We recently connected with Victoria Ford and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Victoria , thanks for joining us today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

Almost every job that I thought I wanted to do was music related. With the exception of my love for sneakers. So, at one point I was going to start a blog under an alias. The aliases name was Sneaker Lancaster –have no idea why I chose that name but it stuck, needless to say I scrapped the blog idea when I started taking photography more serious. In 2011, when I started shooting more, I didn’t want to use my given name because of how women photographers were treated. So, I chose to create Sneakshot –which combined my love for sneakers and capturing that “shot”. And I didn’t show my face or my real. name for years.

Victoria , 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?

My love for imagery started at 3 years-old –according to my mother. Every Saturday afternoon, my mother would take me to a record store and she would let me take what felt like hours to look around and select a couple of records. My mother was a music connoisseur and she would play music in the house all of the time. Music and the album covers fascinated me. My mother also took me to my first concert –which was The Jacksons Victory Tour in Washington DC. That concert tied everything together for me. The energy from both the crowd and performers, the lights, music. I wanted to capture everything so I would never forget that feeling.

Fast forward to 2007, I decided that I wanted to delve deeper into Music photography. I was working for a concert promoter and had access to capture moments before, after and during the concerts, but I didn’t have a camera or knew how to work one. Luckily, for me I had a few photographer friends and one allowed me to learn and borrow her camera–Thank you, Kim!
For a few years, I would attend concerts in my area as well as, working with the promoter and perfecting my craft. In 2011, I was invited by Gerald Watson of Shaolin Jazz, to feature my work in his group art show named “Document The Fresh.” I did really well and thought that maybe I should get serious about my photography…and I did.

I’ve been published in books and my work featured on some of my favorite websites, such as Billboard.com, Vogue.com, Okayplayer.com and Essence.com.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

The way I funded my business was by saving money and applying for grants. I did have a couple of friends who became investors. Everyone might not raise capital the same way, and that’s fine.

Have you ever had to pivot?

In 2020, a majority of my photography work was Music/Concert Photography based. And we all know what transpired in 2020. Covid-19 wiped out ALL of my photo gigs for the year and a lot during 2021. So, I was lucky enough to start working with various non-profits in my area. I pivoted into more photography work in the corporate and non-profit sector. It took me a while to figure out how to keep my business afloat.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.sneakshot.net
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/sneakshotphotography
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/sneakshotphotography
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/Sneakshotphoto

Image Credits
all photos: Victoria Ford/Sneakshot