We all know her, and if you don’t, you should. She’s known for shooting people. And she’s always in pursuit of her next big catch. Scared? Don’t be! We’re talking about Tati Bruening, aka illumitati, the 19-year-old photographer phenomena based out of Los Angeles. With a camera in hand, Tati makes her visions into realities, immortalizing the moment in a series of snapshots. Her fanbase is evergrowing on both Instagram and TikTok, where she works with new and notable talent. From boys in makeup to loofa dresses, she’s conquered it all, painting her vision just like a picture. Although she’s had her challenges, Tati never loses focus, just like her camera.
Originally from Germany, Tatiana took SoCal by storm when she moved there at a young age. But it wasn’t always sunshine and butterflies for her. Battling both her parents’ divorce and social anxiety, she was looking for an outlet, and she decided to take up modeling and sports. Those things didn’t feel right for Tati—but photography did. Once she tried her hand at concert photography, Tati knew the camera was made for her. Studying business, marketing, and digital media, she was gaining all the right skills to become a successful photographer in a competitive world. But with the pandemic putting a halt to her college career, Tati opted to pursue photography full-time. Her empire continues to grow; we’re just here to “illuminate” it.
With every shoot, she scores—to say the least. By shaping each studio session to the message of the subject, no two photos are the same. And Tatiana prefers to keep her photography style that way. As a self-proclaimed perfectionist, she spends hours meticulously turning a simple photo into a digital masterpiece; that “pretty natural glam” doesn’t come easy! Attributing her success to patience and the unpredictable DM, Tati knows the process to fame takes both time and a whole lot of guts. Hoping to work for big magazine companies in the future, she shoots for the stars, both literally and figuratively. So, tag her, or die!
SHEESH! is honored to have copped an interview with Tatiana Bruening below.
You mentioned in your Draw My Life that you didn’t start focusing on photography until the pandemic hit. How has it been having so much growth and so many new experiences in such a short amount of time?
It’s all been very new. But I’ve always thought if you put good in, you’ll get good out. So, considering the amount that I’ve been working and really committing myself to making the best work possible for people, it was kind of inevitable that at one point it would reflect on me. It still doesn’t really feel like my time yet since my career isn’t really based around me; it’s based around the friends that I work with. But as a photographer, I think that is how it’s supposed to be. My subjects should be the focus.
You’ve talked about how you had issues socializing when you were younger, but now you’ve gained success through making friends with a bunch of really cool people. How did you transition out of that awkwardness?
I think my social anxiety had less to do with other people and more to do with myself and needing to embrace the fact that it’s ok to be different or weird. It got a lot better as I got to know myself more and just learned how to talk to other people. It’s something we don’t really think about but actually listening to someone when they talk while dropping all preconceived notions is really important.
Before becoming a photographer, you were a model. Do you feel like it’s helpful to have experience on both sides of the camera?
Oh my gosh, absolutely! I think every photographer needs to step in front of the camera to see how to best give directions and learn what to say to get the right poses. Also, to experience how kind of nerve wracking it can be to be the subject!
With your more over-the-top editorial shoots that involve costumes and such, how do you make sure your models still feel comfortable and confident while shooting?
With those kinds of grandiose, avante-garde type of shoots, it’s always something that is collaborative. It’s never something that is out of the model’s comfort zone because it usually starts with them saying ‘hey I wanna do something crazy and show this side of myself,’ and then I simply try to bring that to life. I don’t think anyone has ever felt uncomfortable on one of my sets because it’s such a collaborative creative effort, and I just bring out what they already see in themselves.
A big theme in your shoots and TikToks is makeup on boys, do you want to share your vision behind this?
With where I grew up, I’ve never seen boys in my hometown wear makeup before, not even eyeliner or eyeshadow or anything. But I think that makeup should have no gender, so if a boy wants to put on concealer, or fake freckles, or add some eyebrow gel, they shouldn’t be viewed as different for that. They are simply highlighting some of their features. I think that nowadays, with things being generally more accepting, there are a lot of young men that might be interested in makeup, but don’t know where to start. So, it’s been fun making little TikTok makeup tutorials just showing how to apply simple things like eyeliner and show boys it’s okay to do this. I think it’s really really cool that boys are more comfortable without toxic masculinity these days, and I love highlighting that.
What is the editing process like for you?
If you looked at a raw photo of mine, you probably would be shocked. The type of retouch that I do looks pretty natural glam, but in reality, it sometimes takes me two hours per photo. I like the editing to look like it’s there, but barely. I’m definitely a perfectionist, so that makes it extra time consuming, and that’s also why you’ll see me archive, like, half my Instagram.
What do you attribute to your success?
I would say it’s just my undying passion to always be bettering my work. I will not stop until it’s perfect and knowing myself it probably never will be, which I think is beautiful because that means I’ll never stop. Another thing is definitely the very open arms the social media community has embraced me with. Everyone’s willingness to embrace me and my work, and be so open to collabs and giving credit, has been really awesome. I can’t take full credit for my success because my career is pretty much based on other people, which is really wonderful because it’s allowed me to make so many awesome friends. They’ve done a really great job of bringing me to light and helping highlight the work we do together, which I appreciate.
How does where you are now compare to where you were a year ago?
I think it’s like night and day, honestly. My personal growth has been nuts, especially with quarantine and really just focusing on self-growth. In terms of work, before the only thing that used to stress me out during the day was getting my English essay done. Now, the things that stress me out are filming my content, making sure that I post twice a day, making sure that I send that email, and stuff like that. There are just a lot more moving parts going on, but I like being busy with something that I’m so passionate about. A year ago, I was definitely not this busy with photography. The most exciting thing would maybe be a concert at the end of the week, but now it’s something exciting everyday. It is a blessing to have all these opportunities in a time like this.
Where do you hope to be in another year from now?
A year from now, I want to be shooting big magazine covers, like Elle, Vogue, Cosmo, and really establish myself as a professional instead of just a social media photographer. It would be really cool to tap into other industries, I definitely want to shoot an album cover— like Billie Eilish’s album cover—that would be so cool.
Your bio is “TAG ME OR DIE!” How hard is it dealing with the lack of credit that sometimes comes with being a photographer?
In the beginning, it was really frustrating because my following was so small, and my make or break was based on tags. But now it’s interesting because it has kind of flip-flopped. I was talking to a few of my influencer friends, and they were saying it’s like a flex now to have been shot by me. Similar to the “Photo by @bryant” phenomena, it’s kind of a rite of passage in the social media world to have been shot by me, which is crazy and something I would have never expected.
Any networking tips for young creatives out there like yourself?
Don’t be afraid to send a DM! A DM can go a really long way. Also, you need to be in it for the right reasons. Especially with social media photographers, it’s really easy to be in it for your own personal clout, but you need to be in it to make good work. If you just do good honest work, opportunities will come. You don’t have to do anything extra or buy followers or go on this clout grab mission, just do everything for the right reasons.
Is there anything else you would like to share?
I’d like to say just how grateful I am for the position I’m in. I think it shows that if you work hard enough you will get what you want. It’s not just luck; it also has to do with putting yourself in the right positions, and studying, and working your ass off. Patience is really important too, knowing the right time for things and being self-aware. Patience and self-awareness are so important, and just remember things will come.
Keep up with Tatiana’s latest shoots on her Instagram and Tiktok.
Check out interviews with other photographers like Tatiana Bruening here.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
