Amber
Knowles, is a Los Angeles native who spent ten years in New York before moving to Dallas
five years ago to embark on a creative change. She works as a Producer for an
advertising agency by day but in her free time she captures stunning wedding pictures
for glowing couples. She discovered her passion for shooting weddings shortly
after finishing photography school while working as a Photographer's Assistant.
It was not long after she discovered her love for Wedding Photography before
she branched out on her own.
Although, Amber is a Wedding
Photographer by trade, she doesn’t consider herself an Artist or Creative
but a creative business owner. Taking photographs accounts for the small amount
of what she does for her creative business.
Knowles, does her own marketing, accounting,
social media management, and bookkeeping to maintain her business.
IT: What would you
consider to be your early influences?
AK: I
liked working with couples and weddings. I also do portraits. What attracted me
and what I liked most, is when I am taking their photos I feel like I am their
family’s Historian. In our [black] community, our older generations don't have
the photographic documentation like other communities have of their past
relatives. Photos are important at least for the sake of telling our stories. It
can tell a story of who someone was and what someone did during that time in their
lives. When I'm capturing people, I want to capture them as they are naturally
instead of them posed. I capture them with natural laughs and smiles. Candid
moments.
So you say you
consider yourself to be a historian?
Yes,
so if say someone's grandkids looked at their grandparents wedding pictures 30,
40, 50 or even 60 years later, they’ll look at the photos I took of the
grandparents and remember, “that’s exactly how my grandmother looked when she
laughed” or “this is how grandma’s eyes looked when she smiled.” As opposed to a
posed, still photo.
Photo Cred: Emily McCartney
What's been your
experience being a woman in the industry?
As
a woman, I have to prove myself and work a little bit harder to show I am
skilled and trustworthy. For instance, if I have a male assistant with me, I
have to assert that I'm the lead photographer, not him. I have to show I'm
capable of doing something like corralling a rowdy group of drunk groomsmen to
get a great photo of them. Sometimes people doubt that women are capable of
doing things. I've grown in my photography and experience over the last five
years that I'm able to have clients trust me early on.
What inspires you?
What inspires me? Money.
*laughs* For me, a lot of it is the challenge. Can I do this or can I figure
this out. Once I do it’s the
accomplishment of I did it and it turned out okay. Other than being there to
capture pictures, I do enjoy the wedding experience maybe because I'm a girl
and kind of a romantic but they never get old to me. At weddings everyone
dresses up and gets excited. Everyone is happy, for the most part. They’re
ecstatic to have their photos taken. It's great to be in that type of
environment. Overall, what inspires me is being able to document their stories
and tell it through photographs.
Photo Cred: Emily McCartney
What gives you the
most joy in photography?
The
final outcome. I feel joy when I see the final results of my hard work and
stress from the wedding day pay off and come together. I enjoy having happy,
satisfied clients. It makes me happy to know that I was able to make them
happy.
What’s next for you?
I
like to think of myself as more of an entrepreneur than a photographer so I do
want to start another business but I am not sure what is it specifically yet. I
also have my own wedding coming up in a week.
Photo Cred: Emily McCartney
Photo Cred: Tyson Pough
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