Today we’d like to introduce you to Candice Martin.
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?
It wasn’t like a huge long thought-out decision. I was working as a barista (still a part-time barista) and just thinking about what’s next, what do I want to do. Music has always been a passion for me. I love listening to music, making mix cd’s and playlists, and going to concerts. I already had a DSLR and had dabbled a bit with photography so that day at work, I just decided to start bringing my camera to local shows to practice and get a good amount of pictures up on my Instagram and then I started looking into trying to land bigger shows. It’s been kind of a dream realized.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I wouldn’t say smooth. I think it is not as common for someone to just start solo without the backing of a publication or an existing company. Without having those contacts and access to them, I had to research a lot and ask questions and hope to hear back and I didn’t always hear back. I understand more about the industry now and it’s much less intimidating. I think working just for myself gives me freedom to hustle at my own speed. There’s not a lot of pressure to book shows or get the photos out, I don’t have deadlines for most of my jobs it’s nice to go at my pace.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I mostly do concert photography. I did only concerts for about the first 3-4 years. Post pandemic, I’ve started doing more events, headshots, even some real estate. I enjoy it all, but there’s just something different about shooting a concert. I started shooting shows because I love live music so much so for me, it’s always really exciting. One of the coolest things that has happened so far is that one of the events I shot was featured on NRP Marketplace and my photos are on that page. It’s pretty cool to see your name on such a cool, well-known website. The other thing that I’m the most proud of I guess, would be just being able to shoot some of my favorite bands. Bands I’ve loved for decades and then getting to shoot them, it’s surreal. I still get butterflies thinking of a few of them. Little emo Candice would be so proud!
How do you think about happiness?
A lot of things make me happy! Industry-wise, shooting concerts is super fun and exciting and editing those photos is super fun as well. It’s always exciting to look through and see the moment you captured. It never gets old. I usually will edit at a coffee shop somewhere and I have audibly gasped before at a photo being so excited to get a cool shot. Non-industry-wise. I love traveling! I’m always going somewhere or planning trips. Soooo many things. I could go on and on!
Contact Info:
- Website: candicemagen.com
- Instagram: @candicemagenphotography
