Featured Berlin Boss Babe: Daiana Sabău
[March 19, 2021 — interview by Tamara Rose Morales]
What brought you to Berlin? When did you move here and how was it to settle in?
I moved here in the summer of 2019, after I graduated University of Psychology in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The third year of uni was a hard one for me — I had accumulated a lot of pressure and deciding to come in Berlin just added to that initial pressure. Me and my boyfriend had the opportunity to come here so we decided to take it.
To be honest, I’ve made a lot of plans enrolling to a Master’s degree in Psychology here in Berlin. (spoiler alert: I didn’t get to the Master’s degree in Berlin but back in my country where I graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree). The next couple of months in Berlin were tough as hell because I didn’t know anyone and the language barrier felt quite much. Those months we were just visiting this big city and trying to learn German as much as possible.
You’re a student of psychology and a photographer. Would you say that you have two passions? How did you discover them? Have you ever thought about leaving one passion behind and just focusing on one thing?
Yes, I can say that I have two passions. My passion for psychology started when I was in 9th grade in high school. If I think about it, actually my passion consisted of listening to people and being empathetic towards them. Gradually I discovered that I could actually learn psychology and work in this domain following a university degree.
I discovered my passion for photography in my 2nd year of university. Even though psychology is such a beautiful subject and I believe everyone should take a class or two of self-development, psychology at the end of the day is a hard and tremendous science with a lot of theories and perspectives. And that stiffness made me crave a little bit of creativity in my life. Therefore, I started taking pictures with my phone for Instagram but in a more conscious way. I started putting things in a composition and play with it. I LOVED IT. So I started sort of training my aesthetic eye. Just when I came in Berlin I had a chance to buy a professional camera and I took my training to the next level.
I had many thoughts regarding my two passions: I discovered photography through a moment of stiffness in psychology. From this perspective photography is helping me escape into my creative field. And on the other hand I think psychology really helps me building my relationships with the clients I have and how I make them feel around me during photoshoots. As much as I’d want, I can’t really leave one behind because they are complementary for each other and for the way I’m living my life now.
You and I met last summer through a free photo shoot that you offered on Facebook. How did you come up with the idea to offer that on Facebook? How did it feel to post it? How was it to do the photo shoots?
I had put a lot of thought to the idea of writing and offering my work on Facebook. I had bought the new camera and I started taking photos of my beloved dog. As much as I love him, I got tired of him being the only model haha. So when I came to Berlin I think I joined all kinds of groups that were about Berlin life. One of them was International Women in Berlin. It took me two months after I got my camera to write a post on this group. I didn’t know how people will react and I was afraid of rejection, plus these pandemic times are not the most joyful to adventure in the world like how I wanted to. On this journey my goals changed from day to day. My only goal regarding that post was to practice taking portraits of people, like I said, I got tired of my dog’s straight face.
So, I had like 20 comments on that post and my body was shaking, like how?? Do these ladies want to come meet me and do a photoshoot together?? I was surprised on how the event turned out. I started scheduling the photoshoots and the first week I had them every single day. That week was so intense, all I did was editing photos in the morning, and in the afternoon I would meet the ladies and shoot. Every time I dressed up and prepared myself for the meeting, I got some butterflies and started to scream internally of joy. My thoughts were about how the heck am I going to do when I get there? I also experienced anxiety and wanted to cancel the meetings last minute because I thought I couldn’t do it. I was afraid that the photos wouldn’t look good, that the ladies wouldn’t like me and wouldn’t feel at ease, and I would end up with a big failure and that I should keep taking photos of my dog. (not that there is something wrong about it haha)
I remember you telling me that the free photo shoots started turning into paid projects. How did that feel? What was your biggest realization or learning when that happened?
As I said earlier, my goal was only to practice portraits for fun. At my first meeting I had two ladies. We had fun and did the photoshoot. The next day I finished editing the photos and I sent the photos to the ladies. And one of them, dear C., was so pleased about them that she told me that her boyfriend was coming to visit her and she was wondering if I could do a photoshoot for them … FOR MONEY. Like for real money, and I didn’t know what to say, because what I was doing, it was my pure pleasure and passion. It was weird to even think about that. So from that moment somehow my goals changed from just doing it for practice to building my portfolio instead. I had come to the realisation that my work is worth it.
What would you tell someone who wants to make first steps as a photographer or another creative profession and they don’t know where to start and how to get clients? How did you overcome your fears and limiting beliefs?
I think that the first step is to gain the COURAGE to make the first step. It took me so much time like haha, I sometimes wish I had the courage to start earlier, but this was my path of becoming the woman I am today. It takes courage to show up to the world and assuming the responsibility for your identity and your skills. After that you’ll get clients and you’ll impressing them by being yourself.
My fears were that I couldn’t assume my responsibility about my identity and say “Hi, I’m Daiana and I’m a photographer”. Maybe it was the imposter syndrome that couldn’t let me assume it, sort of like I didn’t deserve to be like this. My limiting beliefs were that I wasn’t worth doing photography for money, that people wouldn’t like me and my work enough for hiring me. Sometimes I’m still struggling with these issues — but one thing to keep in mind is thta this is all a process, an ongoing process with you and your mind. It’s ok to fluctuate and don’t forget to enjoy this journey of yours!
Thank you Daiana for this wonderful interview and for being your beautiful self!
🌻 🥰
Find Daiana on IG and learn more about her work as a photographer here.
