We were lucky to catch up with Adam Perri recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Adam thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
I get a lot out of personal projects where I can explore new ideas or subjects that I find interesting or am passionate about. I can be more free to experiment and make all the creative decisions. Personal projects, and I would include “work on spec” here, can create more business opportunities in the future as well. It can be a great creative outlet but can also be used for marketing down the road. I’m currently working on a long term project about ice fishing which I have enjoyed quite a lot. It’s hard work to research, plan and execute, but it’s rewarding because I can get immersed in that world and see what I come up with photographically. I also get to meet and interact with all kinds of people which I find in many ways, one of the most thrilling parts of the job.
Working with clients can be meaningful too. They have a visual/marketing need but are faced with obstacles and limitations. These conditions force me to offer solutions and problem solve while working in a more collaborative and “team oriented” environment which can be meaningful in its own right. Occasionally there are painful jobs or clients but it doesn’t last forever and I usually learn a lot from those experiences as well.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
I’m a photographer and videographer based in the greater Boston area. I specialize in Portrait and Editorial photography but also work as a videographer in various spaces from Science/Healthcare to small brands and businesses. I’m essentially trying to tell stories whether in the medium of photography or video. Storytelling is the most fascinating part for me.
My path to this career has been a long and winding one. It includes working in a corporate job where I was extremely unhappy for quite a few years. The job was pretty “soul crushing” for me, so in my free time I would work on creative projects as an outlet on the side. I worked on some short films with friends and also started shooting photography quite a lot during that time. I was constantly trying to figure out a way to transition careers into something more creative and meaningful to me but it was difficult to break through for a long time.
Finally, by a stroke of luck, the company where I was working decided to move the office to another city and offered severance pay for employees who didn’t want to move. I took the severance and never looked back. A lot has happened since then, but essentially I’ve just tried to move forward step by step. This career is still very much a work in progress but I find the work to be very rewarding overall and feel a lot of gratitude to be doing what I do.
Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
Yes, definitely. For me, getting out of my routine around work and getting out there to meet people, either in the industry or not, has been so important. It’s something that I can still improve on, but I find it to be such an important endeavor in many ways.
I’ve been a member of the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP)’s New England chapter for a few years now and they have been a great resource. I definitely would have become a member sooner had I known about them. ASMP has chapters all over the country and an integral part of their mission is to educate photographers about industry trends and the business side. Being a member gives you the opportunity to study real-life business contracts from professionals in the field, meet other photographers, and so much more. It’s been invaluable for me in de-mystifying certain aspects of a pretty complex, guarded, and ever-changing industry. The value of being a member has far exceeded the membership fee in my view. There are a lot of other trade organizations out there now to check out as well.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I think the fact that I’m even doing this right now is about resilience. For example, even when I was grinding away at the corporate job, I was still forcing myself to get out there and do work that I felt like I was “called” to do. It wasn’t great work, in fact most of it was pretty bad, but it was necessary at that time to create even just a little momentum towards the right direction.
I think if you could hear most people’s stories about working in this industry there would be some commonality of resilience. There is usually a lot of rejection that you have to endure. It’s easy to get frustrated and take things personally, but the truth is that almost everyone is dealing with rejection in one way or another. I try to remind myself of this when it gets tough, but at the same time I’m also trying to look for ways to progress forward. A lot of times it’s about “holding up the mirror” to see what I really need to focus on to improve. Other people in the industry can help with that too. Maybe I need to go to more portfolio reviews, or hire a consultant to review my work for feedback, or take a workshop from another photographer, or do a test shoot of a commercial product for a portfolio etc. It just keeps going on and on… so resilience is definitely necessary.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.adamperri.com
- Instagram: @_adamperri
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamperri/
- Other: Email: adam@adamperri.com
Image Credits
These photos were made by me.