We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Aime Alexander a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Aime, appreciate you joining us today. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?

My photo/business name is a bit of a grammatical juxtaposition – the general idea behind a photograph is that it freezes a moment in time, right? Well, while I have ultimately branched out beyond my initial photography niche over the last 15 years to include types of photo work that do indeed freeze moments in time, my first love and go-to will always be live music. The goal was, and still is, to capture “music in motion” – contrasting with the idea of freezing a moment in time. It might seem kind of cheesy, but I didn’t want to be like every other photographer and use my own name for the branding of my work. I wanted to be different, and I wanted something that rolled off the tongue – something that made sense in terms of the goal behind what I wanted to do with my camera.

Aime, 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?

Hi! I’m Aime. I became interested in photography in my early teens. It started with macro photography, because I thought it was really really cool that the world around us was comprised of so many interesting little details that are so easy to get overlooked in the big picture of things (haha, unintended photography pun there). The textures of a flower, the ridges on the edge of a quarter, the face of an insect – I became fascinated with photographing these things. I was using just a simple little point-and-shoot camera but it worked better than my naked eye did!

Eventually, I realized while I was at a concert, that it would be really really cool to take photos of the band live. I knew nothing about what went into live music photography at the time, but decided I’d try it out. I took my cheap little Fujifilm camera with me to a concert my school’s student council put on and snapped away. I ended up sending the pictures to one of the bands I took photos of, and they decided they liked them enough to have me come out to other shows of theirs. Soon after, I ended up buying my first “professional” DSLR camera and started getting familiar with what it took to create decent photos of bands playing live – while also beginning to really understand the basics of photography beyond “hey, that’s a cool photo!”. I learned how to use that camera without reading the manual, I learned what different lenses could do and how they factored into the results I wanted to get with my photos, and I learned that not only was it actually pretty darn challenging to take photos of live bands, but that it was also a whole lot of fun!

Over the last 15 years of photo work, I have photographed hundreds and hundreds of bands, from local talent to internationally famous. I’ve met so many cool people on this journey, and I’ve definitely faced many challenges. There were times where I felt that I lost my “spark” and I wanted to set the camera down for good. However, I once sold my camera to an acquaintance, and when I went to a concert soon after, I felt like I was missing a limb without my camera on me. I immediately bought my camera back, and I told myself that didn’t ever want to feel like that again. It wasn’t until sometime in 2020 that I decided to actually form an LLC and take my photography from a hobby-level, to something that could earn me passive income outside of my main career.

While live music will always remain my main niche of photo work, I do quite a lot of event work, wedding work, and also portrait work. I endeavor to challenge myself to step outside of my “comfort zone” and try new techniques, ideas, and to not let the fear of failure keep me from always learning and growing in my craft. The beauty of having this as a “side gig” means that I can set my own hours and I can choose to accept or decline jobs and requests when I want. I always worried that working in photography full time would burn me out creatively, so this way, I am able to keep my spark of passion going and let myself be excited to get out there and create, take on new challenges, and enjoy what I am doing.

I always like to remain humble when it comes to what I do. It’s hard for me to “brag” – it feels pretentious! However, I have to note that I do take a lot of pride in meeting personal goals I set for myself in my work. These can be simple things like turning around an edited photo set days faster than the last, or nailing a composition technique I wanted to recreate, or getting a “yes” as a response to be able to photograph a favorite famous band or artist live. Those things bring me joy and keep me committed to an “always be growing/never be complacent” mindset. If you DO want me to brag, though, then I want to say that I’m pretty proud of having two of my live music photos featured at the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, alongside many talented local photographers! Thanks to the commitment of Michael Wright of Seven Pillars Photography, who made that possible, and who invited me to contribute some of my work to be voted on to be displayed. That’s pretty cool to say, “Hey, some of my work is on display at the airport!”, and it’s even cooler to have friends send me photos of my photos on display that they saw while traveling!

All in all, I just enjoy what I do. I enjoy the challenge of creativity, and I enjoy creating photos that tell a story, capture the mood, and bring a smile to people’s faces.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

So when I was a “green” photographer – the new girl on the scene with her camera in hand and trying to get the hang of things, I ran into quite a lot of more seasoned photographers who weren’t so friendly. I could tell that they knew they were “better” than me and thus, they wanted nothing to do with an amateur. This made it really tough for me to network with other photographers and creatives – I didn’t want to be rebuffed because someone didn’t want to take any time to share tips, insights, and let me be a connection within the industry. I spent a lot of time just doing what I do solo and not bothering to make connections, at least I didn’t do a lot of the approaching. But I did not let this deter me.

Yes, it sucked feeling like the odd one out and being a newer photographer/not having photo buddies to talk photography with and to hang out with, but I also understood that I couldn’t wait for someone to take me under their wing to be able to learn and grow. So I stuck it out, and I kept going.

As I got older and more experienced, I did ultimately branch out and make connections and form friendships with photographers and other creatives, but usually with those who shared a similar mindset to me. Not those who think they “know it all” and who “don’t have time to network”. This is important to me because it allows me to be able to share my insight and knowledge with new(er) photographers I meet, since I did not get that kind of camaraderie and mentorship when I was just getting started. I know I definitely do not “know it all” myself, but I am happy to be able to offer encouragement, resources, and a non-judgemental photography connection to those who may need it.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

Honestly – word of mouth & referrals. Ironically, I work a full-time day job in marketing & advertising, so it feels really funny to be helping MY clients at this job with their visibility, targeting, and marketing needs – but I don’t spend a dime on paid ads, email campaigns, and other marketing tactics to get new clients for my own side business. I get a good bit of referral work passed along from people I have worked with before, or people who like my work. I am 100% okay with this too – because I prefer to make personal connections with the people I work with/for, and this allows others to give an honest recommendation.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.musicinmotionphoto.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musicinmotionphoto/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/musicinmotionphoto
• Other: https://www.flickr.com/photos/photo_bunny/albums

Image Credits
Music in Motion Photo (me)