Today we’d like to introduce you to Whitney Hensley.
Hi Whitney, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
When I was in college, I decided I needed a hobby, and that hobby was going to be photography. Since I was a broke college student with no money, I opened up a Best Buy credit card and bought my first camera. I ran around using my friends as my first subjects to practice on. Music was always a passion of mine and I had friends in bands so I would take my camera to their shows and photograph them. If I had known more about majoring in the arts, I would have chosen photography, but I went the safe route in college and went to nursing school. I had put my camera away for a while but once I started working as a nurse, I had 4 days a week off and had nothing to do with all this free time. It was during that time that I started going to concerts and photographing friends and family members. After seeing some live concert photographs online, I realized that was exactly what I wanted to do. I wanted to combine my love of music and photography together. Long story short, at that time I started photographing live music for concert blogs and networking and meeting artists and bands. Through those relationships, photography started snowballing for me to where I am today.
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?
Absolutely not. Photography is an oversaturated field but music photography especially. It’s a small industry and it requires a lot of pounding the pavement and networking to be successful. Then of course the biggest hurdle was the pandemic that shut live music down. I had also just recently had my first child and had stopped working for a bit when the pandemic hit. A few months into the pandemic I decided my nursing skills were needed and I went back to work in the overran and short-staffed hospital system.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I specialize in Artist portraits and live music photography. I am most proud of my photos that artists have loved enough to make their album covers. Having your picture taken is an uncomfortable task for most people. I recognize this and do my homework on every artist I work with. Having your photos taken with me is more like hanging out with a friend that happens to be holding a camera. When photographing live music, you typically only have 3 songs to get the shot. I try and think outside of the box and get shots other photographers aren’t getting.
What do you think about luck?
The covid pandemic was obviously a setback for everyone but otherwise, I don’t necessarily think good or bad luck has played any major role in my life. I’ve spent countless hours learning so that I am always at the top of my game and coming up with the best photos that I can. During my off days as a nurse, I would take photography classes at the local community college to make sure I knew as much as I could. I think that not having a photography degree gave me a bit of imposter syndrome so to overcome that I just try and learn as much as I possibly can.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.whitneyhensleyphoto.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/whitneyhensleyphoto
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whitneyhensleyphoto
Image Credits
Whitney Hensley
