Lakeport >> Giving up is not a concept Tiffany Chavez is familiar with.
The 31-year-old photographer and owner of Lakeport’s TAC Studios is determined to make a name for herself in the world of fashion photography. Her work has been published in 23 magazines to date — none big names, but all with large online followings. Two publications, “Delicious Dolls” and “New Color,” have specifically requested her to photograph covers for their issues.
The hard work is all for Look Model Agency based out of San Francisco. It’s Chavez’s dream talent agency and she’s doing everything it takes to one day find representation there. Her goal is to become one of their featured artists, a gig which would allow her to continue her work in Lakeport, but would also give her the opportunity to shoot for magazines and advertisements.
“Look in San Francisco is where I’m going to be,” Chavez insisted. “They will pick me some day.”
She’s off to a good start. Chavez met with the company a while back to discuss her work. While they saw promise, they said she needed to get publication credits before they would sign her. That’s when she started submitting work to magazines.
It’s an involved process which Chavez never goes through alone. She and her support team of friends, makeup artists, hair stylists and models come up with ideas and themes for highly stylized photo shoots. Once the photos are complete, she sends them out to various magazines and waits to hear back.
With nearly two dozen positive responses, the key to her success isn’t much of a secret. “I think a lot of it just being persistent,” Chavez said. “If I send it into a magazine and they tell me no, I don’t care, someone else is going to tell me yes. Eventually someone will tell me yes. It doesn’t hurt my feelings when someone tells me no, I’ve heard it a lot in my life.”
But many people can point a camera and click a button — just look at Instagram. It takes a special kind of talent to gain publication in print magazines, talent that Chavez clearly possesses. What seems to get her noticed is her eye for capturing a mood through the use of bright colors and sharp lines. “There’s so much personality put into each shot,” Chavez said. “Whoever is in the picture looks very comfortable.”
Seeing her photography in print is an exceptionally rewarding experience. It means a great deal to her that magazine editors find her work beautiful and inspiring enough to place their pages. Dye Magazine, an online and print magazine dedicated to hair and beauty, likes Chavez’s work so much that she’s been published in their pages multiple time. Chavez reciprocates the feeling. “We found this magazine and fell in love,” she said. “The first time I submitted to them they took it hands down. We put a lot of heart and soul into it.”
She attributes much of her success to the constant support of her friends and cohorts, people like Marin Alexander and Bryona Modesto. Chavez calls them highly “opinionated,” a trait she values in her peers. They give constructive feedback and honest opinions, helping her to better every shoot. “I think that’s huge, just having people in your corner that help to push your envelope,” she said. “We work as a team. I feel like my team really helps me look good.”
Photography is also in the blood. From a young age Chavez assisted her mother, a professional photographer, on her photo shoots, lugging around equipment and helping with the lighting. Then there’s her great uncle, also a working photographer, making Chavez the third generation in her family to step behind the lens for a living.
It wasn’t until she had a baby, though, that Chavez discovered her knack for camera work. She took and shared pictures of her child and suddenly everyone was asking her to snap photos of their kids. She received so many requests that she had to call in sick to work just to take care of everyone.
That lead to TAC Studios, which Chavez opened in 2008. Her family frowned at the name in the beginning, warning that she was begging people to accuse her of tackiness. But Chavez rolled with her chosen name. She thought up puns for her business, phrases like “we’ll make you look sharp as a tack,” and “we’ll attack all your beauty needs.”
“I am a little tacky,” Chavez said with a laugh. “My pictures are very strange and I do silly stuff and I get away with it.”
Though she’d attended school for teaching, even receiving all the necessary credentials, she decided to put those plans aside and try her hand at making it as an artist. And while she admits running her own business as been tough, she doesn’t shrug off her accomplishments. “TAC Studio, I created everything about it,” Chavez said. “I’m doing it and I feel really proud of that.”
In a place as close-knit as Lake County, Chavez depends on her loyal base of clients to keep her business open and growing. “I’m really thankful for my community because they’re still coming around and supporting me and I feel like that’s really special,” she said.
For Chavez, running TAC Studios never feels like another day in the office. The job gives her the opportunity to combine two of her biggest passions in life: photography and fashion. “I’m absolutely obsessed with clothing,” she revealed. “It’s really fun for me too, to start the whole creative process just off of clothes. Clothes build everything for me.”
And when she says she loves fashion, she means it. In both middle school and high school Chavez was voted “Best Dressed.” For years she worked as a buyer and merchandiser for local clothing store Campos Casuals. Halloween is her favorite holiday by miles and she plans her family’s coordinated costumes a year in advanced. “That’s probably one of the reasons I love photography as much as I do,” she said. “I feel like my clients are my dolls and I get to play dress up.”
In April, Chavez plans to return to Look Modeling Agency once again, but this time she’ll have a portfolio of published work to dicuss. While there are a number of other agencies she could turn to, she feels almost fated to score a contract with Look. She does have a past with them, after all.
Being the daughter of a photographer, Chavez had a short career in front of the camera as a child model. And she was repped by none other than Look Model Agency. She also has numerous friends and business contacts with ties to the agency.
“If they tell me no I’m going to have to come back at them again, because I don’t want anywhere else,” Chavez said. “It’s just meant to be.”
For information in pricing and photography sessions with Chavez, visit www.tacyoursup.com.
Jennifer Gruenke can be reached at 900-2019.
