Meet Zoe law | Creative Photographer & Gallerist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Zoe law and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Zoe, how do you think about risk?
You think of risk like its the end-all, be all, then it is the end. But you think of risk as a tool and it could offer help in many situations. My risk taking has shown me that even in instances where things don’t work out, I can always rebuild myself back up; try again, so I have created a great relationship with risk taking. You learn more from risks than anything, I believe.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My story starts in the eighth grade. I attended a new school that year and was struggling with their academic curriculum. Going from a school, I previously attended for seven years, that was heavily involved in the arts; dance, theatre, music, to a school that is not was hard enough for me, so not having that creative expression during my school day was important and missed. Until the last semester of the year came and I took a photography course. My mother’s digital camera was always in my backpack, I took it everywhere with me and shot the world around me. In my photography class, I made photos with the sun through cyanotypes, learned about the very first cameras and the film process. We shot a lot of things like nature, lines, colors, contours, then we learned how to edit photos and I became even more enamored but the hobby. I am a visual learner but also love getting my hands on things, so photography fit like a glove.
Fast-forward, I get my first Nikon in the 10th grade, create my photography website through Tumblr, create my professional instagram account because I was determined to be a photographer, I wanted to work on my own time, work with many subjects, human and not human, I wanted to be relied on. So I start shooting my high school friends, create a vlog channel on YouTube, uploading summer vlogs of my adventures throughout the summer, I was the camera girl. Building my portfolio and skill just enough to be taken seriously, I start college at Cal State East Bay.
I looked at it like the trial is over, you are actually going to be shooting now and started setting up my prices. Sure enough I built a community with people on campus and my artistic base in the Bay Area, I was not only shooting my friends but their friends and some families too. The more I shot the better I got and started advertising for grad portraits, which became my busiest time of year because I had made myself into a freelance photographer. Thanks to websites like picsart,com, Pinterest and YouTube, I taught myself how to shoot and how to shoot well. Going into my third year of college, I use the community I created for myself to throw an art show, helping young artists get their name and work out there, I threw my first art show at a friends house and brought my work closer to audiences. I had exhibited my film photography, a few months before my show in November 2017, I took a black and white photography class where I shot and processed my own film. So bringing that to my show was very important because it showed my network that I could also shoot film, especially during its rise in pop culture again.
Around a year after the first art show, I narrow it down and throw a show for black artists. That show birthed 333.fm art collective with my wonderful peer. She exhibited work and mercy at the Black Art Show and our union birthed the Bay Area based art collective, that made its way to Florida, ‘333.fm Art Collective’. There we merged our worlds and created a space for other artists to be their own agents and have a home for their craft. After I gave up my creative control in the art collective, I went on to create my digital art magazine, ‘Lucky Magazine’, an digital zine for artists to be featured in.
I love the idea of being inclusive and making sure your community succeeds with you, so a lot of my work outside of photography was working with other people. An important lesson in my art journey was that community is very important to have. People know people, so never be afraid to ask for help.
I took a short break with Lucky Magazine once the pandemic hit, then that short break turned into a year of doing background work on my brand since I had completely stopped shooting. My photography professor told me about Rangefinder magazine and that’s where I learned all about the industry and where my photography could land me.
So sure enough, I rebranded my instagram account, built my linked in profile, updated my website and email address then started pitching projects until I landed one at Trader Joe’s in San Francisco. My boss, at the time, told me he wanted to revamp the lobby to the store since he had just transferred to a new location. He wanted black and white prints of the neighborhood around the store, so we worked on that for about a year.
The pandemic prolonged the project but the year was worth the wait, my photographs are still at the store along with my contact information, so a lot of people have gotten in contact with me about them. That helped me build my base as well.
Some lessons I’ve learned is one, that you never have to compete with others, especially if you’re in the same industry, two, to never give up just because someone doesn’t like your work, they haven’t seen your work evolve so how would they truly know if they like your work? Lastly, three, to just keep shooting. If you want to be a better artist, keep creating. There is no endpoint to learning.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
My first spot would be to go to Sausalito, Its a cute boat city just north of San Francisco with the best eateries around the water and ferry rides! Then we’d hit a few galleries in San Francisco, especially the MOAD.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My friends and family were my first subjects I photographed when I started this artistic journey, so I’m thankful for them. Lastly, I’d like to shoutout BlackWomenPhotographers, the community of women who look just like me has helped me emotionally and creatively.

Website: www.succssr.com

Instagram: instagram.com/succssr