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Rangefinder
Magazine Amy Cantrell: A Career in Evolution by Steven A. Dantzig
Building a photography career is a difficult chore under the best of situations. In many cases the photographer must recognize the need to adapt and modify one’s original game plan to incorporate many different types of photography. In order to survive in today’s world, a photographer may need to shoot an editorial layout, followed by an actor’s headshot, and end the week with a wedding. But in reality this type of diversity is relatively rare. Each specialty comes with its own set of technical demands, so learning how to work each domain is one thing. Handling these differences while maintaining one’s personal style, vision and passion is quite another story. Amy Cantrell has managed to carve out quite a diverse career over the past 25 years. More importantly, she has done so by following her heart and applying the passion with which she started her career to each phase of her evolution. Amy first caught “the bug” photographing concerts while in high school. The predictable unpredictability of a live show laid the foundation for the “style” that would dominate her work. Capturing the passion of these young rockers became her goal, and she quickly became a student of human behavior—honing her skills at triggering the shutter at just the right moment.
Capturing a band member’s intensity was only half the battle. She realized the images needed to be recorded using the best light possible—a task much easier said than done. Amy recalls, “Stage lighting is uncontrollable. You have to watch and wait until the performer is where you want him when the light is good.” She quickly got used to holding her camera to her eye for long periods of time—switching hands often in the process. Her signature style of using the best of what the situation afforded, coupled with a keen eye for human behavior, emotion and comfort level began to take shape. Amy landed a job at a top portrait studio in Atlanta where she learned on the job for six years. Los Angeles beckoned and she headed west. She sharpened her lighting skills by taking classes at the University of California, Los Angeles. In the meantime, she accepted any type of photography job that came along. Her early experiences opened up opportunities to photograph the L.A. rock scene, while her six-year stint at the portrait studio provided her with the skills needed to create portraits and headshots for actors and actresses. Her experiences shifting the camera from side to side at the concerts carried over to her headshot career and helped, as she says, “create some unusual contact sheets, with some images going in one direction while the rest were going in the other direction.”
The transition from formal portraitist to headshot photographer had its own growing pains. “It’s a whole different business. I went from having to get the shot in less than 12 exposures to shooting 36 images at a time—and often more—with only slight changes in expression for the actors. It’s common to shoot two to three rolls just to get one or two shots that will please the client and his or her agent. You also need to be constantly aware of the changing styles in what casting directors look for.” Amy’s initial “break” came, however, from the lessons learned jostling for position in the front of the stage. Her ability to capture human behavior was now enhanced by a greater understanding of light and lighting and she began photographing social events for local magazines. She developed a reputation with her inside editorial work that lead to opportunities to photograph the covers for these magazines. Amy’s editorial clients now include local, national and international markets. Opportunities to photograph celebrities followed, but it was Amy’s easygoing style and intuitiveness that lead to a steady flow of editorial assignments with many members of Hollywood’s “A list.” Her celebrity clientele includes Magic Johnson (for a cover of Entrepreneur magazine), James Earl Jones, Wolfgang Puck, George Burns, Jessica Alba and many more. With her technical skills in place, Amy could now rely on her personal skills to “read” the person in front of her camera and work with them to create an authentic and flattering image. Celebrities have not proved to be Amy’s most difficult editorial clients. Assignments creating images of “camera shy” executives, physicians and scientists for an editorial or corporate piece required all of her skills.
The year 1999 was a significant one for Amy—both professionally and personally: she got married. Wedding photography was not on her creative map at the time. However, she decided she wanted to add her creative stamp to the capture of other people’s magical day. The “challenge” for Amy was to enter the field of wedding photography while staying true to her own passions and visions. She had no desire to compete with “traditional” wedding photographers who shot medium format. Clients were continually asking her to photograph their weddings, and she was continually trying to turn them down. She was not always successful turning them down and eventually began to draw parallels between photographing a live music act and documenting the events that unfold during a wedding. The “live performers” are the bride and groom, and it is up to Amy to interpret and capture each couple’s “personal style and creativity.” She recounts a story about a wedding that best summarizes her motivation to add wedding photography to her repertoire: “I was photographing a wedding when I noticed the flower girl with this wistful expression on her face. I knew I would have to sneak up on her to catch it. To complicate matters, I had my trusty manual-everything Nikon F-3 loaded with 3200 speed film. I knew I wanted the grainy black-and-white look, so I had to pre-focus and walk by her as if I didn’t see her, then grab the shot before she smiled for me. I love everything about that moment: her body language, the expression on her face, the spontaneity of it all. I was also deeply inspired that night photographing the couple during the first dance, hearing the music, and capturing the intimacy.”
Amy began to see her photographs as art: the art of capturing once-in-a-lifetime images as they unfolded, rather than as they were set up. She realized she might be interested in photographing weddings after all, but the “medium format” issue still resonated. A Joe Buissink seminar changed her views. She states, “His work is amazing. I realized I had no reason to apologize for not wanting to shoot medium format, and there is an audience out there who wants wedding photography the way I want to shoot it!” Her evolution into a sought-after wedding photographer, while not “easy,” came naturally. She was not content with a purely traditional approach to capturing the “big day,” but did not see herself utilizing a strictly photojournalistic style either. Her comfort with the unexpected and her ability to manipulate what the situation dictates allowed her to develop a style that combines the two approaches. She has photographed weddings in such diverse locations as Yosemite; Puerta Vallerta, Mexico; Austin, Texas; and a castle in England.
Part of Amy’s success stems from a never-ending thirst for knowledge—both in terms of receiving information and sharing her views. She has been an active member of the Professional Photographers of Los Angeles County for many years. It has been a mutually beneficial association. PPLAC has bestowed many awards on Amy—including the prestigious Photographer of the Year Award in 1999. In return, she has devoted an untold number of hours—time spent both in official capacities, as Board Member and the 2004 PPLAC President, and in formally unrecognized actions “behind the scenes”—to the betterment of the organization and its members. Amy’s growth as a professional is a testament to her ability to open herself to the many different speakers and styles of photography presented and her ability to somehow incorporate some of what was said into her own unique vision. She has begun to give back to the community of artists that surrounds and nurtures her by stepping out from the shadows, presenting her work in gallery showings, and offering her expertise to fellow professionals through her own educational programs. Her devotion to the field is not limited to sharing her skills with other professionals. She recently completed a four-day stint where she taught photography to approximately 600 local sixth grade students.
Simply put, Amy Cantrell loves photography and has done everything possible to stay in the game. There have been the inevitable downfalls to go with her successes, but each time an idea went “south,” she would get up, dust herself off, learn a new style, and reinvent herself. More importantly, she has done so without sacrificing her vision or her mores. It has been my great pleasure to know Amy Cantrell as a colleague and friend as well as to watch her evolution. Dr. Stephen Dantzig is an award-winning photographer with more than 20 magazine and web site articles to his credit. He is the author of a forthcoming book on light and fashion photography. His work has appeared on more than twenty magazine covers, ranging from local and regional markets to national publications. He is a frequent contributor to Rangefinder Magazine. Stephen runs a commercial photography business from Honolulu, Hawaii. His work may be seen at www.dantzigphotography.com/. |
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