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

Colleen, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. 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?

“Anything worth doing well is worth doing poorly at first.” – Ray Congdon

It’s mildly hilarious to look back at some of my first photographs and see just how awful they were, but it’s through those first awful photographs that I continued to learn the craft of photography.

Academically, I studied psychology and music. It wasn’t until my junior year of university that I took any art classes, 3D design and intro to drawing, and the only reason for taking those classes was a to prerequisites for photography classes.

Up until that point, my career in photography was fully self-taught, observed, and self-learned. Turns out…I’m A W F U L at drawing and dropped the class and, to this day, 12 years into my career, have not taken a formal photography class.

I learned the craft by being willing to try and being willing to be awful starting out. My first concerts were me bringing my Canon PowerShot S110 12 MP (yeah, camera’s used to only shoot 12MP) and firing away hoping I got anything I could deem worthy of sharing on Facebook. As the number of concerts I attended grew, so too did my network of friends who knew something about photography. A friend of mine purchased a Canon Rebel 2Ti and was generous enough to let me shoot with it on a visit. I picked up basic DSLR knowledge from her (thanks, Jenny!) and would continue to chat photo work with her. As I continued to fall in love with photography, I also began to learn more about the music industry and how I could find my way in – asking questions to people on tour, finding other photographers on twitter and facebook (instagram wasn’t really a thing yet, gasp!) and more and more just putting myself out there to take awful photos. From there I found workshops put on by photographers, asked other friends to go on “photo adventures” with me, and found as many books and youtube channels as I could that would give me tips and tricks on how to cull, edit, frame, and create better photos.

The best way I can say to learn your craft is to do your craft. Borrow a camera, buy a camera, get your hands on a camera and shoot. Other people will emerge along the way who can offer suggestions, tips, and tricks, but ultimately the only way that one can learn those tricks and skills is to get out there, camera in hand, and create yourself, even with the risk of being awful.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Hi! I’ve been a concert photographer since 2010, working primarily in the pop-punk, metal core, “emo” genres (think Warped tour). My start in photography happened when I moved to San Antonio for school and made a group of friends who loved going to shows at local venues. All I had was a point and shoot camera, but I brought it to every show with me in the hopes of capturing creative memories of the night. After my first show I was hooked and learned more about the industry and started looking into more official avenues to photograph concerts with a better camera. Photography has provided me the opportunity to tour in the United States with various bands and festivals, travel to South Africa on safari, and capture precious moments for families. Full-time I work as a nanny and am back in school to become a Certified Child Life Specialist and work in hospitals to help make the experience as least traumatic as possible for children – but photography will always be a passion and something I pursue in my free time.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect to being a creative, for me, is coming up with new ways to help others see the beauty and fun that exists in the world. Art brings people together and can be uplifting and hope giving. It has always been my goal to connect with viewers on a personal level. Maybe a photo can take you back to a super happy moment at a concert, it can help you learn the value of an experience, or bring an image of beauty to you on a difficult day. Photographs can pull any emotion from the viewer, and it’s always my goal that someone feels something when engaged with my creativity.

Can you share your view on NFTs? (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

Don’t hate me, but, I think they’re dumb. I can understand the lure of them as a creative because the money does seem to be decent, but as a collector…I want real, tangible art. Maybe that’s just me being old, I could totally picture myself sitting on a front porch in a rocking chair and saying “back in my day” with my best friend or something…but the truth is, I just don’t see the hype around NFTs. While I love digital art and what technology brings us, if I’m going to invest in art, I want it to be art I can hang on a wall or stand in my home to view and admire regularly, not something that I have to open a screen for in order to view and enjoy. Just call me old school. But hey, at least that means I’m not trying to buy the hip NFT you’re after.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://preludepress.com/?s=colleen+brent
• Instagram: instagram.com/sightsoundphoto
• Twitter: twitter.com/sightsoundphoto
• Other: Aside from my own channels, I’m also a photographer for Prelude Press, covering the music around Denver, Colorado. Instagram.com/preludepress

Image Credits
Colleen Brent/Sights of Sound Photography