Hi, I'm Aime!
Way back in 2008, my high school student council put on a live music concert featuring a few local Austin bands. Little did I know that this innocuous event would launch me into a hobby that would soon become a passion. I took my little point-and-shoot Fujifilm camera to that concert and decided to snap a few photos that I thought looked neat, knowing nothing about the inner workings of a camera and the various settings that go into capturing great live music shots of course. Decided to share those shots with one of the bands later on, and thus began my foray into the challenging, yet incredibly entertaining and rewarding, thing that is known as "live music photography".
As I ventured out to more and more shows, tried my hand at band promo shots, had fun taking macro photos of animate and inanimate creatures & objects, and genuinely started to really get into the limitless art of photography, I ended up buying my first real DSLR camera: the Nikon D80. Owner's Manual? Nah, why would I need that? It stayed in the box my camera came in, and instead I took the long way around to learning all the features of my new camera. And then came the lenses... there were so many to pick from! After plenty of research, I picked out my prime 50mm f/1.4 that absolutely BLEW MY MIND the first time I used it. My photos could look LIKE THAT?! Wow!! That lens hardly EVER left my camera for probably the next two years. It took my concert photography up about 10 notches and taught me the importance of shutter speed in conjunction with aperture plus ISO meant that working with the most challenging of lighting situations at a show could still yield some awesome shots. I was so stoked!
I learned so much over the next few years of regularly shooting concerts. Sometimes it was about who you know that could open up some great opportunities, and other times it was about breaking outside of my comfort zone to give something a shot (photographer pun intended). As with all things in life, I experienced many "wins", plenty of "losses", and the constant challenge to learn and adapt.
Now, 2 years into my 30s (at the time of writing up this little bio), I have covered hundreds of live music shows across Texas and beyond. I have taken many breaks from my photography since I began - life does that sometimes - but last year, halfway into year two of the COVID-19 pandemic, I picked my camera back up and jumped back into the live music scene. I decided that it was high time to start working on branding myself, creating a name (or rather, solidifying the name that I had come up with years ago), getting accompanying logos and visuals, and all the other things that go into building an actual business for oneself.
My late-to-the-game approach with building this business might seem odd to some (I mean, why wouldn't someone want to jump in head first to a thing they like and that could prove beneficial in so many ways?), but for me, it has panned out exactly as it was meant to. I don't do this strictly for profit. I don't do this because I want to be "the best" (being hugely competitive was never in my nature). I do this because I thoroughly enjoy it. I do this because the feeling of running around in the photo pit, either being the only photographer in there or one smashed in amongst 20 others all scrambling to get "the shot", is so fun, so rewarding, and I get to channel my own passion for making memories and freezing time into capturing the passion that my subjects are sharing with me, with their audience, with anyone who is listening. Have you heard the phrase, "A picture is worth a thousand words"? Well, I whole-heartedly believe in that phrase. For me, my photos spark memories of those exact moments - the music, the scene, the audience, the electricity in the air, the smells, the mood, and so much more - that will forever remain set in time as the busy world keeps on truckin'.
Now while live music is my first love and the reason I got into the art of photography in the first place, it is not the only type of work I enjoy. Portraits, weddings, parties, events, abstract, food/product, nature, and more are all as much a part of the storytelling nature of photography as live music is, and I have chosen not to limit myself to just one type of project. Every time I shoot, I push myself to try harder and create better. And as much as I enjoy the process of creating, I also want my clients to enjoy the products that I create.
If you have read this far, I applaud you (I can be wordy) - and I appreciate you! However you may have stumbled upon my humble website, whether that be via my social media, a referral, a search result, or other source, and whatever you are looking to gain from working with me, I look forward to helping make memories you will happily reflect upon forever.
Aime Elise Alexander, Maker of Memories
Music in Motion Photography
