Hi, I am Destinee Grantham.
The basics:
19 years old. I'm always wrapped in tons of personal and business ventures but my current focuses are my preschool students and my full-time education. God will forever be an important factor in my life and church is my second home. Taste Lifestyle is my magazine brand that focuses on faith and life experiences. Creativity is like breathing for me. Amazon has way too much of my money.
My Education:
Colorade State University!! Major in Economics, minor in business administration. Go RAMS!
My Photography history:
I've always been a photographer. Taking pictures of everything I had ever laid my eyes on. However, it wasn't until 2019 that I started to get serious about photography and improving my skills. I learned how to edit, the different types of photography, all about cameras, and angles. I started taking photos of things in nature and landscapes, focusing on inanimate objects. Then, moving my way onto people.
I used to always get so excited about bringing my visions to life, and I still do, but even better than seeing my thoughts I fell in love with the story behind every photo. The funny thing that was said behind a laugh. The awkward position of my camera and I in a wide shot. The odd setup behind an objective shoot. Everything. Just the entire process from idea origination to set up to shoot to edit and post. It's all a part of this incredible thing called a photo. And not many people (other than photographers) truly understand the depth of every single photo making it more beautiful than its face-value form.
That's why I photograph. To create stories. Beautiful stories. That I can tell. Perspectives that I can show. Feelings that I can create. All of it is so genuinely exciting and it's something that I could never bore of.
Why WLDFLWR?
"Growing up" even though I still am, I always felt...different. Not to be super theatrical about it but that's truly how I felt. A lot of what people knew me for was very basic. Things like intelligence, maturity, creativity, beauty, etc. But I always felt like there was so much more to me than that. I had thought about that concept here and there but I never really dove into it. In 2019, at the peak of my adolescence, I had gone from a normal amount of teenage angst and sadness to full-blown stress, anxiety, and depression. Dealing with all of this made me start to feel like I was losing my old self. Within that, I knew I had to start to learn more about who I actually am to understand how to adapt to my new "circumstances" if you will.
I started learning so much about myself. I asked myself questions, started therapy. I then got to understand what my younger self was trying to chip at when she felt that there was more to who she was. I began to understand the depths of myself as a human. The way I think, how I react to things, and how much I enjoy learning about these things.
One day, as I was working on promo content for this same brand, the term "wildflower" came to my mind. I then started to think about the literal and metaphorical definitions of a wildflower. And no I don't mean "wallflower". To me, a wildflower is someone that is seen for face-value characteristics and nothing more. Picked and used for "the aesthetic" and then left to finish growing on their own. Or completely looked over without a second thought. That is how I'd felt. Like a wildflower. Pretty much my whole life. And it felt so perfect. Not that anyone, in particular, had made me feel that way it was just how I'd felt about life overall. I actually cried when I came to this revelation and, through tears, I stopped what I was doing and completely rebranded. And here we are!
It has been a crazy journey to say the least but this brand is more than just a quirky name and logo. It's my baby, my heart, and most of all, me. Truly many of the things I stand for and work for are embodied in and by this brand. I'm so beyond excited to share this with everyone. <3
My Inspirations:
I'm inspired by many photos that I see but there are three photographers that I specifically look up to:
- Rachel Bush @Oxy.to.cin
- Karl Shakur @Karl_Shakur
- Peter McKinnon @PeterMcKinnon
