Conversations with Zakk Miller

Today we’d like to introduce you to Zakk Miller.

Hi Zakk, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My name is Zakk Shane Miller. I’m a musician, a photographer, and a girl-dad with an absurdly high dose of ADHD. I love album art, that’s the first creative space that I really fell in love with. I remember the days of reading every single page of the booklets that came inside of CD cases. I loved reading the song lyrics, looking at behind the scenes photographs, and really judging a book by its cover so-to-speak. business. I also have another business, HoneySonic Production Company, in which my team and I design, install, and sell full audio visual and broadcast systems to venues, churches, and commercial settings.

I started my photography journey as a wedding photography and did that for ten years. I took a break for about a year to re-calibrate and get re-inspired but I’m back and more creatively fueled than any other point of my career.

I grew up in the swampy guts of Louisiana and finally made the life-long dream of moving to the Nashville area a reality. The culture of Middle TN is like none-other. The amount of creative energy here is so refreshing and challenging.

I specialize in studio photography with a high focus on working with musicians and singers. However, I absolutely LOVE fashion photography, editorial, and commercial photography.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I’d be lying if I said it was all smooth. It’s had it’s ups and downs for sure. Moving a business from a state that you’re well established and known in most places to move to a new city that happens to be filled with an insane amount of creative individuals is a task that isn’t made for the faint of heart.

Since I have two businesses, it’s be an extra bit of a challenge. Especially considering that those are two completely different types of “target client”.

One major huddle, as mentioned before is the networking side of things. I’m not a huge small talk guy, I typically have something complex I’m trying to work out in my brain while other guys are talking about sports. If you spend five minutes with me, you’ll realize, I’m not a sports guy. So there goes the easiest small-talk available.

Another huddle in the photography world is not trying to be a scammy self promoter. With wedding clients I felt more appropriate doing unsolicited sales pitches. As musician and song-writer myself, I actually hate that. Therefore, I don’t like being the guy that is constantly contacting artists and trying to sell myself. I’d much rather get coffee and if we vibe, we vibe. Not necessarily a move that someone the likes of Mark Cuban would make, but hey, it works for me.

As far as my other business, HoneySonic Production Company, it’s been surprisingly smooth from the beginning here. The biggest hurdle there has really just been figuring out new contracted employees and there skill sets.

I’ve met some pretty cool people so far though and can’t wait to see where the next road takes me in this creative process.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
My photography work used to be focused primarily on weddings, so back in Louisiana, that’s what I’m known for the most.

I take great pride in being able to flip that in a new city and state though. I guess the craziest thing about that is getting to focus on bands and artists more. I’ve always been obsessed with those types of photos. Heck, they’re the reason I got into this rodeo. I’d like to think that lighting is what sets me apart from others. I love the technical side of things, I love to tinker and find new ways to light a subject. The years I’ve spent practicing lighting make me stand out from alot of photographers. I don’t by any means know everything though, that’s the fun part. Not only is there fun and creativity hidden amongst making a “technically” wrong photograph, but there’s a never ending amount of stuff to learn along the way.

As far as my Integration work goes, we specialize in churches. I’ve spent years learning those workflows and have been in the trenches myself as a volunteer. So I take pride in being able to not only design a system that is specifically catered to our clients needs, but train that system as well. What really sets us apart though goes hand-in-hand with that previous statement though. We do our best to not over-sell a client, that’s not a sexy move financially. People aren’t stupid, they will eventually find out that you just wanted the money and had no intentions of making their lives easier or better. As someone who’s been on the other side of all this, I understand that if you’re over sold on something, you’ll likely go somewhere else next time.

Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
Fun question, here’s the “lighting round” version.

I once photographed an event with Bill Clinton and dropped my lens in front of secret service, that was awkward.

I’ve done more than just weddings and studio work, I’ve actually photographed locations that accidents happened for a Law Firm, been to the Gulf of Mexico to photography gulf restoration projects, and even did a great deal of promotional photographs for Bayou Rum Distillery.

With the Audio Visual Company, one funny thing is that it was originally just a random “hey let’s see if it does anything” gig. It’s completely changed our lives and we’re better for it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.zakkshane.com
• Instagram: @zakkshanephoto
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zakkshanephotography
• Other: https://www.honeysonic.com