Today we’d like to introduce you to Zach Dunham.
Hi Zach, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
In the fall of 2018, while attending the University of Wyoming, I met someone named Jacob Sonntag who was a creative mind and soon became one of my closest friends. He was an avid photographer and inspired me to peruse my own photography journey. In January of 2019, I purchased my first camera which was a Canon T7i. Over the next year and a half, I took as many photography opportunities as I could in the small college town. Whether it was portraits of friends or adventures to the medicine bow forest I was becoming obsessed with photography and started to fall in love with it. After the 2020 pandemic, I had decided to drop out of college and found myself back in my hometown of Dallas Texas. I started doing portraits of old high school friends but it didn’t feel as fun as taking photos in Wyoming was. I sent a DM to an old network connection (Nick) who I knew had ties to music industry and I just wanted to know what was the best way to start a career in concert photography since it seemed like an interesting path. At this point, I didn’t care what type of concerts I would be taking photos of I just knew that it was something I wanted to pursue. Nick ended up sending me to the Ham Promotions company in Dallas, a local EDM promotion company that consistently threw shows at The Green Elephant. In December 2020 I took my first concert photos and from the second I clicked my shutter button the first time that night I knew this is something I wanted to continue to pursue. The concept of taking photos of production, crowds, and music while having no control over these elements was something that interested me very much and created a challenge for me. Over the year of 2021, I began to constantly network and go to as many local EDM shows as I could possibly get into. In the year 2021, I covered a total of 90 shows thrown by Ham Promotions, Grime fest, and multiple other EDM companies based in Dallas met over 1000 people in the Dallas EDM scene and made it to my first festival (lights all night 2021). Being someone who loves to capture these crowds at shows it still blows my mind that my first show had 30 people in the crowd and a year later at lights all night I stood behind Subtronics in front of 30,000 people. Now I’ve covered two festivals my second one was held in Austin in February (Illfest) and I’m hoping to make it to every major Texas EDM festival this year.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Through the last 3 years of perusing my photography journey, there have been many obstacles whether it is dealing with bouncers, sleeping on floors in hotels, traveling statewide for no promised pay, or going through the social media maze to find connections at the end of the day it’s all worth it since I get to meet all of these wonderful people and capture these amazing moments.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I work 30 hours a week at a car dealership where I park cars and transfer paperwork. On the weekends I spend about 25 hours attending and photographing shows. I’m knowing for being Dunham visuals a Dallas-based local photographer specializing in portraits and concert photography. I am most proud of the friends I’ve met the amount of shows I’ve attended and the impact I’ve made on the Texas EDM scene
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
I define success by “achieving or striving towards any goal that makes you happy.”
Contact Info:
- Website: www.dunhamvisuals.com
- Instagram: www.Instagram.com/Dunham.visuals
- Twitter: www.Twitter.com/dunhamvisuals
