We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Alexa Kravitz. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Alexa below.
Hi Alexa, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
I can’t remember a time I wasn’t obsessed with music. There’s a classic family video of me at age 4 singing and playing air guitar to Elton John’s “Bennie and the Jets”. The first two decades of my life I tend to think of in terms of what band I was obsessed with at the time. I was all about the Spice Girls (my first concert) in elementary school, which transitioned to Avril Lavigne (my second concert), then Red Hot Chili Peppers and Oasis, and then my Dave Matthews Band period. I wasn’t allowed to watch MTV, so I watched hour upon hour of VH1’s Behind the Music, Storytellers, I Love The [name your decade], etc. to learn more about those who made music, gave me those unforgettable concert experiences, and soundtracked these periods of my life. Despite this deep love for music, I never learned how to play any instruments.
I also grew up taking extra-curricular art classes and loved shooting and developing black and white film as part of those classes. The time I spent doing art ended up shifting to sports and youth group in my middle and high school years, but I decided to take yearbook class in high school and quickly became the first photo editor because of my eye for composition.
Post-college, I really began a lot more music discovery and realized how much I loved that process of learning and discovery of music – old and new – and started going to as many shows as I could in the Atlanta area. This was balanced with my career in advertising. About every couple of years for the next dozen years I spent in advertising, I couldn’t get the idea of working in music out of my head, but also couldn’t place what my role would be in that space since I wasn’t a musician. I would fall back on my need for stability and talk myself out of truly pursuing it.
I ended up in a state of extreme burnout and took the opportunity to really think about putting myself where I wanted to be – closer to music and in a more creative space. I had a lightbulb moment in the midst of a conversation where I remembered how much I loved the act of making pictures at different points in my life, and it was something I was still doing, just with my phone. So I picked up a DSLR for the first time in over a decade, signed up for classes at Atlanta School of Photography, and decided I was going to be a music photographer.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
My transition into photography wasn’t all that long ago, but I dove head first trying to get as much experience as I could as quickly as possible. I officially launched Alexa Kravitz Photography in March of this year (2024), focusing on concert and band photography, events, and portraits.
I take a classic approach to my photography, aiming to share the spirit of what I see the moment I click. I want people to feel like they were witness to same thing I was. I’m inspired by film photography of the 1960s and 1970s and am excited to keep honing my craft and working with musicians on and off the stage.
I’ve been fortunate to be able to photograph some of my favorite musicians and get to know local bands and business and non-profit owners through my work.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Determination, communication, and transparency. Luckily determination is an innate quality of mine. When I set my mind on something, I get it done. Transparency is the same for me – I don’t know how to not tell like it is, for better or worse. I can thank my time in advertising for my communication skills. I was in customer service roles, so I have learned how to work with some really great and more challenging personalities and everyone in between. To get the work done, you have to be able to align on shared goals and how you will achieve them.
My advice to those just getting started in their journeys is to get out there and talk to people, and don’t just hide behind screens. You have to put yourself out there physically to put a face to your name and build relationships. At the end of the day, people want to work with people they like.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
Absolutely! I’m looking to work with bands/artists on capturing concerts and promo and album material (like portraits and behind the scenes of making the music). Additionally, I’d love to expand my small business, corporate, and non-profit client base for event photography. My portfolio is available at alexakravitzphoto.com and you can also find me @alexakravitz on Instagram and [email protected].
Contact Info:
- Website: alexakravitzphoto.com
- Instagram: @alexakravitz
Image Credits
All photos by Alexa Kravitz
