I had the pleasure of interviewing local photographer Eden about their experience shooting the band Blossom at Public Square/their overall experience as a photographer in the San Diego music scene.

when and how did you get into photography?

“I remember wanting a digital camera so bad because I wanted to be like YouTubers I watched in the mid 2010s. I got a canon dslr and I never made a single video but I did start taking pictures, mostly doing stuff for my school yearbook sports and events. In late 2019 I sold the digital camera and decided I wanted to shoot film. I asked my dad if he still had any of his film cameras and he gave me a run down of how it works and some film and I went shooting. I would shoot literally anything. I was tryna find my style and how these cameras worked and spent way too much money on film and development in the process. Eventually I ‘found’ my style; ‘found’ because shooting style is often confusing and hard to grasp, but your style is just you. I didn’t create a style, I just go out and shoot and the pics that come from it are my style. Putting labels on it are rather unimportant to me. I took my liking for photography a little further and learned how to develop film at home in 2021 through youtube videos. I took that experience to get a job at a film lab doing all their film dev and scanning right here in San Diego. I can’t tell you why I like these things so much, I just do and maybe some day I won’t anymore. Life and aging are unpredictable like that.”

What was it like shooting for blossom?

“I always love shooting for Blossom! The music gets me in a serious photo taking zone, I feel like it’s a little movie. I tend to shoot a lot of hardcore bands and music, so Blossom is a little slower and ethereal. It’s a more creative space for me to get moody pics compared to other scenes. They’re more inspiring to me than the other way around I think. Blossom feels their music in a way that I don’t see a lot of bands do. They’re not just riding along till the set is over. If the crowd is pretty mild they’re not phased. Not to mention that these kids are young, well I’m young too, but they’re starting out so young, so passionate about the music they make. It’s really cool to see from the first show I saw to now, and I can’t wait to see more. All love for Blossom.”

do you prefer live music photography more-so than other forms of photography?

“I think live music is a subject that I excel at over others. I really enjoy taking pics of my cars, friends, and whatever else catches my eye. I don’t prefer one of those over the other. But if it were something like landscape or other organized events, music takes first place. There’s always something fresh happening and I have fun doing my job. I don’t wanna knock on other forms of photo taking, I respect the hell out of portrait photographers cause it’s an area I lack a lot of creativity in. It’s hard making people look cool and natural and compositionally correct and at the same time not copying several other portrait shots I’ve seen already. Capturing a performance does a lot of the work for me.”

any tips for those looking to take photos for local artists but are having trouble getting started?

“Do it, no one is gonna think twice about what you’re doing. I used to worry too much about what people thought I was doing like “who’s this big shot with a camera”. Remember that photography is risk vs reward. Risk looking like a fool sometimes to get a good shot. Odds are that any band will be appreciative of photos you give them, and that builds good connections and opportunities for other shoots to happen. I started because I had a friend in a band and asked if they wanted pics, then I just kept going to shows and shot for who I wanted. I got some of my best connections because I decided to shoot for these bands and then they just ask me again and again. But opportunities won’t come if you don’t put yourself out there, so go out and take some photos! Move with confidence, be nice to the people around you who are tryna enjoy the show, and don’t forget the people who support you.”

Follow Eden & Blossom on Instagram by clicking the buttons above.