Pursuit 365 Day 183: Caroline Latona

Caroline Latona is an award-winning contemporary photographer. She helps women and their loved ones feel beautiful and confident in portraits and loves giving the gift of memories to the family through fashion-inspired portraits. One of her goals is to ensure we exist in our own stories with tangible art pieces that serve as a daily reminder of our beauty and resilience and restore self-confidence. In 2021, she was nominated as the Black Entrepreneur of the year by the Canadian SME National Business Awards. Her proudest achievement and highest purpose is being a mom to her beautiful girls, Frances and Zoe.

If you could give your past self some advice, what would you tell yourself?

I would tell my past self to take it slow, enjoy the moments, breathe and take it all in. I would tell her to not be in a hurry for what’s to come. I’d say to her to make new friends and enjoy diverse adventures along the way because the journey is just as important as the goal.

When you first started your career, how did you know you were ready and what made you start?

I don’t think of myself as “ready”. Both businesses I have owned in my life and my professional career have resulted from doing things that came to me naturally and out of necessity. In my first business, I loved designing and developing new ideas. I was already volunteering a lot of my time creating designs for college organizations. When I needed to make money to pay my way through college partly, it was easy for me to convert that into a business. Naturally, I went on to work in advertising – developing ideas and managing local/national campaigns. My second business in photography was also another natural progression, doing something I have always loved. It naturally transformed into a business in graduate school – out of necessity. I became a full-time artist – out of necessity. In retrospect, it all looked so nicely planned out, almost like I knew what I was doing. The only thing I know to do is take the next step and keep going. Not to say that any of that was super easy, but I have always done it all, afraid.

What do you have going on that you’d like to share?

Every day is a great day to celebrate women and their loved ones. That is at the heart of all I do. In 2018, when I first began The Confident Woman Series, I hoped to bring women together in a black and white portrait series that transcends the colour of their skin, their shape or size. I wanted women to see that each woman is as beautiful as the next when the playing field is levelled, without the distraction of colour. Four years later, The Confident Woman Portrait Series now celebrates women over 40 years with an unforgettable luxury portrait experience and has built (still ongoing), an amazing community of friendship and inspiration that highlights every story. Then we come together at the end of the year to celebrate each woman in a portrait exhibition and gala. Watching the transformation that happens with each woman, sharing such amazing stories and helping women reflect the beauty they see inside back to them is such a beautiful gift and blessing. I am just as excited to share it with the world again this year. All the juicy details are here: https://franctal.com/theover40revolution/

What is your favourite thing about what you do in your career and why?

There are many favourite parts of my work, and that’s what keeps it exciting. Everyone I work with needs something different. It could be confidence, empowerment, celebration, or connection: connection with themselves, with the people they love, and with those who have ahead of them. For others, it is finding meaning and purpose and direction. I love being able to hold space for each person regardless of what they are looking for and helping them find it. I love that what I do has deep meaning and goes way beyond pretty photographs. What is your number one priority when it comes to your career and daily work? I love that I get to be an important part of my clients’ lives. I’m motivated to help as many women as we can while balancing this with a healthy dose of enjoying every moment with my little girls – they are growing so quickly, and I want to soak it all in.