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

Renee, appreciate you joining us today. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

I truly am happier being a creative artist. I get to tell stories through pictures and videos and I get paid to do it. I would do it for free and I did do it for free for a long time when I was starting out, but I love that I was able to turn what I am passionate about into a career and way to support myself. However, with the creative process comes moments of doubt. I am a huge over thinker and I often wonder if what I am doing is enough. It’s really easy for me to fall into a comparison spiral with other creatives in my field when I’m scrolling on Instagram or at a networking event. I didn’t go to school for photography or filmmaking, so as a self-taught photographer and videographer I do wonder if I should have stayed in the field that I majored in or if I should even go back to school and get a different degree. This feeling comes in waves, but as soon as I get into a photo pit or when I am walking around a festival ground with my camera in my hand I am reminded of the intense desire I have to be exactly where I am. I may not be exactly where I wish I was, but I am still on the path and I am still hustling to live out my dream.

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 never really knew what I wanted to do when I grew up but I knew one thing: I love music, live music especially. I knew I wanted a career that I was passionate about and that inspired me to challenge myself more and more. Because I always loved going to concerts, I thought about getting a career in the music industry but also knew how tough it was. When I was a junior in college, I started working at the college radio station as a social media contributor. It was such a fun experience getting to be in the booth with djs and artists that came in and out. Getting to hear their stories and watch them perform a few songs in the studio seemed so cool to me. After a few months, I asked if I could go out to shows and events with my own camera and take some pictures. At this time, however, I knew next to nothing about how to even use a camera, let alone how to take a good picture. I forced myself to take my camera with me on trips in order to practice and get better. Somehow I was able to convince the multimedia director at the college radio station into giving me a job as a photographer. That’s when my world changed. I started shooting concerts, events, festivals, studio performances and portraits. I was obsessed with capturing that moment during every concert when the artist just spills out their passion. I always say that I don’t take pictures for myself, I take pictures for the artists putting on the show because it is their show. It’s their story and I’m just helping tell it. A camera is just a tool that is able to capture a moment in time, freeze it, and let others feel the emotion from it when they see it.

After that, I went on to work with other music publications and radio stations. I’ve worked with bands individually and have met some incredible friends along the way that inspire me every day. I wanted to push myself even more after I started doing a lot of photography so, I started to dip into video production. I worked at Bennett Creative, a production company in Austin, and wore every hat from being a production assistant to editing to even being the director of photography on some shoots. The skills I learned from Bennett Creative has brought me to where I am today. I currently work at KUT/X as a Multimedia Producer where I provide photos and videos for whatever they might need. I still do a lot of freelancing work on the side which ranges from assisting on projects for other creatives to producing photos or videos on my own.

I think the thing I am most proud of is just how far I’ve come. I went from having no idea what I wanted to do in life to taking a chance with my photography to now confidently calling myself a photographer and videographer. It took me so long to even introduce myself as a photographer. I’ve been able to shoot some of my favorite festivals and artists that I have loved since my childhood. I’ve met some truly amazing people along the way and I’m just really excited to see what the future holds.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

The pandemic was such a hit in the gut for everyone, but especially the music industry. The music industry is already a tough industry to stay afloat in. So much of Austin, however, relies on the music scene and when the pandemic hit, it was incredible to see how the community managed to keep live music alive. As a photographer during the pandemic, I struggled with finding not only a job but also an outlet for my creative mind. I remember getting into low mindset during lockdown and my sister told me to do something that would inspire me again. I told her that my happy place is concerts! But since I couldn’t go to a physical concert just yet, I decided to create one. During lockdown, I produced, directed and shot my first music video. It all took place inside a house and luckily most of the bandmates all lived together. The video was for a song called “Do It” by Swimming with Bears. It brought me out of my funk and was a turning point in my confidence level as a videographer. After that, they hired me to shot another video for them that was part of an online concert series. Then Love & Lightstream created a drive-in experience for concerts. I joined Swimming with Bears for their performance and it was one of the first times I was able to shoot a concert out in the world again. I was lucky enough to keep adding work to my portfolio during the pandemic because I created a new way to view my work as a creative. I started to dabble a lot in photoshop and began creating different art from the photos I had already captured. The pandemic gave us all a lot of challenges, but it also gave us time to grow.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I definitely don’t have a huge following on social media, but I also don’t try to work as hard to build one. I will say that posting to instagram and using it as another platform to promote my work has open me up to a lot more opportunities so I do think it is important to keep up with it. Honestly though, I feel like if you post things that are meaningful to you and you use it as a platform to share the stories you are trying to tell, people will notice that authenticity and will be attracted to that.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://reneedominguez.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/renphotogs/?hl=en
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/renee-dominguez-5b97abb6/

Image Credits
Renee Dominguez and Portrait of Renee by Brittany “NO FOMO” Hallberg.