We were lucky to catch up with Annie LaGesse recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Annie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. The first dollar you earn in a new endeavor is always special. We’d love to hear about how you got your first client that wasn’t a friend or family.
Summer 2024 I matched with Elijah Speller, the drummer for local band Wasted Time on a dating app. After a few weeks of chatting I expressed how much I’d been wanting to get into taking concert photos, and that if he ever wanted I could take pictures of him and the band sometime. August rolled around and I was invited to their comeback show at a house venue. There I met the band and took photos of them during their set. I delivered the photos to them about a week later and impressed the lead singer Joey Scigliano. But what really set them in stone as a client for me was a show they played in November 2024. Which ended up being some of my best work ever. Now I regularly attend their shows and am their go to photographer.
Annie , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I got into photography during quarantine, where I spent a lot of time taking pictures of my family, specifically my younger sisters. Quickly my love of the camera blossomed into making short films and fan music videos on my phone and enrolling to a career learning center for the second half of highschool. My junior year I cemented my online identity as The Abyss photography, now The Abyss Media. I started taking photos of my friends, booking shoots with family members and taking prom/senior photos for classmates. After graduation I went into film school, and am currently studying Cinematography in Cleveland.
Because of my time in school I have a large variety of skills and provide a range of services. I focus on promoting my concert photography, but I still do general portrait sessions, long and short form video, and take Photoshop editing and graphic design commissions.
My specialty is cinematic photography. I want all my work to look like it could be a screenshot from a feature film. And I strive to make my work feel as candid and natural as possible. I seldomly use flash because I feel it takes away from the environment and distracts the crowd/client. My goal always is to make my clients feel comfortable and give them a product they truly feel good in. I know the disappointment of feeling awkward or out of place in professional photos and do my best to get rid of that feeling for all my clients!
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
Positive reviews from others. The more shows I attend, the more clients I work with, the better. Word of mouth has done wonders for my business and given me opportunities to work with amazing artists.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The most rewarding thing about being a creative for me is the feedback. Nothing is more satisfying then clients being ecstatic about their photos. It reassures me that I have the skill it takes! and making other people happy, makes me happy:)
Contact Info:
- Website: https://theabyss.pixieset.com/
- Instagram: @theabyss.photography
- Facebook: The Abyss Photography
Image Credits
Instagram: @theabyss.photography