Meet Alena Lim

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alena Lim.

Alena, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA. I remember when Lifetouch Photography took pictures of us at our schools. I have watched how photographers took photos for my high school yearbook of Arroyo High School, I hear from friends, colleagues, or other students who spoke of getting into photography, but I never imagine that it would end up being one of my passions today.

My first digital camera was a Canon Sureshot. I would take photos of friends from school and places when I would travel on road trips. I didn’t like the mediocre quality on it and thought how cool would it be to have high-quality photo shots? So I bought my first DSLR camera (Canon T2i Rebel) in 2011. During this time, I moved to Hawaii (Big Island) temporarily to help out my ex-in-laws on their farm business. I shot photos of the trees and plants at a couple of arboretums & gardens as well as some animals at a zoo. While I was in the front yard working, I would shoot photos of the farm animals as well as our neighbor’s cows. After 8 months, I ended up moving back to California.

On Apr. 17, 2016, I began photo-shooting local bands in the music scene. I have attended big concerts and shows, but I was not aware of the existence of today’s local music. A friend from work had his own band called ‘You There’ who invited me to go see a play at a historic place in Anaheim, CA called “World Famous Doll Hut.” I started to practice shooting his band. I started attending other local shows he was playing, then people on social media from the music scene started adding me, then that’s when I start seeing flyers for local shows being posted so that I can continue to start attending other shows that were going to be happening in the time of convenience. As I continue to post my work tagging the location, time, and name of bands, my work started attracting an audience. Normally professional photographers would charge a lot of money. Sometimes they charge by the hour, sometimes they charge a flat rate fee. Money was not my main concern, I was concerned about becoming really good at photography while I was enjoying the entertainment of the music itself.

I did a lot of reading on websites, watched a bunch of videos on how to master the functions on my camera, & analyzed a lot of work from other people whether it was at a studio, on magazines, brochures of clothing, or launderie stores, or other forms of advertisements so that I was able to have ideas of how I was going to become better at my work. Trial & error was my best way of becoming better. I also sit and look at how other photographers shoot musicians during a live event. I even paid for a year subscription to a website that gave tips on photography in different fields whether it’s live events, pets, weddings, personal shots, family shots, studio, or mother nature sceneries. As I attended each show, I would sit and analyze the work I have done then look again and decide what was needed for improvement. Whatever I felt I needed to improve, I told myself I can do better on the next show I attend.

I love music because music is life. Whether I understand the music or not, if it sounds good to me, I will listen to it. I enjoy just about every genre. I do not travel anywhere without my music collection. I have a lot of respect and appreciate the work that musicians bring into the fold which is the main reason why I support a lot of artists through my work. Not only do I bring the work of musicians through my photography, but I enjoy helping to promote their brand or the work that they have produced to the audience. It makes me happy when musicians come to perform and then see somebody unexpectedly take their pictures to be posted for the audience to see, they are very happy and appreciative as they are amazed at the quality of my work that sometimes I would be brought into the show free of charge, or be given merchandise as an appreciation token.

I tend to film 1-2 songs per band during their show and will post that on social media and on my YouTube channel for the audience. I have a goal of becoming a professional videographer (besides my photography work) in hopes that I can help produce high-quality documentaries, music videos, short films, or weddings in the future.

I never imagined that photography would ever become one of my passionate hobbies. Yes, it’s nice to make money doing what you love to do. I try to charge a fair rate that’s affordable. I have seen photographers that charge $1k for a few hours which would generally be a rate that I would think would be more related to a music video production or music production alone, therefore not everybody can afford that sort of rate. I want everybody to know they can afford my services at a reasonable price. I strive to become the best at my work in helping to promote others’ work or businesses while I am constantly learning to improve the results I can produce.

I specialize in live events and shows, but I generally shoot just about anything from gardens, animals, car shows [import & classic], races such as drifting competitions, historical artifacts or artwork in museums, landscapes, personal, engagements, weddings, sports, etc. I have been doing photography for 7 years now. Between Apr. 2016 – Mar. 2023, I supported the local music scenes from Los Angeles, Orange County, Riverside County, & the Inland Empire.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Hobbies and passions cost money. Not everything is generally free. At one point, I had good credit and I was able to afford getting my camera gear when I began pursuing photography. I was never financially stable as the high cost of living in California becomes higher and harder to survive. Most people wouldn’t be able to afford their hobby unless they have a regular full-time job.

I work for the federal government as a postal employee. Without that job, I wouldn’t have been able to afford to pursue what I currently love to do in the entertainment scene. On Mar. 15, 2023, I left California and moved to Nashville, TN for an opportunity to build a better life and future not just for myself, but for my family and my son. I chose to leave behind the politics, the extreme pollution, heavily congested traffic, the rudeness, but mainly the negativity and pressure of high stress in California itself for a more beautiful, calm, slow-paced, low-cost living, tax-free state, and old-school life for the City Of Music.

There had been times when I was knocked down from mosh pits of metal shows literally by drunk people, but I would hold on to my cameras for dear life because I knew that it would suck if my camera gear got damaged. Mosh pits are expected from punk rock and metal shows. Most of the time, people are kind enough to be careful around me as they know what I do for work. I get knocked down, I get back up, and continue shooting. Mosh pits do not stop me from doing what I love to do.

Being able to shoot the bigger bands who are on record labels or general big events is a challenge because they generally don’t allow photographers to shoot without a press pass meaning you would HAVE TO work for a media to be allowed to shoot them. In those situations, if I am interested in doing a photo shoot just for the opportunity to shoot the band without the concern of charging them, I would just send an email to the band or their management and ask. If they don’t respond or they say no, it’s not the end of the world. I have had opportunities to shoot many great bands. If you want to continue to do what you love to do and you are not given many opportunities as such, you keep doing it, keep going at it, keep aiming for it and you will eventually get to meet your goals in the end. It will definitely take time, but persistence is key.

The obstacles that everybody has probably experienced at least once in their lifetime are negativity from the public. It would feel like the rest of the world can sometimes put you down, or tell you that you can’t do this, you can’t do that, you won’t get far, etc. As anybody in business, you ignore the negativity of the public and just keep doing what you do best. If you know your work is good, always pursue perfection even if we as human beings will never be perfect.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
The majority of the locals from the music scene know me as a photographer. Many people from my audience in any relation or form are mostly from the music or entertainment scene. I will come to a show and usually, somebody will recognize me because I have been attending and supporting the shows for numerous bands and promotors for many years. Some people from the audience have been following my work not just from out of town, but from numerous locations whether it’s a different part of California, out of state, or outside the country. It’s common for other photographers to follow each other because we all share the same kind of passion. Photographers have their own style of how they like to shoot. Some photographers shoot in only black and white. Some photographers shoot only cars, some only do models, some do only studio portraits, and some only do advertisements of products.

I specialize in most live shows and events, but I shoot just about anything. What I am most proud of is the work I have been able to accomplish and produced over the past 7 years. A couple of the highlights of 2022 would be ‘Jeff Speakman’s World Martial Arts Event’ which is held once a year in Las Vegas, NV. Grandmaster Jeff Speakman is a famous martial arts actor who was in numerous films in the 90s as ‘The Perfect Weapon’, “Street Knight’, & ‘Deadly Outbreak’. I have never attended a martial arts event before, so I was excited for the opportunity to shoot this 3-day event that consisted of belt testing, weapons, and fighting competitions from adults and child students who have trained under Jeff Speakman’s 5.0 Kenpo program. The other highlight of 2022 was the opportunity to work with Gail Kim, a former and retired Women’s champion of WWE and Impact Wrestling. I did some behind-the-scenes photography shots of her that were being filmed for a music video of Royalty Kult’s single ‘Separation’ at the Orlando Photography Studio located in Orlando, FL.

What would set me apart from other photographers would be my constant strive for the quality I produce of my work. My work wouldn’t be limited to just one theme. If the angle, the lighting, the contrast, and the colors do not look right to me, I will not put it out to the public. Money is not my main focus. I enjoy photography because I enjoy being able to help other people promote not just my own work alone, but other’s businesses or work, art, or creativity. Sometimes the greed for money is just overwhelming when people are too focused on business aspects. I understand how it feels like to struggle while you are trying to become successful as an artist especially if you are not coming from a wealthy background. I believe everybody deserves a chance for an opportunity to have their work spread to the audience.

Even though we all need money to pay our bills, money is not the most important thing to me. I am not here to compete against other artists because sometimes I see and feel that other photographers feel intimidated by me and they feel like I am here to compete against them when I am not like that at all. As a photographer artist, I learn from other artists. I learn what I can do to better my product. What else can I do to help other artists? What new techniques can I use or reference in addition to my work? I don’t look at other photographers as competition, but as other creators, I can learn to further advance my own creativity.

So maybe we end by discussing what matters most to you and why?
What matters most to me is being happy. Everybody wants to be happy with their job or with what they do with their passion. Everybody deserves to be happy with what they choose to do with their lives because life is too short.

As a postal employee, I see the old regulars work and slave their lives away, even when they are in their senior years past their retirement age, they still chose to work. We all don’t know what a person is going through with their personal lives so we are not in the position to judge other people sometimes. Maybe the person is still working to pay off their bills, maybe the person is still supporting their family, but what I see a lot is that sometimes people don’t have anything going on in their lives. The person may not have many friends or any hobbies. The person invests so much of their life into their regular job that that’s all they know. People keep working their regular job because they don’t want to retire and then die alone a year or 2 years later. Sadly, that was a common thing I saw at my job. I would see some employees retire, then a year, 2 years, or even 4 years later they pass away.

No matter what is going on with your life, you want to remain as happy as possible because one day we will all go and we can’t determine when our last day on Earth will be.

Pricing:

• $125 for Promotional Photos/Single Band per live event
• $100 for Personal/Private Photo Sessions
• $75 for an Animal/Pet Session or $100 Photo Session with a fur baby
• $260 for a Full Live Event/show (All Day)
• $360 for All Day Wedding/Reception Session

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/bl6ckr0s3images 

Image Credits
Empyrean Throne, Gail Kim Grandmaster, Jeff Speakman, Joshua Michael of Royalty Kult Julien-K, Vic of Koffin Kats Soulfly feat. Dino Cazares of Fear Factory, and Seth & Crystal Punk Rock Wedding Extravaganza