Today we’d like to introduce you to Londen Wheeler.
Hi Londen, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I started doing photography during my freshman year of college. At first, I thought it would be a hobby to do outside of school work but ended up being so enjoyable that I took it more seriously. My sophomore year of college, I was interning at the Capital Area Food Bank in Washington, DC. The CEO of the organization personally recommended that I be the “official” photographer for a special event. I had no idea what event they were wanting me to do. Until one day, I saw a few people in some black suits walking in and around our workplaces. Then it hit me… The president was coming. I just didn’t know when. Secret service agents were there for a couple of weeks, scoping out the building and making plans for President Obama and his entire family to do their day of service at the food bank. There I was, at 19 years old, photographing an official presidential event with over a dozen other photographers from Reuters, Getty, The Washington Post, and The Hill. Being chosen for such an important event was the stepping stone for my photography career and is a lot of the reason as to why I’m still a photographer.
During my junior year of college, I was offered an opportunity to be an intern with the James Madison University (JMU) Athletics department. That internship really fired up my love for sports photography. I photographed every sport and got to meet so many amazing athletes! When I graduated college, I continued my photography journey and branched off to do more than sports.
When I graduated college, I was wanting to expand my love for photography and started doing portraits for fun. Because of my love to try new things, everything seemed to just fall into place right after trying that new thing. Years later, I’m doing a ton of portrait work, I photographed two Division I national championship football games and even photographed the Women’s Softball College World Series in OKC.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
No. More recently, with COVID having such a lasting impact on our world, it has cost me a few opportunities. I’m not able to photograph as many sports as I used to, especially at local colleges. Everyone has been restricting the amount of freelancers that they have to come and take photos at their games. I hope to be able to do some photography at the high school level so I’m now looking at my schedule and seeing if I could do a documentary-style project with a high school sports team.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Some of my specialties would be sports photography and portraits. I’m wanting to get more exposure in the concert photography scene too! I used to live in Portland, OR and I would find myself at some music shows all the time to photograph them! I’m mostly known for my sports photography and portrait work. More recently as a portrait photographer.
I’m very proud of my accomplishments as a photographer. A lot of my accomplishments were hard to accomplish but with mentorship from Scott Eyre, Cathy Kushner, and Matt Riley (to name a few), I wouldn’t be where I am today!
I feel like my ability to anticipate and know what might happen before it happens really helps to set me apart from others. I was also told by one of my photography mentors that, “sometimes you have to be where others aren’t to get THAT shot.” Knowing when it’s appropriate to do that will really set you apart from others as well. And it’s come in handy more times than I can count!
We’d love to hear about how you think about risk-taking?
I don’t have any view on risk-taking from a personal aspect. I will say, though, that risk-taking is all about how much you’re willing to lose if your risk goes left. That saying, “high risk, high reward” can go a long way in the photography world.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.londenwheeler.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/londensbridge
Image Credits:
Vivica Wheeler
