Today we’d like to introduce you to Austin Patterson.
Hi Austin, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I came into photography less from a place of artistry, and more from a place of curiosity. I’ve always been obsessed with old things and how they work, and in my early 20s I began collecting film cameras. I bought off eBay a brownie box, a brick camera, and a Polaroid. Eventually, curiosity got the better of me, and I started running rolls of film through these cameras. From there, I was hooked. I started shooting more and more rolls of film, getting more and more excited about composition and lighting and portraiture, and eventually I bought an actual digital camera. Now at this time, I was studying to be an actor. The thing with being around actors 24/7 is that when they hear you take photos, you immediately get requests for headshots and theatre photos. I started taking very amateur headshots of my friends, and very rudimentary production photos, but realized very quickly that this type of photography was very exciting to me. I joined the student newspaper as a junior photography in charge of the theatre and arts pages, and worked my way to becoming the senior photography editor. I took so many photos during college that by the time I graduated, I was taking photos of every on campus event and had photos hanging in two galleries. After graduating, I freelanced a bit in DC, doing food photography and political event work, but when I moved to NYC everything changed. Being in a city filled with artists and theatre let me return back to my passion of theatre photography, and let me continue to explore my love of portrait photography. Nowadays, I am very proud to say that my main gig is taking photos of plays and doing promo work and portrait work for performers. I have a few projects on the way, and a bunch completed that I am very proud of.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
No road is every really smooth. Of course there were struggles – every time I’d move to a new city, my client base would completely reset. Every time I need a new piece of equipment, or need to replace something broken, my net worth gets halved. But struggles are ignored when it’s passion you’re chasing. Every field has struggles, the field where those don’t matter is the one where you know you have to stay in it. I realized I didn’t want to be an actor anymore when I realized I’d rather come home at the end of the day and spend a few hours editing pictures rather than spend a few hours filming self tapes. We should be so lucky to be gifted the insight into what our passion or calling is.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I consider myself a theatre photographer first. I love and specialize in photographing plays, concerts, dance showcases, etc. My favorite plays to photograph are ones done in the round so I can really get up close and get some interesting shots. I am also a portrait photographer and love to harken back to early photographic practices when taking portraits, as they are ways to immortalize people. I am always on the look for ways to create special portraits of people, whether on film candidly or onstage posed. What I’m most proud of is photos I’ve taken where I capture the entire essence of who a person is and what they mean to me, or what a moment means to me.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
What makes me happy is simply getting the chance to create art. In this hectic world, getting the chance to sit down and create and make art, either by yourself or collaborating with someone, can be so fulfilling. To me, sometimes the best part of my week is getting to spend an hour or two taking photos of someone’s play, taking a shot I’m really excited about, and going home and spending time editing it. Photos mean a lot to me, so taking a photo that I immediately know will mean a lot to me is the best feeling.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.austindpattersonphotography.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/austindpatterson_photography/
