Meet Levi Thompson

Today we’d like to introduce you to Levi Thompson.

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?
My journey with photography started when I was in high school. I was really into using the social media platform Tumblr when it was at the height of its popularity and loved just browsing through photos for hours on end. There was something about looking at photos that attracted me. Fast forward some months later and one of my friends bought a camera and was documenting his life and posting the photos on his Facebook and also editing the photos to look cool. One day when he had his camera at school, I asked him to hold it and I was hooked. I knew I needed to find a way to get my own. My parents couldn’t afford to get me one at the time, so I decided to use Instagram to try out this photography thing. Fast forward a couple of years and after working at a summer camp, I was finally able to get my first camera, a Nikon d3100, with the help of my mom. My high school had a school newspaper and I knew I wanted to be a part of it with my new camera. I was first assigned to photograph football. As anybody who tries something for the first time, I wasn’t very good at it. But with the help of the professional photographers I was working alongside of, my photos slowly became better as the season went on. From there, I was assigned to photograph other sports like basketball, soccer, and volleyball. It was at the point where I was using my camera every day and not only photographing sports but photographing things in my everyday life. I knew at this point that I wanted to use my camera for the rest of my life. When it came time to apply to colleges, the only thing I had an interest in was photography, so I began to look at schools that offered a good arts program or were in a city catered to artists. I decided on a school in Austin, Texas called St. Edward’s University. I went into college thinking that photojournalism was what I wanted to pursue, but being in a city that is called the live music capital of the United States, I gravitated towards music, and of course my camera came with me. I photographed my first official concert in November of 2016 for my schools Radio Station blog. The artist I photographed was Mac Miller. This was an unforgettable experience that made me realize how much I loved being in the midst of the energy of music and the fans and getting to document it. I then began to expand my photography photographing events, weddings, and portraits. I was able to photograph a lot of concerts, work for music festivals, work with big artists, and even work for my favorite brands.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
This was definitely not a smooth road. One of the struggles I had were feeling inadequate because I didn’t have what I thought was the best equipment because I couldn’t afford it. I had to realize that what matters is what the artists does with the equipment and not what camera is being used. I’ve taken some of my best work on my first Nikon d3100 camera body. Another struggle I have is balancing my day job with photography. I’m still at the point where I’m working to became a full-time freelance photographer and sometimes balancing the two can be hard, but I try to keep my eyes set on what I’m trying to accomplish while enjoying where I’m currently at in life. A good friend told me recently to enjoy where I’m at right now because who knows, next month my life could change and the simple things like grabbing a drink with friends on a random Tuesday might not be possible anymore. Another struggle I had was figuring out how to charge for my work. This is an issue that a lot of photographers including myself have. I believe I started at like $50 dollars an hour and then went up from there. This is very subjective though. I think it’s important to first and foremost focus on developing your craft and taking the opportunities that come your way before trying to make money. As you go throughout your career, I think you’ll know when it makes sense to raise your prices. I know for me there were opportunities I passed up that were unpaid simply because I thought I deserved money from the opportunity, which is true, but sometimes the opportunity itself is worth more than money. Also, figuring out what you want to do and sticking to it is important. There were times that a client wanted me to do something that I was not confident in and I simply said yes either because I wanted to get paid or because I didn’t want to let the person down. That ends up not being a good experience for either party. It’s important to stick to what you are comfortable with and brand yourself as that kind of photographer.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I brand myself as a live music and portrait photographer. I feel like I’m known for my live music work more than my portraits. Some accomplishments I’m most proud of are going on tour with an artists in 2018 as their photographer and videographer, working as a photographer for the SXSW photo crew in 2018, 2019 and 2022, working on an in-house media team for music festivals and events, and photographing multiple magazine covers as well as my work being shared by large publications, companies, and people. Those are all cool accomplishments I’ve had but overall, I’m always really happy to just see people share my work and tell me how it makes them feel. I think that’s what I take photos for, to make people feel something. I think what sets me apart from other photographers is the perspective I have. I try to capture my subjects in a raw authentic way that gives you a look at who they are whether it’s through the editing of the photo or just making the subject feel comfortable when photographing them.

Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
My advice would just be to build genuine friendships with those around you. When I came to college, I wasn’t trying to find people to “build” with or network, I was just trying to make friends like anyone who comes to college is trying to do. Those people I met throughout my four years of school are the same people I’m working with and are still good friends with today. The same can go for anyone even if you’re not in school. Put yourself out there, and build genuine friendships with people that you’re either fans of or just want to be friends with, and build with those people that are on your same level before trying to reach out to those “celebrities” or big brands you want to work with. I think that if you do that, in five years or maybe even less, you’ll be surprised with how far you’ve came.

Contact Info:

• Email: info@levijpg.com
• Website: levijpg.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/levijpg/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/levijpg

Image Credit:
Bertie Pearson