Today we’d like to introduce you to Eric Proffit.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
As far back as I can remember I always had a passion for photography. I remember when my father gifted me a camera after he saw how much I loved using his. I was always fascinated by old family photos and how you could look at and hold a moment in the past, and then listen to story someone else could tell you about that very moment. As I grew up I would take photos occasionally but rarely could get my parents to spend money on film outside of a holiday or a birthday, so in retrospect I now have a lot of photos of just that, holidays, birthdays, and a few family trips. All of that changed when I was in high school and I got my first digital camera. I could finally take photos of anything and everything and everything without worrying about the cost of film. This also happened to be the time in my life that I was friends with a few people who were starting bands. One of my friends in particular had starting playing with a more established band that had been consistently playing shows. He had asked me to come to one of their shows and take a few photos. From that point forward I was hooked on concert photography. For several years after that I traveled with them to all of their shows and took photos. That opened me up to the Blacksburg scene at the time as well as my local scene in West Virginia. After my friend’s band had dissolved due to members going their own separate ways in life I continued to photograph shows occasionally but it seemed like the local scene had waned during this time. I had also grown apart from photography with trying to finish up college and with making an attempt at grad school. A few years passed but I found myself still drawn to photography. At this point it had been ten years since the first show I ever photographed. I knew I had to get some new gear. I finally gathered up enough money for a new DSLR and a couple of lenses and I set out to a show in Radford, my first in many years. Over the next five years my interests broadened and I was shooting more landscapes, nature, and abandoned buildings. I even tried wedding photography for a bit. Since then I have become even more focused on photographing as much live music as I can attend, which is what I originally loved the most. I continue to attend local shows and local festivals and I’m always trying to find something new. I recently started exploring more videography as well and that has allowed to me attend events that are far different from where I started with live music. Last year I was able to film a series of interviews that highlighted some community resource centers in West Virginia and a project where I filmed the process of a few murals being painted on buildings in small towns designed to bring the community together and restore the look and positive atmosphere of the town. My passion, however, continues to be with live music and I’m always looking for new opportunities in that realm.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I think with any endeavor that you’ve worked towards for quite a while there will always be struggles, both internally and externally. Throughout the years my own interest in photography has fluctuated. There were times when I didn’t photograph anything at all for a year. There were times when I never thought I’d go back to photography. There were times when I didn’t think there was anything interesting enough happening around me to be photographed or times when I couldn’t find any live music events. I would think to myself that the landscape of photography had forever changed when social media and cell phone photography became more prevalent and there would be no need for someone with a professional camera. Or I would think to myself that if I show up to an event by myself with massive camera gear then people would think that I’m weird or something. But whenever you’re truly interested in something you eventually get over all of that inner emotional turmoil and you just do it, because you are drawn to it no matter what you or others may think. Of course, there have been external struggles as well. Photography can be a very expensive venture to undertake. It has taken me many years to develop a fairly extensive kit that I’m comfortable with and feel like I could tackle most situations with. Then again, photography is such a broad art and although I’m comfortable with concert photography I would have to develop an entirely different kit for studio photography if I ever expanded in that direction. So yes, there are always struggles as is the case with any discipline but there is also a lot of fun in challenging yourself to overcome those struggles.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a photographer that specializes in live music / concert photography. I am most well known for my presence in the music community of southern West Virginia and southwest Virginia. I am most proud of any of my work that can showcase the talents of the many artists of Appalachia, which would of course include many of the musicians I have photographed, but also many performers, painters, and artists. I find a great deal of enjoyment in being able to provide artfully, well produced photographs, that artists themselves can appreciate.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
Success, in my opinion, is being able to convey emotion in photographic form. I want to share, not only with my subject but with anyone willing to take a look, the way that moment in time felt. For a musician that might be playing some technical arrangement on guitar that has the crowd in awe I want to be able capture that moment in time and show it back to them and let me them know how much the crowd loved it and how I experienced it. Or if a street performer has me mesmerized with their high-flying silks acrobatics I want to show them how graceful and beautiful they looked from the crowd’s perspective. If I can produce joy with the photos I create then I would consider that a success.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ericproffitphoto.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ericproffitphoto/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ericproffitphotography
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericproffit/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ericproffitphoto
