Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ember Pearson. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Ember, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. It’s easy to look at a business or industry as an outsider and assume it’s super profitable – but we’ve seen over and over again in our conversation with folks that most industries have factors that make profitability a challenge. What’s biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?

I think that the biggest challenge to profitability as a photographer with a focus in live music is the overarching assumption that there is simply no money to be made here. When I started out, I had several photographers that I initially looked up to warn me that I’d better be getting enjoyment out of the job because I likely would not be making money from it. In hindsight, I know that’s not true. But there really is this expectation of artists to work for free in so many aspects of our society, to the point that musicians, who are also artists fighting to get paid their worth, believe that media professionals should work for them for pennies.

Ember, 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?

Music has always been foundational in my life. As a kid, I always had headphones on. I dreamed of growing up to write and play music one day. While that did become a hobby of mine, life responsibilities kind of got in the way of doing it full time. The vein that kept that passion alive in me was concerts. Attending shows became my favorite pastime. Some people find their peace, joy, and fellowship at church, I found mine at concerts. I’ve told this story a hundred times, but it never gets old for me: several years ago during a particularly hard season of my life, I attended one of my favorite singers’ concert. It was one of the best nights of my life. I made friends that I still talk to, I sang at the top of my lungs until my voice gave out, and for a few hours I experienced freedom from every situation in my life that was causing me pain. I took a photo on my phone during the show and ended up framing it later on. Every time I looked at it I got to relive that night. Within a few months, I had bought my first camera and started shooting shows. I’ve taken thousands of great photos since that night, but I still have that grainy iPhone photo framed on my wall.
My career has evolved past just concert photography. I have expanded to cover other events, as well as creating and executing concepts for promotional portrait photoshoots for artists. One of the first photography project’s I ever did as a teenager was a photographic interpolation of Taylor Swift’s “Red” back in 2012. It was shot on a Nikon Coolpix and was so painfully tumblr coded, but it solidified my love for taking a musical piece and being able to conceptualize and execute a way to represent it visually. Concept portraits are one of my favorite things I do.
As cliche as it sounds, that’s what sets me apart in this industry. Both creative industries and media jobs can be ruthless, sometimes it feels like a race to the bare minimum when it comes to jobs that actually pay well. But at the end of the day, I don’t want a job that my heart isn’t in. And my heart is in this one. I once heard someone say that someone who is a fan of a musician could never do good work for them because their professional judgement would be clouded by them being a fan. I would argue that the opposite is true. My love of the music is what has carried me as far as I’ve come in my career. The best photos I’ve ever taken have been of artists that have lived on top of my Spotify wrapped. And I wouldn’t want it any other way.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding part of this journey has been watching so many of my ideas come to fruition and be received so well. So often I’ll get an idea in my head that just doesn’t translate visually, so when it does, it’s a total “oh, hell yeah” moment. It’s always a little terrifying when you put out work that you put so much effort into that really resonates with you without knowing if anyone else will feel the same. So when people respond well to work I put out and can relate to it in some way, it always feels like a huge win. My biggest goal with concert photography is always to capture the feeling of what it’s like to be at that show, so when people DM me and tell me that seeing my photos help them relive those experiences, that’s when I feel most fulfilled in what I’m doing.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Authenticity and vulnerability have helped me build every aspect of my business and my life. Being able to navigate relationships with clients with integrity, being able to acknowledge when you miss the mark and then pivot to make it right, and being able to let go of what you think you’re supposed to be and just being true to yourself are some of the best qualities you can have as an entrepreneur and as a human being.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.empearsonphotos.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/empear_photos
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/empearphotos

Image Credits
Personal Photo Credit: Terence Rushin All other photos: Em Pearson (myself)