Meet Fiona Buckley | Photographer/ Videographer

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

Hi Fiona, have you ever found yourself in a spot where you had to decide whether to give up or keep going? How did you make the choice?
If you can’t stop thinking about it, don’t give up. Sometimes if you’re hitting a dead end, it’s good to take, what I like to call, a “passion break”. It means taking a break from putting your all into your creative project and to step back to get a fresh perspective. If you’re meant to do it, it’ll keep finding a way into your mind. Sometimes we think we’ve hit a closed door when really the universe is working in ways you can’t understand yet, and when you’re meant to keep going, the joy that you get from your passion will outweigh the struggle.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I specialize in photography, videography and video editing. I’m known for making creative videos about people in their element, capturing the candid moments, usually of people in movement. My favorite things to capture are skateboarding, cliff diving, roaming the outdoors, running, hiking, and flow arts. I like to evoke emotion with my work.

I’ve found that the most growth I’ve made has been from taking risks. I’ve taken on work that has challenged me and pushed my comfort zone and I have almost always learned something from the experience. Being an artist in a professional environment is not always easy. One of the most challenging experiences I’ve faced is working with clients that want you to create a product for them that is completely different from your style or who don’t have a clear vision of what they want. Those types of situations have helped me not only learn how to work with different clients and try new things, but have made me realize that a big goal of mine is to keep creating work that I’m passionate about and that brings me joy so that people reach out to me to create work for them knowing it’ll have a Fiona Buckley twist.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
So you’re visiting San Diego for a weekend. If it were me, I’d like to start off with grabbing a quick breakfast (Big City Bagels in Hillcrest or Copper Top for coffee and donuts), pack up the car and head towards the water for a beach hike or surf (Black’s Beach or Dog Beach in OB) recharge with lunch (octopus tacos from Oscar’s on Turquoise St.), take a siesta and then go out in Hillcrest for drinks (Gossip Grill and Rich’s).

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’m really thankful for friends I’ve met throughout life that have encouraged or reassured me when I’ve been in the deep depths of imposter syndrome or have been inspired but my work and have gone out of there way to tell me how much it moved them. A few months ago, my friend Brogan saw a photo I posted in my Instagram story and asked me to text it to him. About a week later, he sent me a letter with the printed-out photo and, on the back, he had typed out a note on his typewriter, including that I have a way to see the world and share a unique, positive perspective and to keep using my lens. I would also like to shoutout my friends Alyssa and Sydney Valiente who are artists in LA and my friend Lauren Armenta because they all know that I’m weird, goofy, and creative and always encourage me to use my strengths in my work. These types of friends remind you that being yourself is important.

Website: fionabuckleymedia.com

Instagram: fionabuckleymedia

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fiona-buckley-03b6a675/

Image Credits
The photo of me was taken by Sydney Valiente, formerly known as Sydney Prather.