Color and focus
Native of Spain, SCV resident turns photography passion into a career
Leire Baztarrica had always loved photography, but it wasn’t until she came to Los Angeles that she turned her passion into a career.
“When I first started out, I was a lot freer as an artist to shoot what I wanted, but as a professional, I take a lot of portraits and focus on making people happy, which is my favorite part of this job,” Baztarrica said.
Originally from Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain, Baztarrica came in 2015 to work on a fine arts project in to Reno, Nevada. During that trip, she met her future husband and moved to Santa Clarita in 2017 — to get married and to begin her photography career.
Baztarrica said her style of photography focuses on color and capturing her subjects while they are relaxed and in interesting positions or in motion.
She primarily produces portraits and commercial photos for beauty, fashion and a variety of other companies, including Will and Jaden Smith’s JUST Water company, though in the past she has worked on personal art projects, makeup tutorials, boudoir photography and music shoots.
“As a photographer, I have a lot more opportunities living here than I would have had in Spain,” she said.
Model and YouTuber Jimena Reno frequently works with Baztarrica. She said before the
photographer reached out to her, she had never felt comfortable collaborating but the two got along so well that she decided to give it a try.
“Leire is very easy to work with, and not only does she understand how to help make someone’s vision come true, but she also contributes her own ideas, which is really refreshing,” Reno said. “Everything she does is beautiful.”
Many of Baztarrica’s bookings come from her service, “Model for One day in DTLA,” offered through Airbnb.com. She photographs clients in iconic locations. One of her Airbnb clients booked her for a photo shoot, and her work was published in Middle East editions of Esquire Magazine.
“It’s very interesting work, and I get to meet a lot of people from all around the world,” she said. “I’m booked pretty much every week, and it’s been a life saver for me. I ... work consistently.”
There are challenges. Baztarrica does not have a driver’s license and must rely on public transportation or rideshare. She never lets that faze her, though, and said she never turns down a gig due to transportation difficulties.
She said she felt people did not take her seriously at first because she was a woman and a foreigner whose first language is not English. However, she said she and her husband are happy to live in Santa Clarita and believe the quality of life is better outside the larger city.
As a fellow Spaniard, Reno said her friendship with Baztarrica is an immense comfort.
“I keep telling Leire that, if it wasn’t for her, life here would be much harder,” Reno said. “We’re friends before work partners, and being around her has taught me how to be more confident and open.”
Besides her talent behind the camera, she also works as a hair model under the name Eleilady, a pun on her first name and “L.A. lady” from Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer.”
“I’ve done this since I was 17 and, though I wish I could do it more often, I have to keep developing my photography skills. Photography I can keep doing, but, at 27, I feel like I may have already hit my peak for modeling.”
Currently, Baztarrica is working on a personal project with a grant from her hometown, focusing on the experiences of immigrant women, dressed as aliens to highlight the feeling of otherness. She also opened the Glow Photo Studio earlier this month with fellow Santa Clarita photographer Mindy Ruder. It focuses on glamor photography, especially for high school seniors.
Though Ruder and Baztarrica have had different styles and audiences for their photography, Ruder said she was so stricken by Baztarrica’s work, she knew she would make the perfect partner.
“Her art has a European flair, so edgy and free when expressing herself through photography,” Ruder said. “Nothing stops her.”