Meet Marissa Sheldon, AKA @artsy_blue, the aerialist and photographer that graces the pages of Mika with her art!

TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF! WHERE ARE YOU AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING?

Heyyy! I’m Marissa, also artsy_blue on instagram. I’m 26 years young and I’m a native Floridian. Florida used to be the only place I knew besides driving quickly through the states on the way to Cherry Creek, New York to visit family. I grew up super sheltered which made me also super shy. I’ve always thought it was impossible for me to do the amazing things I would see in photos on Instagram. When I lost all my friends due to a best friend breakup, I made my first leap out of my comfort zone. I saw a beautiful photo of aerial silks and I had to figure out how I could do it! The studio was an hour away from where I lived so I took my first class and haven’t stopped since, almost 5 years now! Changed my life for sure.

HOW DID YOU GET INTO PHOTOGRAPHY?

Photography has always been a hobby of mine from a little kid running around with a little film camera taking photos of everything I thought looked cool to photography class all 4 years of high school. I used to only take photos of landscapes, flowers, animals, etc until I started aerial arts and yoga. I am still obsessed with landscapes and nature, I just incorporate a human doing amazing talents now.

DESCRIBE YOUR PHOTOGRAPHIC STYLE AND HOW IT CAME TO BE

My style isn’t just one thing. I love experimenting with ideas. I love a crisp clean photo though. I like to stray away from clutter in photos. Lines, colors, lighting, and nature are usually my biggest inspirations. Creating art with art. Capturing happiness and passion, the skills people work so hard for, in a beautiful setting with outfits showing their style. I’m a very visual person so I’m usually inspired by just looking around at the backgrounds. I love being inspired by other’s work to create a completely different look.

WHAT ARE SOME CHALLENGES YOU FACE WHILE SHOOTING?

Some of the challenges I face while shooting is never really knowing what Mother Nature has in store! I do not work indoors ever mainly because I don’t have access, but in Florida the weather is crazy unpredictable and mostly hotttt! If it’s not just hot outside, it’s either super windy trying to fight with the aerial apparatuses or it decides to downpour out of nowhere and we all get soaked.

When I travel to other states, another challenge is I want to shoot at the spot that is 5 miles of walking up and downhill, through a river, over a bridge, up and downhill again until we finally get there. All of that while carrying three 100 lb. boxes with the rig inside. By time everything is set up, we’re exhausted so we are the last to get photos! But it’s all worth it!

TELL US MORE ABOUT YOUR AERIAL WORK!

My work with aerial arts is like a game of tug of war.

Although I have been an aerialist for almost 5 years, training time is key to your skill level! The amount of time shows dedication. But you are only as good as what you put into it. As with any type of skill. I work 40 hours at a corporate grocery store, going for management until I’m completely fed up with it. I also spend most of my free time with my photography business. Trying to make money for the real world and my future family. I sadly never have time for myself to train and work on my skill set. Always a battle between making money doing what I love, or training the skills of what I love. But I do everything in my power to make it all work. Fight for what makes you happy!!

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO PEOPLE JUST STARTING OUT WITH PHOTOGRAPHY? WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO SOMEONE MODELING?

The advice I would give to a startup photographer would be, take photos as much as possible. Train new ideas and try to figure it out yourself. It’s a great feeling to capture a beautiful photo knowing you figured out the angles, lighting, placement of your subjects, shapes, colors, etc. The photos you take should come from your perspective and your thoughts of what makes a great photo. One of my favorite quotes: Art isn’t meant to be beautiful, it’s meant to make you feel something. Most of the time it’s beautiful haha But don’t be afraid to fail.

The advice I would give to someone modeling would be to just be yourself and enjoy the photo-shoot! Your emotions and confidence/lack of confidence shows in the photos. Being comfortable in front of a camera is not always easy but keeping in mind the purpose of the photo-shoot and finding your self love is very gratifying!