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Photographer Spotlight: Kirk Marsh

Kirk Marsh

When did you know the photography/video industry was for you? 

I still don’t know that the photography industry is for me.  I have a love/hate relationship with creating images for money as opposed to art or personal reasons.  It is always a challenge for me to create a piece for someone else when I have so many visions of how I want to see things for myself.  Emotions and stories are the most important thing to me and since I cannot draw, and I don’t feel like a great writer, I create photographs that can tell stories.  Storytelling is what photographs do so well, and through composite work, it is possible to achieve even more story in a single image…the problem generally arises that I don’t see the world the same as most people so the story and images in my head are very different than the art director’s.  That’s why I don’t feel like the industry is always for me.  

 

How did you get your current position? 

Currently I have my own studio in San Antonio and that is possible for anyone to do.  Just start creating images and hang a shingle.  I found the photography world several years ago and since then have tried a lot of different genres.  I have finally settled on fine art as my main focus.  That way I can create the pieces that I like for myself and then sell them online or at festivals and galleries.  

 

How did your training or schooling prepare you for your job? 

The education I have is almost all online and a couple of one or two day workshops where I learned a lot from a Glamour photographer early on (when I was more interested in meeting women than great photography) and then from some Nat Geo guys later as I grew up a bit.  Kelby Training was one of the first great tools I had for my online education as well as purchasing JoeyLs incredible videos (from when he was about 16).  JoeyL seriously changed the way I looked at photography.  Getting taught by top notch photographers online is incredible.  The insights I learned from those videos undoubtedly shaped the course of my career.

 

What was the greatest obstacle you had to overcome in pursuing your career? 

I get in my own way a lot.  I’m not great at the paperwork side of things and can be frustrated at having to jump through hoops to make something happen.  The greatest obstacle that I have had to overcome in my career is my inability to focus on a long-term goal.  I can edit a photograph for 8 hours straight and be happy as a clam, but putting up a goal and figuring out how to get there over the course of many years is really challenging for me.  Finding people who can help me with that in my life is key.  

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Who would you name as the most influential person in shaping your career?  Why? 

Brooke Shaden,  I found a book of her work after seeing her photographic composites and really fell in love with it.  I had done one or two composites before, but her work really spoke to me.  I have a lot of emotions and stories that need to get out of me and she was showing a way to make that happen photographically.

If you could be compensated for your work with something other than money, what would it be? 

Time.  I would take more time in my day, my week, my year.  If there was a resource that I could have more of it would be that.  Compositing takes a lot of time so I’d like to have some of that time back in my life.  I enjoy all of the time I spend in front of the computer, but I get frustrated that I cannot have more of it to create more images and live more life.  

China

 

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