Today we’d like to introduce you to Justin Hamra.
Hi Justin, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My passion for photography started about 12 years ago when I was playing music in a metal band and touring the country. I was always drawn to bringing a cheap camera and documenting parts of my time traveling and things that were significant in my eyes. After I stopped traveling playing music, I wanted to continue to take pictures and then started to travel on my own to see things and places I had been wanting to see and capture. In the process of doing that I ended up picking up a few clients and started to build a small business off of photography. Fast forward a few years and I started doing that full time and have never looked back! I focus now on creating images that I feel really passionate about creating. Photography to me is all about feeling and that is what I hope to capture and hope that my images radiate some sort of feeling in the people that see it.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The road has not been super smooth for me. Photography was a struggle for awhile and I even got to a point where I took a creative break for about a year. There are so many avenues and niches for photographers and sometimes its hard to figure out the road to take in terms of being able to financially support yourself and your business and also take the road that you enjoy most. Also a lot of photography is social media and social media can definitely take its toll on you as you feel the need to constantly create images and gain a following. With all that being said, I got to a point where I lost a social media account I worked really hard and had built a great following and after losing that I started to feel discouraged. I ended up taking some time to figure with myself what route in photography I really wanted to take and to be more intentional with it.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a digital and film photographer. I love creating images that have a cinematic and nostalgic feel to them. I want the viewer to feel the image. I really love capturing scenes at night and really love capturing old and run down places/settings. Being able to add the nostalgia of 35mm film to my collection has really set me apart and helped me grow as a photographer as well!
In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
The shift I see most in this industry is the ability to also do videography. It seems to be getting very popular with photographers and helping express their views as well as being able to offer more of a variety in packages for clients. Also on the client side it seems a lot of clients that need photo are also in huge need of video so being able to package those together is huge tool to have in your arsenal these days and definitely going forward in to the future.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/6lackout77
- Twitter: https://x.com/jhamra13
