We recently connected with Brian Liesse and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Brian thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?
I have been taking pictures all of my life. It’s something I saw other people doing and always wanted to do it myself. A lot of my learning process was trial, error, and time in a risk-free situation that allowed me to experiment and learn at my own pace. It also allowed me to develop a connection to photography that goes deeper than “it’s just a job” or “just my creative outlet”. It’s part of who I am. By the time I hit High School I was already pretty proficient with a camera, but taking a photography class introduced stricter elements into my learning. Deadlines, competition, but critique most of all, something that only I had been giving myself prior to that. After learning how to navigate those troubles, as all creatives do at some point, I started taking assignments shooting different sporting events right after High School. While out on the job, I learned more about journalism, shooting styles, and the realities of meeting, working with, and competing with other photographers in the real world. Then I went college and got a Bachelors of Arts in Commercial Photography which introduced me to not just different kinds of photography, but different ways of thinking about the field. It has been almost a decade since graduation and once again, in that time, I have learned more and more about the field while I work in it and relate to it as a professional instead of a student or a hobbyist. The point of this progression tale is that I went through bouts of learning on my own and in a structured environment. I also have met people who are only self taught or who are only school taught, and both avenues can lead to success, there is no right answer. There is a wrong answer though, the route that always leads to failure, which is to stop trying, stop learning, and to stop seeing. Having an open mind and a willingness to learn (and see differently in this case) is the most important learning tool you will ever have. Everyone does it differently, everyone at their own pace.
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 am a commercial photographer living in the Seattle area. I work primarily in sports, but also do commercial portrait work and dabble in food photography. The majority of my professional work is either journalistic or story telling in nature, with some marketing thrown in on the side when the need arises. I am the team photographer for the Seattle Thunderbirds, a major-junior hockey team, providing them with game action photos, photos used in marketing material and social media, along with portraits and other work that comes up when needed. I also photograph the Seattle Kraken for different media outlets and companies. On top of all of that I run my own business, freelancing with recreational league sports teams, private individuals and small businesses, and some not-for-profit organizations, providing anything from event coverage to portraits. In the past I have also worked for the Seattle Seahawks, providing photography, photo editing, and digital asset management services.
Photography has been apart of me for as long as I can remember. It has always been my creative outlet, anxiety relief, and the way in which I, sometimes literally, see the world. There were many years growing up that I always had a camera by my side, and taking fun things here and there. I think we all go through a phase were we hyper-fixate on our creative outlets and I was no exception. I come from a family of hobbyist photographers who always supported me, mostly by buying me film, and putting up with my asking to pull over on a road trip so I could take a few pictures of the landscape. Aside from that, I am a massive nerd who loves history, sci-fi, fantasy, games, and my friends and found-family. Being able to take photography courses in school, and then eventually college for photography, was a big spring board from me taking fun photos of everyday things and landscapes, to journalism, portraiture, product and food photography, and finding real actionable artistic endeavors with photography.
I don’t know what I do that sets me apart from others honestly. I work hard, I always try to keep an open mind, and I do tend to learn new things pretty easily. There are times when I don’t like my work, or feel stuck in my own growth and I do try to break out of that, so maybe determination. I tend to lean into certain styles of portraits when I do that work, and I really love food photography for the details. I think if anything, I like to find a way to isolate or bring to light something that isn’t always seen when I work in those fields. As for the sports, it’s all about knowing the game you’re photographing. Which moments are important, which can you make important with a good photo, and knowing what you can never photograph, but try to anyway. An example of that is the anticipation inside a hallway while players line up to take the ice, or the overwhelming energy that comes when an important play is made, or the sometimes spiraling disappointment or grief of defeat. Those are things that happen and are hard to describe in words, but often just as hard to describe in photographs. That’s what good story telling does and something that I am always thinking about when I am photographing sporting events, and events in general.
The work that I am the most proud of is always the next photo. Don’t get me wrong, there are photos that I have taken that I love, either because they bring me a lot of aesthetic joy, or because of the memory I associate with that photo, because of the accomplishments of who is in the photo, the satisfaction of achieving a photo that I want to create or capture and haven’t yet, or just because someone else loves it. But I never want to feel like I am done, and some of my most distressed moments come when I am feeling burned out and unsure as to where or how I will get the next photo that I love for whatever reason. There is a lot of me in my work. Obviously with the sports photography you are seeing what I see from where I am at the moment I take the picture, and hopefully the audience or client will get to experience the story that I see unfolding at the end of it. When I am taking portraits or food, it’s normally more about what I want to show people, if I see something in the person that they don’t see, or find a way to make someone hungry by looking at a photo of a freshly cooked steak. I think with all creative professions, what you are really getting is the creator, their time, effort, passion, and everything else they put into their products and services.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
I have been shooting hockey and sports in the Seattle area for almost 15 years now. A large part of my long term success in this area is simply my long term presence. Yes I always try my best, yes I put a lot of me into my work and I hope that translates into quality photographs and experiences for others. There are times when I am getting a lot of work thrown at me, and sometimes when I am struggling to find things to shoot professionally, but I haven’t ever gone away. While there are some jobs I turn down for one reason or another, I don’t stop, because it’s such an important part of me that if I didn’t, I don’t think I would know who I am any more. I feel like this is kind of a cheap way out of this question, people get used to what is always around, no matter the context, for good or bad. But my longevity so far has lead to, and has been fed from, good relationships with clients and people in the different sporting communities and creative fields. I know people who manage whole organizations, and people who just like to get a high five from players each game. I know people who work along side me as photographers or videographers, and people who work in medicine, management, security, hospitality, journalists, editors, TV and social media personalities, and TV and social media managers. I have known musicians, models, artists, chefs, leaders, followers, and a whole host of inspiring and driven athletic individuals. They are always there in my life as much as I am always in theirs, trying to tell a story. Some of these people have vouched for me to others, which leads to more opportunities and connections, so there is a lot of natural, non-driven growth there. I think just being there leads to it’s own reputation, and doing my best to always do my best.
This does not go on to mean that I think creatives, nor anyone should work for free, or for exposure. I need to eat, my dog needs to eat, and I have other bills that I need to pay, as does every other person out there. With very few exceptions, I don’t do anything for free, but I always try to give the most I can within what I am being paid. I think that leads to a certain reputation as well. Yes, some people have tried to take advantage of that, and sometime I feel like I am being taken advantage of. But in most circumstances people know that I am going to put a lot of me into the photos that I will be handing over.
My advice to anyone starting any venture at all, be early to everything. It’s amazing how far just being there on time will get you.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
In my experience, especially when I work with people outside of my normal client base, most non-creatives see me as a person who provides a thing they need or want. And on the basic level that’s true, but you are getting the sum total of my experiences when you hire me. All my successes (as examples of such are probably a big influence in hiring me in the first place), but most especially my failures. Every time I miss a shot, or produce not even sub-standard work by other’s standards, but sub-standard work by my standards, and every time I become disappointed in my work by internal or external forces, it becomes a learning opportunity for me. Every lesson learned, or unlearned as it might happen to be, is a little part in who I am as an artist and in what I produce in camera. Every time I become anxious about an upcoming shoot and obsess over what I want to get from that shoot, or what I am expected to get from that shoot that drives me to learn new methods of working or ways of seeing light all go into my work that you’re hiring me to create. There is also the financial history of what I provide, my schooling, my equipment, my travel and insurance, and my just existing, but that is a thing that is said over and over again. At this point people will either respect the resources you have put into being who you are, or they won’t. I think it’s more important and personal for people to understand that all of me is in my work in some way. 
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.bliessephoto.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bliessephoto/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/BrianLiesse
Image Credits
Brian Liesse