Photographing Live Music + Festivals - ISSUE 46
UK Based Freelance Photographer and Youtuber Sophia Carey Stops By For a Chat
Housekeeping
It's Friday, which means it's newsletter time! This week I have the very talented English rose, Sophia Carey chatting all things live music photography, balancing pro and personal work, YouTube and more! You can find links throughout to all of Sophia's awesome work so make sure to go check them out after this read.Â
I will be featuring soon on Sophia's channel for her Window Seat series so be sure to subscribe so you don't miss it. If you didn't catch her chat with Wesley Verhoeve you can watch that here!
I absolutely love bringing you these interviews guys so if you have any suggestions or you would like to pitch yourself to be featured here at Love Lucy please email me and tell me about yourself, your work or any exciting projects you have going on!
Hiya, can you give the readers the who, what and where of Sophia Carey!?
Hi Lucy! Firstly, a massive thank you for having me onto your wonderful newsletter. It's always a pleasure chatting with you! My name is Sophia Carey and I'm a photographer based in the UK, working mostly in portraiture and music, and I also run a YouTube channel that talks about all things photography and running a photography business.
I have been seeing some pretty epic work from you lately, especially in the live music genre. Tell us what this year has brought for you so far in terms of creative and professional projects?
Thank you! This year has been a whirlwind of projects. I've been trying my hand at a lot of new things, especially in the video-sphere, working on a couple of music videos which has been a lot of fun. It's also the start of festival season here in the UK so I'm busy traveling around the country for summer and getting to different festivals.
You are across a lot of sectors with your photography. How do you balance freelance, education, long term projects, YouTube and just shooting for fun?
I think finding that work-life balance is something that I've always struggled with. As a freelancer, it's really easy to let work seep into everything that you do. That being said, I've found that running a YouTube, although some might seem that as work, has actually allowed me a lot more time for shooting for fun or projects I want to shoot or building upon skills I want to develop. It's allowed me an excuse, even if I shouldn't need one, to create work that I want to create without feeling as though it's not productive. In terms of education, although I graduated a couple of years back now, I'm constantly trying to develop and better my skills. YouTube definitely comes into that a lot, allowing me that space for trial and error and sharing my mistakes and progress as I go.
Looking back at when you first started to where you are now in your career, what are the biggest lessons you’ve learned?
I think there are a lot of lessons to be had in this industry, and a lot more I still am yet to come across, but maybe my biggest lesson is to really focus on developing my craft first and foremost. That's the foundation of everything. Creating better work will lead to better opportunities, and so I'm constantly striving to learn more and get better at what I do. I definitely believe there's always something to learn and I'm personally a long way off where I want to be within both my technical and creative capabilities.
I really enjoyed your YouTube interview with Wesley Verhoeve recently. I’m wondering who else you look up to creatively or feel inspired by in terms of carving out a career doing what they love?
Thank you! Wesley is a brilliant photographer (and all-round great guy) so it was great to chat to him about his craft. There are a lot of people, photographers and creatives but also otherwise, that inspire me but some of the photographers that spring to mind straight away are Mike Gray (who I also had the pleasure of interviewing on my channel), Campbell Addy, Alex Massek, Vicky Grout and Vuhlandes. Each of them have very different journeys and types of work that they produce, but they're all massive inspirations to me, not only in the way that they create their work and the standard of it, but also in their individuals journeys.
I recently took a few snaps at a music festival and tbh they weren’t that great - I know you have a skillshare course on this topic but what are some quick tips you could offer myself and the readers for shooting gigs and big festivals?
I think that, with any kind of event photography, the best shots are when you really integrate yourself within what you're shooting. Don't be afraid to get into a crowd and jump into the middle of where the action is, and enjoy yourself! Getting a sense of the atmosphere is so much easier when you're really feeling the atmosphere.
Do you see yourself being based anywhere outside of the U.K. in the future Sophia or are you happy staying put for now?
I've definitely toyed with the idea of moving outside of the UK. The UK is great for a lot of things and you can access a lot of brilliant opportunities here but I guess the grass always looks greener on the other side. I'm not sure if there's anywhere in particular I'd like to move to right now, but I've been blessed to have been able to travel a lot already and I can only hope that that continues. If I can get the right visas, I'd love to move around the world and live and work in a few different cities and countries before I really decide on where I want to settle.
Lastly, where can people find you and your amazing work, watch your videos, or just drop in and say hello?
You can find me in just about every corner of the Internet! I'm most active over on my YouTube channel, my Instagram, my Tiktok, and my Twitter or you can head over to my website.
A big thank you to Sophia for joining us and a huge thank you to you guys for reading!
I will see you back here next week for some a first look at some shots from a recent car festival shot on Cinestill 400D…
Love Lucy xx