We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Amber Gress a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Amber, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?
I think growing up on a farm has really shaped a lot of who I am today. I started working from a very early age, and it was pretty normal for us. It was a very large farm, so lots of people worked there and others lived on the farm as well, and all the kids worked. It was just a way of life. I learned to drive a tractor as a very small child, and I used to drive the tractor while the guys would lay the irrigation pipes between the rows of crops. That was definitely one of the less labor intensive jobs, but we started young. I’ve pretty much been working my whole life.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I’m a photographer, and I focus mainly on weddings these days, but I’ve definitely done my share of other types of photography work. I’ve been a photographer for the better part of 20 years. I went to school for photography, and actually started in the black and white lab of my high school. From there I went to community college in Los Angeles, where I had an amazing mentor and teacher, Daniel Marlos, whom we like to call the Patron Saint of photography. He has a cohort of disciples, and is loved by many. After LACC, I went to Art Center College of Design and got my BA in photography there. Since then I’ve worked in many different fields doing portraits, still life, interiors, and some travel work along the way, but the bulk of my work has been mostly focused on weddings in the last 10 years. I established my business in NYC in 2012, and gained a lot of traction there, and garnered some accolades in my field, which is always nice to be recognize for the work. Now I’ve changed coasts again, and I’m back in LA and have been collaborating with other amazing creators in my field and expanding my business west.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Commitment, community, and a mentor.
I think really looking back on my trajectory, so much of my time was spent in the dark room of LACC, where I made some of my closest friends and made some of my favorite work to date. I think being around like minded people who also loved the craft, but also loved so many other areas of life was a big part of my experience. I photographed my friends, other artists, creators, and people I just generally enjoyed. So I was building a community through making my work, but then continuing to show up in the dark room every day. At that point, I didn’t know it would make it my career, but it’s where I found my people, and having Daniel Marlos there as my mentor really helped carry the vision. He was so supporting and creative himself, and really had an incredible breadth of knowledge that was so fun to keep coming back to again and again. Honestly, most of my life long friends come from that moment in time for me.
Awesome, really appreciate you opening up with us today and before we close maybe you can share a book recommendation with us. Has there been a book that’s been impactful in your growth and development?
I often cite The Artsits’s Way as one of the most impactful books on my career. It’s one of these seminal books that people keep coming back to generation after generation. Julia Cameron really has made an impact on so many people’s lives, and I hear it over and over again from so many others as well. These days there are so many workshops, classes, and events that folks can attend to learn from other people, but if you don’t have the resources for those things, I always point people to that book. I also can understand that some people might feel some resistance to the language in the book around God etc, but I think if you can get past that, there are some real nuggets in there. It’s also like school, there is structure, and there is homework, and that helps put a frame on things when you are just kind of floating in the ethers, trying to find your way. I did it around 2011 when I was still new to NYC, and was trying to drum up work. Then I came to The Artist’s Way, and treated it like it was my job. I was so disciplined about it, and did my morning pages every day before anything. During that time, I also build my new website, which helped land me more jobs and created the path I’m on today. It really was a turning point in my life, and only cost me the price of the book, and my web hosting fee. That was it!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ambergress.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ambergressphotography/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amber-gress-00766a9/
Image Credits
All photos are by me 🙂 Amber Gress
