We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Andrew Federman. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Andrew below.

Hi Andrew, thanks for joining us today. Was there an experience or lesson you learned at a previous job that’s benefited your career afterwards?

Sometimes the hardest lessons are learning what you DON’T want to do. For me this was working as a cinematographer in the film industry. Coming out of college I had convinced myself I wanted to be a filmmaker and work in the film industry with a focus on lighting and cinematography. I moved to New York City and immediately found an entry-level job in the locations department on an independent film (Todd Solondz’s “Happiness”). For the next nine years I worked in the feature and documentary film world, first in the camera department (film loader, assistant camera) and also in lighting/electric department. Hungry to get behind the camera, I found some opportunities in the much smaller crews creating documentary films. The work was often gratifying, but the glaring issue was the extremely low pay. Some documentaries are so low-budget that the producers look for cinematographers to work on deferred payment. To supplement my filmmaking income, I had started to shoot photographs for corporate events with an old film camera. I was earning more on one photography event than I could earn in an entire week of documentary motion picture work! The breaking point was during the production on what turned out to be my last film project, a documentary called “Four Seasons Lodge”. My partner and I were expecting our first child and it became painfully obvious that working in documentary film was not going to cut it financially. I decided that was going to be my last film, and made the decision to invest in a digital still camera and lens kit, and focus on event photography.

Andrew, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I do three different things, all in the visual arts: event photography, visual note-taking and fine art painting. Two are how earn a living (photography and visual note-taking), and the third (painting) is my deepest artistic passion.

I’ve been working as an event photographer for over twenty years. I started small with a single film camera and, after my first few events, invested in digital equipment. The entire industry was shifting from film to digital at the time and most event photographers had already made the switch. I took a few photography classes at college, but I’m largely self-taught in the techniques I still use to this day. Most of my work is still word-of-mouth. In the last ten years or so I have been steadily doing less photography work as my main focus has shifted to visual note-taking.

Around the same time I embarked on my event photography career, I began to work as a freelance visual note-taker (aka graphic recorder), which is a technique where I draw with ink markers on large foam boards to visually capture and synthesize presentations and conversations (live and in real-time), fostering in-the-moment engagement, and providing a concise visual artifacts that lives on after the event. As a visual note-taker, I have worked across numerous industries, and with non-profits, schools, and government agencies. I got my feet wet in visual note-taking using whiteboard (dry erase) makers while working at Capgemini’s Accelerated Solutions Environment, which is a special division of the consulting firm that accelerates decision-making and fosters collaboration on their large-scale projects. After working with Capgemini for years, I made the leap to non-erasable visual note-taking with Imagethink, a pioneering company in the field. The practice of visual note-taking draws on my drawing skills for sure, but it’s as much about listening and synthesizing information as it is about drawing.

As a fine art painter, my current work depicts frenzied dreamscapes and biomorphic hallucinations, dynamically weaving elements of both abstraction and figuration into multi-layered, sumptuous visual environments. I was an avid painter in high-school and college, but had largely abandoned it for most of my 20’s and 30’s. Through my work as a visual note-taker I reactivated my love of drawing, which eventually led me back to painting, my original love! It feels like coming home.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The ability to lose myself in my work is the most rewarding aspect of being an artist. Whether it’s getting deep into the framing of images on photography job, rendering discussion highlights through visual note-taking, or getting swept up in the brush strokes of a new painting, I adore the moments, often only recognized in hindsight, of complete and total immersion in the creation, to the point where I’m in a subconscious or “flow” state. This can produce an almost out-of-body experience where I will look at what I’ve created and say to myself, “who did that?”.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Unlearning the idea that good work begets more good work, or that always creating something successful or pleasing is the proper path to more of the same, has been the toughest framework to let go of. I always had a knack for visual art, and I gravitated towards drawing and painting from as early an age as I can remember. I also became almost addicted to the positive reinforcement of those around me, especially non-artists, commenting on my creations. This way of thinking gets in the way of a truly vibrant creative process, where fearless experimentation and a near pursuit of failure is where real art gets made. Now I try to surprise and shock myself. I want to get somewhere I didn’t know I was going.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.andrewfederman.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andrewfederman/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-federman-2996486
• Other: https://www.andrewfedermanphotography.com

Image Credits

Michela Salvi (Andrew Federman-Leeds Scribe Portraits-2)
Glenn Michael Schneider (Andrew Federman Live Visual Notes)