It's About the Parents... Los Angeles Popular Music Photographer

It's the end of the semester, which means final projects and exams. The Popular Music Performance program here at USC has final exams... aka final performances. These shows are two hours of some of the best live music I have ever heard. The talent level on these kids is ridiculous- many of them could be signed today.

As the official photographer for the Pop Music Program, that means that I'm photographing all of these events. Many kids' parents come in for the final and I get to meet them.

There's nothing better than having a parent come up to you and say, "I really LOVE what you do. I really appreciate you", or simply, "you're the best photographer!" I am so humbled and touched by these words. Because at the end of the day, it's not just about the picture. It's about the music. The passion. The person performing: their heart and soul. And if I can use my gift of photography to capture and express the story of what happened onstage while parents were in other cities across the country and make them feel like they were there watching their child be a rockstar... Mission accomplished.

Photographically yours,

Kylie

Daily Wrap Up: Orange County Photo Summit

In the past 24 hours I have completed and turned in a 25 page group research paper, photographed a concert, attended a music party and attended my first full-scale professional photography conference. Pretty cool, eh?

I found out about the Orange County Photo Summit through a tweet from the fabulous photographer Jasmine Star.

Free?! I'm a college student, so anything with the word Free on it and my ears instantly perk up. Jasmine is one of the top 5 wedding photographers in the world, and she was speaking for free an hour from me. Moreover, this conference was featuring other professional speaks as well as attracting a crowd of fellow photogs from all around the area. I was in.

I've been doing a lot of music photography lately and I'm constantly inspired by watching my music friends do what they love. Recently I was talking with a music friend about how much I love photography and seeing him push forward his music career inspires me to do the same with photography. So I did.

On an impulse, and without knowing much else about this summit, I booked a zipcar for the day, got up at 6 am and drove to Saddleback Church in Orange County where this thing was being held.

THE DAILY WRAP UP

Jasmine Star reminded me to focus on my unique personality when creating my brand. So watch out, you're gonna be getting a lot more blog posts about me and my antics. I also shared with her my work with the Pop Music department and she assured me that I could continue to make this a career for myself. Yay passion.

Allen at the Sandisk booth hooked me up with free memory cards-- including my first CF (compact flash) card. Score.

Andrew Abajian  taught a workshop on natural light photography, particularly wedding photography. He's a photojournalist/ documentary/ humanitarian photographer. Piper and her husband of 2 years (happy anniversary this Monday!) were so patient in posing for all of us photogs who were snapping their picture. Thanks, you two! Here they are:

Joe Barnet taught a workshop on outdoor portraiture and light. Having trained under 20 master photographers, he still credits God with his skills and successes, teaching workshops like this for free as a part of Saddleback's PICS ministry. 

This was a day full of inspiration, connection, as well as a reminder that you can't do it on your own. People are necessary to accomplish anything. I'm so grateful for this opportunity.

Photographically yours,

Kylie