supporting my dreams, every other member of my family who is amazing, my friends who always let me be creative with them, and my sweet dogs and cat.

Website: https://www.tcohphotos.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tcohphotos

Image Credits
The photo of me is by – Kelsey Noelle

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