Gaining Access and Experience in Concert Photography with Zenia Monteagudo

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Zenia Monteagudo (00:01):
Photograph anything and everything, like
it's really hard to get a photopass if you don't have a
portfolio.
So it's kind of like you gottabuild your way up.
And luckily I was able to startup here.
And then, after I started takingphotos at bigger venues, I would
still go to like the smallervenues just to get everything

(00:22):
and anyone.

Raymond Hatfield (00:24):
Hey, photo friends Raymond here, and
welcome to the BeginnerPhotography Podcast, where every
Tuesday I drop a brand newepisode to help you capture
better photos by learning fromsome of the world's most
creative photographers.
And here on Thursdays, I share aRewind episode, which is a past
conversation handpicked becauseit is just as valuable today as

(00:44):
it was when it first aired.
So whether you're brand new oryou're revisiting with fresh
ears.
This one is packed with Timelessphoto wisdom to help you grow
behind the lens.
In today's interview, I chatwith community member Zenia
Monte Gudo about how to build aconcert portfolio from scratch.
But first, the beginner ofPhotography podcast is brought
to you by Clouds Spot.

(01:06):
You know this you can sell yourphotos through prints, products,
and of course digitals as well.
You can set up a storefront inminutes and start earning more
with every gallery you send.
So grab your free foreveraccount today
over@deliverphotos.com and onlyupgrade when you're ready.
Today's guest, Zenia is not onlya member of the beginner
photography podcast community,but she's also a really talented

(01:27):
concert photographer.
And I think what's crazy aboutconcert photography is that,
It's one of the absolute hardesttests that your camera will go
through.
And that's especially true withan entry level camera, from dim
stages, intense bursts of brightlight, lasers and like colored
lights and stuff.
It's absolutely crazy.
But if you want it bad enough,you'll find a way to make it

(01:47):
work.
And as you'll hear, that'sexactly what Zenia did.
We also talk about, dealing withimposter syndrome when shooting
next to somebody who's beendoing it for decades and
building a portfolio that standsout so that you can shoot more
concerts.
And remember, Zenia is part ofthe Beginner Photography podcast
community, along with 6,000other members just like
yourself.

(02:08):
So if you're not a part of thecommunity yet, what are you
waiting for?
Come join us by heading over tobeginner photo pod.com/group
now.
Zenia, my first question for youis, who are you and what do you
do?

my name is Xenia and I do photography, or I
do mostly music photography.
and I have been trying to getinto more of like family
portrait type stuff.
But I've been doing musicphotography for five years now,
and I kind of fell into it,randomly.
How so?

(02:42):
I, um, bought a camera at Targetyears ago.
It was a, a Sony a 3000.
And, at before that I was justtaking my pointin shoot
everywhere and I, so this wasdetachable lens and I'm like,
wow, this takes amazing photos.
So, I started doing, Likecommunity events, like, hey, you
know, if there's like a brewfest or a parade or something, I

(03:04):
would just contact whoever wasin charge, Hey, can I photograph
the event?
And I kind of just started doingthat more and more, and went to.
concert of a band I really likeand took some photos and then I
get a message, from them andthey're like, Hey, can we use
some of your photos?
I really like them.
if you ever want a music pass,you're welcome to one.

(03:27):
So that was like, oh, if I everwant a music pass.
So then I kind of just asked forMusic Pass for like every event
that they had coming.
And, they had some really cool,Events coming up at that time,
like I was able to photograph inRed Rocks, PBS special, those
kind of like things where it waslike I was kind of new to the

(03:49):
music photography world, andthen I was like really thrown
into it, like, at first.

So how did you get into photography then?
If so, I wanna know, why did yougo to Target and why did you
decide to buy that?

Well, well, I always, I mean, I always had a
camera with me like.
as a kid, like disposables orpoint and shoots later on.
And then I went to Target and Isaw this camera and I'm like,
wow, this is beautiful.
And it was like clearance.
so I bought it and I went toSeattle with my family.
Like that month.
And I took this picture of mydaughter and she's like, holding

(04:20):
this butterfly, and I'm like,wow, this is amazing what this
camera could do.
and then from there I went andgot like one of those like
cowboy setups with lights andwith, you know, contacted all my
friends, like, I will takepictures of your kids and your
babies and, anything that Icould take pictures of.
but at that time I kind of wasgearing more towards that event

(04:43):
stuff, so that whole like studiosetup is overwhelms me.

Right.
It can do that in the beginningfor sure.
Yeah, there's, yeah, so manyextra pieces there.
Tell me, what was it about thatphoto of your daughter and the
butterfly that made you thinklike, whoa, this can do some
pretty amazing things.

just kind of the, the zoom in, like how that
butterfly just froze.
So we were in this, at thescience museum in Seattle and
it, and they have like thisbutterfly house and it's just
like a thousand butterflies inhere.
And, this butterfly landed onher finger and it just like
froze.
And I was like, wow.
You could, you know, waydifferent than a point at you
kind of thing where it's like,oh, here's a moment, but this is

(05:19):
like, you could really zoom inon that butterfly and capture
all these details.
And, the milky background andstuff mm-hmm.
That you could do with anon-point and shoot at that
time.

So in that moment, did you think my life is
changing, like I'm going in anew direction?
Or was it, was it a little bit,yeah.
I mean,

yeah, it, it was, and I was like, I really
love this, like, I love, likephoto journalism, kind of like
documentary photography.
so I found myself, not like.
Telling my kids like, Hey, standhere and I'm gonna take a
picture of you.
It was more like, go run amuckand I'll take a picture.
Okay.
So that's where I, was like, ohmy God, I really love this.

(06:00):
And then the whole event thing.
And then, you know, I was,people started asking me to
shoot events like, uh, the BrewFest year that I've shot about.
Six times or so now.

Wow.
That is awesome.

Yeah.
So,

so when you first started reaching out to
these, events, brew Fest and,parades and whatnot, can you
tell me like where you were atin your journey?
Was this like a shot in thedark, like if they do it
awesome.
Or did you feel like you alreadyhad a portfolio and you were
ready to go?

Oh no.
It was a shot in the dark.
Yeah.
No, I mean I, uh, yeah, it wascomplete shot in the dark.
Like, Hey, I have this cameraand I wanna take some pictures.
Do you think it'd be okay?
Yeah, sure.
Come on.
so that's kind of how I built myportfolio.
Wow.
at that point.
And so back, this was God, 2014,15 or so.

(06:51):
so back then some local venuesstill allowed you to bring in
detachable lenses.
so I was able to, take somephotos from behind the pit at
that time.
Mm-hmm.
It was like, I love that wholeexcitement of music photography.

That, before we get into that, I got another
question.
Yeah.
Was, was one of the first eventsthat you shot a Brew Fest?

Yes.
Yeah.

Okay.
So before you had showed up, didyou have a plan of what you
wanted to capture or how did youknow if you were gonna be
successful that day?

Yes.
So my plan, I felt comfortablejust doing like, candid
photography and the event had adifferent plan for me, which I
wasn't comfortable with.
So that was kinda like reallystepping outside my comfort zone
at that time.
they wanted me to photographlike the award ceremony and had,
you know.
People stand there and, and thatjust kind of makes me

(07:41):
uncomfortable or, or did at thetime where I'm like, oh, shoot.
Like, you know, in a snap of amoment, how do you get, it's 300
people and chaos.
some of those pictures turnedout, the others were awful.
but it was a learningexperience.
But the candid photography oneswere pretty good.
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
I was happy with those.

So when you decided to move forward with
doing music, right, that firstevent that you went to, or that
first concert that you went to,your favorite band, you start
taking photos, what was it thatyou were looking for?

um, through, well, when tho those initial
photos were, actually, I didn'thave a photo pass then, so it
was just.
Hey, I'm gonna go to thisconcert, which was in,
Vancouver, BC and just takephotos of what I like to take
photos of.
Sure.
Like that energy of people like,oh my God, I love this band.

(08:33):
They have kind of like a bigfollowing of people who are like
hardcore fans.
So, like standing by the.
The front of the stage waiting.
And so that intensity of emotionis what I love to capture.
Mm-hmm.
And so I did that, without eventhinking, Hey, they're gonna be
like, Hey, can we use yourpictures?
and then when I.
They gave me a photo pass forthe first time and it, you get

(08:56):
to bring in all your gear and,you know, have access to, the
other side of the, the gate.
And I was like, what?
Like, it was like a dream cometrue.
I was like, oh my God, this isit.
Like I wanna do this for therest of my life.

Tell me what were some of those challenges
that when you first startedshooting?
I'm sure that shooting, oh God,everyth life has gotten be
difficult.

It was a mess.
It was like, oh, you know, justnot being, having full control
of the camera at that time andnot even having like the right
lens.
I think at that point I had likea kit lens or something.
I don't even know what I had atthat time.
So you were shooting in

some sort of like program mode?

yeah, it was in Portland, Oregon at, The
crystal Ballroom.
Mm-hmm.
So, you know, it was a hugeplace with a ton of people.
and looking back now, I look atthose pictures and I'm like,
they're awful.
Um, but the thing I do like loveabout those pictures is that
and, the intensity of theemotions.
Like there was this kid who musthave been about 14 and still to

(09:57):
this day, this is one of myfavorite photos.
He was up there and he was like,I'm not moving.
I love this band.
I've never seen anyone do this.
to these instruments before.
and there's a picture of himlike looking at Cooper, which
is, the banjo player, and he waslike, just like a magical
moment.
And I'm like, I'd love tocapture that.

(10:17):
And so I, I think that firstevent, I captured those emotions
well, but holy cow, the pictureswere, were blurry and, I just
couldn't keep up with the lightsand.
So how do you change that now?

Because I'm sure that your photography has
come quite a way since then.

Oh, yeah.
Well, yeah, just a, you know,different camera too.
In five years, the camera worldhas changed a lot actually, with
like low light situations andstuff.
So I traded in that camera.
I actually bought or sold mycamera to a friend who he still
has that camera.
I love that.
I get it, like attached to mycamera.
So, I bought a Sony, Sony A twoand I got a manual focus lens,

(10:59):
so I am like, I'm gonna teachmyself how to do this with which
I still have, and I love thislens.
It's, um, an 85 1 0.4, and so noauto focus, and I just went at
it like I'm.
I actually shot just manualfocus for four years recently.
Oh, wow.

For four years.
Oh my gosh.
So, yeah, I

refused.
I was like, I refused to useautofocus.
Why?
I refused it.
I don't know.
I just, I felt more comfortablemaybe from like years of like
film shooting, like back thenUhhuh, where.
Yeah.
So I, that's kind of how I justwent at it and taught myself
with.

Are you still shooting with that lens today or
have you moved on to anotherfocus now?
I, I

shoot, well, I'm actually gonna, loan it to
someone who's starting out withmusic photography.
I'm like, here's my magic lensthat I love so much.
no, I shoot, auto focus nowmm-hmm.
And have different lenses.
But yeah, I mean, at the time Ijust had like an fixed 85 1 0.4
and.
which, you know, I find iteasier actually to shoot with

(12:01):
the, the manual focus and thehigh intensity of lights and to,
to kind of get a clearerpicture.
Like maybe it's

just I've never shot concerts before.
Like this is a whole new worldto me, and I'm sure, yeah, it's
dark.
As you mentioned there, there'slots of lights going on.
Does that mess with the autofocus quite a bit.

Yeah, it could.
especially I don't shoot smallervenues a lot anymore, but like
those like little bar kind ofvenues that have intense lights,
it's just the camera wants to gofocus everywhere and not where
it's supposed to.
But, Bigger venues, have amazinglights and a good space for the

(12:42):
photographers.
But, yeah, starting out is notlike that where you're basically
like crawling between a bunch ofdrinks and you're like, don't.
Yeah.
but yeah, I mean that lens Iused it to shoot at, um.
caverns in Tennessee, at a PBSspecial.
So that was like one of thefirst events that I did that I'm
like, holy cow, what am I doinghere?

(13:04):
and I got to meet my, like oneof my favorite music
photographers and shoot withhim.
And who's that?
It was like, really?
Michael, and I'm probablypronouncing his name wrong, uh,
winter Rob.
Mm-hmm.
And he was the housephotographer at Red Rocks for 20
years and has a really cool, he,it would be awesome to hear an
interview with him actually.
What would you wanna hear from,

from Michael?

just kind of like his story and how, he shot
at Red Rocks for 20 years andphotographed like the Grateful
Dead, you know, like huge bandsand Wow.
He has are, yeah, some reallycool like art projects.
He's really an inspiration, butso, yeah, I went, I asked that
band, I'm like, Hey, can I, youknow, you guys are gonna be at
this, like live recording.

(13:46):
Can I photograph there?
And I was the only otherphotographer there besides
michael and I was nervous.
I was like, oh my God, he'sgonna, like hate me.
Like what are you doing here?
Are you amateur?
But he was like the sweetestguy.
Like, he even like showed me hisphotos and was like, what do you
think of this one?
I'm like, you're asking me.
and I did take some photos therethat I really enjoyed.

(14:09):
and yeah.
And then that same week Iphotographed Red Rocks, which
was like another dream cometrue.
I was like, what am I doinghere?
And then Covid hit, so, and thenCovid.
Yeah,

I know, right?
Threw a big wrench ineverybody's concert plans for
sure.
when you were shooting therenext to Michael, was there
anything that you learned fromhim that you picked up?
I mean, obviously you had tonsof experience.
Was there anything that youstarted implementing into your
photography?

Kind of just to be maybe like a little more
like confident.
'cause he, you know, I'm like,what do you do with all the
lights?
And he's like, just pretend youknow what you're doing.
Kind of like, basically hedidn't like view me there as
like, oh, you're like, you know,an amateur.
He, more like eye to eye andjust, to keep doing what you're

(14:57):
doing and the more you takepictures, the more you learn.
Yeah.
So that's basically what I gotfrom him, from someone who at
that time had been doing it forlike 25 years.

Yeah.
Wow.
So let me ask, obviously you'veshot quite a few concerts up to
this point.
I know that concert photographyis one of those things that I
think sounds pretty cool, and Ican think of some of my favorite
bands that I would love to likego photograph.
Yeah.
If you had to start over, howwould you get into concert
photography?
Would you do it the same waythat you did or would you try
something new?

no, actually I feel really blessed that I was
able to do it the way I did.
I do have like folks.
Like ask me like, how can I dothis?
How do I get into it?
And I think basically, just, Imean, photograph anything and
everything, like it's reallyhard to get a photo pass if you
don't have a portfolio.

(15:50):
So it's kind of like you gottabuild your way up.
And luckily I was able to.
Start up here.
And then I, after I startedtaking photos at bigger venues,
I would still go to like thesmaller venues just to get
everything and anyone.
even actually one of the bandsthat I photographed years ago,
they just sold out at Red Rocksfor two nights.

(16:12):
And at that point when Iphotographed them, they were
like in a basement here inMontana.
so yeah, it's An interestingjourney and I don't think that
there's like a set way of likegetting into it.
It's not like, you know, youhave to go to school or do you
know this, it's Basicallywhichever road leads you there.
And I think everyone wants to bein or a different part of music

(16:36):
photography.
Like no one likes the same musicBut I photograph, I guess every,
like, I don't even care about,you just love being there.

You love the

energy.
I just love being there.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And sometimes I'm like, oh, wow,I didn't even know I would like
this band.
Or actually, my favorite part islike the interaction, like the
band, the fans and the band,like the hardcore fans that are
like, oh my God, like I've beenwaiting my whole life for this.

Oh, really?
What, what do you mean by that?
So like you interacting withthem or their interaction?
Yeah.

So when you, when you're like at the photo
pit at, before the show you onlyget three songs.
You're up there, waiting for theband and then, the fans are
there and they're like, Hey,are, what are you, you know,
where, what are you shootingfor?
That kind of stuff.
And just getting stories of likewhy they love the band, how they
started listening to them.
It's a good way to learn about aband that I know nothing about.

Wow.
That is cool.
That is very cool.
I bet you get to meet some veryobviously very passionate people
if it's gonna be passion, one oftheir

favorite bands.
Very, yeah.

Yeah.
That is cool.
Yeah.
I wanna ask you about somethingearlier.
You said to get a photo meetdifficult and that you need like
a portfolio to show how do youget a photo pass?
Like, are you reaching out tothe venue?
Are you reaching out to the bandand then looking?
Uh, there's, there's different

avenues you could take.
initially, you know, I wasreaching out to the band, so the
band that was, shooting for, andonce I had, enough material to
show, reach out to like localvenues and say, Hey, do you need
an extra shooter for, just.
Like the house photographer'sout or, just, Hey, can I

(18:14):
photograph this?
And a lot of the smaller venuesare honestly like, please, we
need, promo photos, so can youdo this?
Wow.
and then there's the avenue oflike, music magazines.
There's a lot of those now.
That like are very tiny musicmagazines and you could, request

(18:35):
to shoot for them.
But you normally have to writelike a review and I'm not really
into Oh, like

of the band or Of the concert?
Yeah, yeah, of the band.
Oh, I see.
Yeah.
I would imagine that because ofthe internet, there's probably
more bands than ever.
They're probably not as big asbefore, but there's probably
more bands than ever.
Oh

yeah.
There's a lot of bands.

Yeah.
Which would mean that there'sprobably more concerts than ever
as well in small venues.
Yeah.
So that makes sense.
So yeah, smaller venues,reaching out to those small
venues, right?
Mm-hmm.
You said that they need somepromo photos.
So when you go to show up for aconcert, do you try to take
other.
More promotional style photos oflike the inside, the outside so
that you can help them out?
Or how does that work?

Uh, not really anymore.
Just kind, well, tagging thevenue is a, you know, a good way
to get your name out there.
but yeah, just mostly I just dothe bands now.
Mm-hmm.
Um.
Yeah, ta I mean, if you get theopportunity to shoot at a bigger
venue than, tagging the venueand like, Hey, here's a photo
and you're welcome to use itfor, promotional purposes, just,

(19:34):
photo credit me.
And that's kind of a good way toget your name out there.

Mm-hmm.
So you mentioned earlier thatyou're thinking about focusing
more on, family portraiture aswell, right?

Yes.
I, yeah, I'm trying.

So why the, I've done a few,

actually.
I.
done it every weekend for likethe past three weekends now.
Mm-hmm.
Just family portraits.
and I did a wedding, or I'vedone a few weddings, so, but
those terrify me.
Why?
I don't know how you do it.

Why do they terrify you?
They're

just, the whole thing where everything
needs to be perfect kind ofthing.
Seems kind of scary and it's avery like, emotional time in
someone's life.
So I could see how they could bekind of, touchy about
everything.
And so yeah, I did a weddingthis summer and it turned out
okay, but it's, I just picturedinstruments in their hands.

(20:30):
That's what I did.
I was like, okay, I can do this.

You're like, okay, this is a concert today.
This is the most dressed upconcert.
This is a concert that we'redoing.

Yeah.
but yeah, family portraits, it,it just seems like there's so
much, that.
Like with music, the musiciansare prepared, right?
Because they're like, Hey, Idon't wanna go on up on stage,
with my shirt and, disheveledor, you kind of like fit check
yourself.
But with family portraits, it's,you wanna make sure, or at least

(21:01):
it recently happened where I'mlike, I wanna make sure that
there's not like a giant cellphone in their pocket and Yes.
Which what I think would ruinthe, the photo.
Or like recently I had a littlegirl with, a giant bandaid and I
didn't notice the giant bandaid.
And I mean, the mom was okaywith it, but she's like, oh my
God, I forgot to tell her totake the bandaid off.
So, it just seems like there's alot to notice in the photo.

(21:24):
I.
When you're doing like, thosekind of like set, like look at
me and smile kind of photos.

So why are you transitioning away from concerts
and shooting the camera?
Uh,

well, I'm not completely transitioning.
I'm just trying to, dip my toessomewhere else.
Why is

that?

I want to know, because I like taking
pictures of people.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.
So why I'm trying to figure out

people,

why,

why, yeah.

Oh, the emotions and yeah, just
capturing, like if you have aphoto, then, years later you can
come back and look at it and belike, oh my gosh, look how
different everyone is.
Like this weekend I took photosof my daughter's friend and the
last time I did their familyphotos was two years ago, and
they're like, oh my God, wedidn't even realize we grew that

(22:08):
much.
Right?
Yeah.
Like I had no idea that, that'sone of

my favorite things about photography
honestly, is that life moves soslow, but at the same time, so
fast, fast.
You don't, you don't notice ituntil it's, I don't wanna say
until it's gone, but I mean, Ifeel the same way.
So,

yeah.

A few years ago our whole family went on a,
uh, on a cruise with othermembers of the family.
And I still remember it as if itwas like yesterday, you know?
Yeah.
I'm an adult.
still remember it in that sameframe of mind, but, we're
getting ready to go on anotherone here soon and.
I've been asking the kids like,do you remember this party by
the cruise?

(22:49):
And my daughter

was

three at the time.
She's like, no.
And I'm like, how do you notremember this?
And then you have to think,you're like, oh, she was three.
And then you look at thosephotos and you're like, wow.
She was actually teeny tiny.
But I still view her in my headas the exact same thing.
Exactly.

Yeah.
Yeah.
My daughter's 16 and I stillview her as like

a 3-year-old.

Yeah.
So I mean, I've always.
Like taken photos, since thebeginning of like Facebook time
before then I have like boxesand boxes of prints.
so I've always been like that.
A person with like the camera inthe hand kind of thing.
So the kids, are actually,they're like, we creep your
Facebook all the time to findall of our old photos.
They're like, we can't.

(23:30):
So every day, like my daughterand her friend will text me and
be like, Hey, what's on yourFacebook memory today?
Can you screenshot and send?
Because yeah, just like everymoment of like, Hey, we need a
picture of this.
And yeah.
And I get, I grew up with a momlike that.
That was, always.
Taking pictures and as a Cubanmother who would make me go to

(23:51):
like studios as a kid and havelike these giant framed
pictures, right?
The house.
So, I always loved doing that asa kid too.

Well, they got those, uh, what are those?
Have you tried out any of the,uh, I don't know, I guess any of
the names of them, but they havesome of those services where
like you can link your Facebookup to it and it'll make like a
photo book of

Yeah.
A

bunch of your

friends.
I haven't, I haven't done that.
I actually was just listening toone of the episodes where
somebody was doing that, like atthe end of.

Oh, yeah, I, I know that I've heard a few
people talk about it.
Yeah.
I've never tried any of'em.
Yeah.

I just, I don't even remember which
episode it was, but yeah, I justprint to them.
Mm-hmm.
I just order like a box ofprints and go from there and
order like doubles and give themout.
Like, Hey, here's your, awkwardfirst day of school photo those
are fun ones to give out, youknow, like at the end of the
school you're like, how did Igrow so much?
Yeah.

That's another thing.
You're like, I feel like you'rethe exact same kid today as you
were at the beginning of theyear.
Yeah.
And clearly you're not like,fair.

And another thing I, I was doing, during the
winter, I was doing a lot ofrover.
Have you ever heard of that app?
where like dog sitting?
No, it's so, it's um, it's likea dog sitting app and you watch
dogs in your house.
So I did that for part of thiswinter and I was photographing
the dogs and then giving theowners prints and they're like,
oh my God.
Thank you.

Wow.
That's cool.

Special.
Yeah.
So, so when it

comes to like photography, I guess, tell me
your philosophy behindphotography when it comes to
sharing the photos, because Iknow that a lot of people, even
myself included sometimes willtake a million photos and then
they just kinda live on ourcomputer.
But it sounds like you're reallypurposeful about the photos that
you print and, yeah.

A, a little of both actually.
I have a ton of photos that arecollecting dust on my computer
right now.

I don't think that's how it works, but I get
what you're saying.

Yeah.
Yeah.
They're like, I, yeah.
I was actually doing that thisweek and like cleaning'em out I
sent some, I ordered someprints, And I'm gonna see what,
they look like on there.
I went to a first Friday likeart show thing downtown this
weekend and I saw, I mean, therewere tons of photographers with
art shows and I'm like, Hey, Ithink I could do that.

(26:02):
what's stopping you?
my own self-doubt, which is, youknow what's funny?
so we walked into this like art,store and they have like a ton
of like Montana made stuff andwe opened the book and I see my,
like my boyfriend's truck and Itook that same exact picture.
That picture's in that book,this guy took that same picture

(26:22):
and then I flip it and I like,this is my other same exact
photo.
So I'm like, wait, I could dothis.
Two of like same angles, sameobjects right in front of me.
Like he was like, wait, aren'tthose yours?
I'm like, they look identical.

Wow.
So what you're saying is thatsomebody who is, I don't know,
for all intents and purposes,maybe a professional who's doing
this.
Yeah.
You captured photos in the sameartistic style angle?

The same.
Yeah.
It's crazy.
I think it, like I posted it inthe group, I'm like, this is
nuts.
Yeah.

So I'm like, okay.
My own self-doubt is, yeah.
Doesn't that give you theconfidence to go ahead and do
something a little,

yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
So

a little, so how could you do that?
Do you think that doing somesort of art show.
Would be beneficial to you, ordo you think that that wouldn't
fit into what it is that you'redoing?

No, I think I would like it and I think I have
enough material now that I couldmake, a few prints and, and
such.
So

then let me ask you if.
Let's say, not if but when youset up your photo booth, right?
Yeah.
When you set up your art boothat this, uh, did you call it
first Friday?
Is that what it was called?

Yeah.
Yeah.
So, so basically, like localbusinesses just let you, display
your art for a month and then soit changes every Oh,

very cool.
Okay.
So let's say that you, you putup your photos.

Yeah.

What do you want people to feel when they
look at your photos?

Ooh, what do I want people to feel?
Kind of, that I like intensemoments.
so kinda like, oh wow, look atthat.
Like, intense, dramatic moment.
If it's with like, musicphotography, I also offered, I
like bug photography.
That's like something new to menow.

Okay.
Tell me more about this, themacro.

Yeah.
So yeah, I kind of wanna havelike a, a combination of music
and bugs.

Music and bugs.
Oh, you know, it'd be cool.
I'm not saying take this idea,but

put the instruments on the bugs.
I wasn't even thinking of that.
That

is way better.
Actually, I'm not even gonnatell you my idea.
That idea is a hundred timesbetter.
I love that.
You just have to get really,really teeny tiny, instrument.
Teeny, tiny little instruments.
Yeah.
Oh man, that's so funny.
It's like, I think I was tellingyou earlier, my kids of course,
'cause they're kids likeSpongeBob and I think it was the
SpongeBob movie or whateverwhen, um.
whoever was like taking animalsoutta the seat.
This is getting ridiculous bythe way, but like glued, not

(28:46):
only like googly eyes on theanimals, but like, oh my
goodness, put them ininstruments as if they were in
bands.
And I was like, that is the mostridiculous thing I've ever
heard.
And clearly here you are, youhave the exact same idea, which
once again proves that you arewithin that actually headspace.

I actually have a, a whole like phase where
I went and put go eyes on a tonof music photos.
Like, because I print them.
So I print and I just, yeah,put, I have googly eyes on.

Did you share any of those photos?
Like did you take a picture ofthe picture or scan it or
something?
Yeah, I did

take a picture of, uh, I'll send you a pic
picture of the picture.
It's pretty, it's just kind offunny.
You look at it and it's like,you know, a very dramatic music
photo and then.
They have googly eyes, so it's,

oh man, I love it.
I'm all about that.
So googly eyes

make everything

better.
Pretty funny.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So it sounds to me like, we gotthe concert photography, you got
the, the personal familyphotography, you got the family
sessions, family portraits.
Right.
We're shooting bugs as well.
And art.
Yes.
Boyfriend's truck.
Is what you feel most compelledto capture?
Just whatever you see in frontof you?

(29:51):
Or is there one style ofphotography that you feel pulls
you in the most?

Uh, candid photography,

canid photography.
So whatever falls within thatworks for you?
Yes.

Yep.

So how do you make more, I don't wanna say
make more,'cause that is verycontrived, but how do you
capture candid moments?
Like what do you look for?

moments.
So I feel like I had not goneout and shot, just, I used, when
I first, started shooting theseevents and had that camera, I
would just, grab my camera andlike, oh, there's an event,
there's a parade, there's, anysort of gathering.
I would take my camera and, andgo out there and shoot.
And I kind of slowly stoppeddoing that with like the more

(30:36):
like concerts and.
Bigger events that I did, butthis past weekend I went out and
I just, took my camera and shotrandom things and, it kind of
brought that spark back.
I feel.
Like photography is kind of likea rollercoaster journey where
you're like so into it and thenyou're like, oh, this is, what

(30:57):
am I doing?
And then so into it again.
And you kinda like just have tokeep finding that spark.
And sometimes it changes, likewith me now it's bugs.

That is a great analogy.
And I've heard like, peaks andvalleys or whatever, but that is
a rollercoaster is much better.
And I can attribute that I havefelt that same way for many
years.
I think somebody posted in thegroup just today actually, that
they felt like the honeymoonphase of buying their camera
felt like it was ending.
And I remember thinking like,well, yeah, like it's gonna be

(31:29):
that way, like forever.
You know?
Like, who gets into somethingand is like 100% passionate
about it forever.
You know what I mean?
Like, we do still have lives.
Yeah.
And I think that we have to finda way for our cameras to fit
within our lives.
Yes.
Um, and that can be, that couldbe the hard thing,'cause
sometimes we chase.
Possible business aspirations.
Sometimes we chase, whatever wesee on Instagram or whatever,

(31:51):
but figuring out, I think how wecan make the camera works for us
is ultimately the only way thatwe can continue to find joy in
photography long term, eventhough there will always be the,
peaks and valleys for sure.
That's interesting.
Yeah.

It's kind of, like a, a journey that you have
to like, keep falling in lovewith.
'cause it, you know, if I thinkback to like five years ago, I'm
like, oh my gosh, I could,request to take photos of, A
band, like without a worry, kindof like, Hey, can I shoot your
show?
And, but back then it was like,impossible.
Like, I'm gonna be denied thisis, and now you mean it felt

(32:28):
impossible?
It felt, yeah, it feltimpossible.
It was like, who are you to,take pictures or Right.
Um, but, so yeah, that, thatpart's a little easier now.
and honestly, like When Covidhit, I, it was hard that had all
these plans and then boom, it'sgone.
And, slowly, and I don't know iflike a lot of people felt this

(32:49):
during covid just, or, or youknow, I guess people picked, a
lot of people picked up camerasduring Covid.
Right.
And, but I had to put my cameradown because I was doing a lot
of shows, so I'm like, what am Igonna do?
Like, everything that I hadplanned for was, on hold for a
very long time.

Yeah.
So I found that, I feel likephotographers went one of two
ways.
One, they either put down theircameras'cause they either didn't
feel inspired, or two, theypicked up their cameras more,
really picked

up their cameras.
Yeah.
And went

crazy with it.
And I kind of, I struggle withthat because I think for a long
time I was shooting weddings soheavily mm-hmm.
That I wasn't doing a lot ofpersonal photography.
But then it wasn't really untilI had to put down my camera as a
wedding photographer and whileit helped that at the same time,
I think in February of 2020 iswhen the Fuji X 100 V came out
and I got it.

(33:42):
And that was the first, that wasactually the first like new
camera that I ever bought.
'cause I've, I've just alwaysbought, used cameras

and then weddings went on hold

and then weddings went on hold.
Yeah, exactly.
And I found that I used it 100%for just personal photography
and I think it was the, it wasgetting a new camera and then
having to shoot somethingdifferent with it, which like,
it almost is like, um, there'slike a before and then there's
an after in my head, like thetimeline.
Right.
And I feel like everything afterthat moment.

(34:09):
Weddings to me, kind of likewent downhill as far as like my
drive and the, their importancein my life and personal
photography and personalprojects really took off for me.
And I don't know if I would'vefound that, honestly, if it
wasn't for, being forced in thatsituation.
so yeah, I, I completelyunderstand where you're coming
from.
Like, I got shipped when, when

you shot your first wedding after Covid, were
you excited?

When I shot my first wedding after Covid, was
it, lemme uh, let me figure whatit was.
Oh, no, honestly, I was so, itwas in, I wanna say that it was
in August of that year still.
And I was, nervous because theystill wanted to have like a big
wedding and I was like, oh, thisis, I don't know how this is
gonna go, but they were veryadamant about like, is there any

(34:54):
way that you can test?
and I was like, yes.
So of course, and then I showedup.
Obviously, being protected wasvery important to them.
Everybody wore masks.
but I think, I think there wasjust nervousness around that,
and I don't think that I wasable to put myself into that
wedding, like, oh, I'm excitedfor this wedding type headspace.
Yeah, again, it didn't feel thesame.
and I don't think, honestly,that a wedding has felt the same

(35:18):
since then.
And I think that that's justinternal because like, I'm still
shooting weddings that areexactly the same as there were
pre covid, you know?
Yeah.
They just, they just don't feelthe same to me anymore.
So I think it was just aninternal thing.
I don't know.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But we have, I feel likeeverybody changed at, at that
point in their photography.
Everyone did.

Yeah.
It, it like shook up the worldin, in literally, yeah.
Yeah.

A weird way.
Yeah.
Now let me ask, we're gonnaswitch gears here.
I want to know a little bit moreabout you and, how did you find
the group?

Oh, I was trying to find, podcasts, like
photography podcast.
And a lot of them are kind oflike really deep in the business
part or only family stuff.
And I really, as you can see,'cause I like to take pictures
of all sorts of things.
Everything.
It was, like, oh my goodness, Icould just switch.
listen to someone talk about,sports and weddings and,

(36:13):
personal projects and, so nobugs yet

though,

Nobu?
No, no.
I haven't

had any bug for time.
You to find that one.
Yeah, I'm gonna have to findthat just for you.

Yeah.
it's really like cool to seewhat I'm like, oh, I didn't even
know that.
Like, flies had these littlehairs and it's just interesting.
I started take doing thosephotos this summer and you could
just, I'm like in the bushes,like

taking all these macro photos of bugs.

yeah, yeah.
It's interesting to see kind oflike that whole other world.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.

So as far as, listening to the podcast goes,
it was, for you, it was thevariety of, topics that really
drew you in?
Yeah.
The

variety of topics, definitely the variety
of topics, not just the same.
Kind of, only families or this,kind of Sure, sure.
The whole.
Entire, variety and thequestions that you ask are
really good.
Oh, thank you.
Like, I'm like, how do you comeup with these?

I think it's just like this, like it's a,
it's, it's a conversation, youknow, like, I couldn't have
planned to ask.
Yeah.
Like sometimes I'll

be listening and I'm like, I really hope he,
he like.
You know, it goes this way.
And I'm like, oh, thanks.

Yeah, that was something that I struggled with
early on is like I wanted to beprepared.
So I wrote like 40 questions forevery interview and then I found
that I just ultimately wasn'teven listening to the interviews
'cause I just wanted to get tothe questions and, it's tough.
Yeah, it can be tough sometimes.
Oh, did you have, out of all theepisodes that you've listened
to, do you have a, guest whomaybe said something that really
stood out to you and impactedyour photography?

Yeah, and I can't remember his name'cause
I'm terrible with names, butthere's

been a lot of it.
But it was, uh,

it was somebody and he kind of got into
doing music photography too,kind of by mistake, by mistake.
And I listened to this like amonth ago.
And I think he was like shootinglike the Rolling Stones all of a
sudden.
I'll go back and find it, but

I'm not sure.
I'm not sure who was the

way Yeah.
he stood out.
But a lot of the people that,you know, like professionals
that you, you have interviewedthat stand out or kind, you
know, people who are just like,Hey, I started taking pictures
and got into it this way.
Like, way back when, like, midnineties and such, so.
It's kind of like thatself-doubt of like, wait, can I
do this?
Wait, I am doing this.

(38:20):
But just to hear, you know,other people's journeys, like
they've been doing this foryears and, it's not like they
went to school and, became aphotographer.
They kind of just like workedand took pictures of things that
they love.
also, But their struggles, youknow?
Mm-hmm.
When you have self-doubt oflike, what am I doing here?

(38:43):
Yeah, that could

be difficult because, hold on, let me think
in my head.
are you trying to think of whoit is?
No, no, no.
next week when this comes out,next week, I interview somebody
who, she went to school to belike a dental hygienist, and she
said that she loved going toschool for it, but then the
second that she was actually adental hygienist.
Absolutely hated it.
And, um, uh, I was goingsomewhere with that Oh yeah.

(39:06):
Because it is difficult, youknow, it is difficult to know if
you're gonna love somethingbefore you kind of commit to it.
Right.
But photography, you don'treally have to do that.
You can make a very softcommitment and get into it very
slowly.
And you can just go to Targetand you can pick up a camera and
you can take a few photos ofyour daughter with a butterfly.
Yeah.
But if you really want to be adoctor.
You have to commit.
You have

to commit.
Yeah.

Go to school.
And then if you realize that youdon't love it, that can be a
very hard thing.
So obviously it's, uh, it reallydepends on, on you as a person.
But, yeah, that, that, that'sgreat insight.
So eventually you found yourselfin the, uh, the Facebook group
as well.
There's a lot of groups onFacebook.
Yeah.
I'm

part of a few other Facebook groups.
And honestly, people that aremean, they're mean in some of
the other Facebook groups.
yeah, like, I don't, enjoy when,you know, someone who's starting
out will post a picture andthey're like, go, like, burn it.
That sucks.
Throw it away.
Whoa.
Yeah.
Like, don't be mean to people.

(40:01):
so a, I feel like a lot of the,you know, other Facebook groups
that I've been involved withover the years.
It's, there's a lot of that likenegativity of like, come on.
Yeah.
Like, don't, the concertphotography ones are pretty bad
about that too.
Mm.
Really?
Like, that's garbage.
It's like, no, I mean, theperson just took a picture of
like at like there local bar,don't say sucks.

Right, right.
Yeah.
Just because somebody's notshooting at Red Rocks doesn't
mean that the photo can't stillbe good.

Yeah.
Yeah.
And yeah, a lot of those, likesmaller artists, really do need
people to go to the little barand take a photo of course.
And you never know, if thatlittle small artist is going to,
be selling Red Rocks out twonights in a row, right.
Yeah.
It could happen, like thosefolks I took a picture of.
But, but yeah, just like theatmosphere in the, Facebook
group is really welcoming.

Well, good.
I'm glad that you have found it.
welcoming, it's my favoriteplace on the internet to be.
yeah.
Is there anything in the groupthat you've learned that, uh,
you wish that you would'velearned in your own journey?
Maybe earlier?

you know, I'm learning a lot in the group
about, the kind of like sharingphotos with clients kind of
thing.
And, just that it's kind of asafe place to ask questions.
Like if I have a question, Iwill go to that group and ask.
So that's what I've learned togo there.
You mean you're not gonna go tothe

group where they tell you to just burn your
coat?
No, I'm not gonna go to thatgroup.
Oh, okay.
Yeah, no, some people don't lovetough love, I guess.
Geez.

Yeah.
I guess what I've learned fromthat group is that I could
freely just ask a question like,Hey, I'm doing this shoot, and
like I did a newborn shootrecently and I asked on there
for some help and got some linksand some advice on, on what to
do.
So that's a whole nother

genre of photography that we didn't get
into at all.

Yes, it is.

Um, quickly, did you like it?
Which is a very

di very, very, very, very difficult one, right?
Like newborn photography islike, like heart surgery to me.

Was it because they're moving or just
unpredictable?
Why?

Yeah.
Well the baby was, like twoweeks old and, The mom's like,
don't worry, she just sleeps allthe time.
No, that baby crying for threehours.
She's like, and I saw her like aweek later and she's like, you
know, she just hasn't cried likethat ever again.
I'm like,

great.
Wow.
Yeah.
must be, yeah.
Yeah.

So yeah, that's like a whole other thing
of like, that's.
Yeah, probably not for me, but

I think the baby probably didn't like Sony
cameras, so maybe, I bet if youswitch to Fuji, maybe, uh,
maybe, maybe a little different.
Yeah.
We'll see what, you know, we'llhave to find out.
Yeah.
In the future.
But yeah.
Anyway.
I'm just kidding.
Sonia, I know that we are at theend of our time here.
people are listening.
They know that you can find youin the group, but where else can
we find out, uh, more about youand your work?

On Instagram and then zenia and
photography.com.

All right.
Today's action item being theone thing that if you implement
it today, we'll move the needleforward in your photography is
this, ask to photograph a localevent.
Events are a great way to notonly hone your eye for a moment,
but also learn how to work onthe fly.
So find an upcoming local event.
Maybe it's a brew fest, maybeit's a parade, maybe it's a

(43:18):
charity run a farmer's market.
Just some sort of communitygathering, right?
And then just send a simpleemail to the organizer asking if
you can photograph it.
If it's a yearly event, maybethey have an Instagram page.
You could send'em a dm.
If it's a farmer's market, maybethere's a website available.
Whatever it is, keep the emailcasual and honest.
Let them know that you're abeginner, you're looking to

(43:39):
practice, and then offer toshare the images afterwards.
And I think that you'd besurprised at how many organizers
would just jump on thisopportunity, and the confidence
boost that you get from having alanyard around your neck that
says official photographer ispretty great as well.
So go ahead, give it a try.
All you gotta do is just Googleevents near me and see what pops

(44:00):
up.
All right.
That is it for today.
Until next week, remember, themore that you shoot today, the
better of a photographer youwill be tomorrow.
Talk soon.

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