Brit O’Brien, a touring photographer for high-profile bands like Hippo Campus, is the epitome of a grinder. With a head on her shoulders, she tackled quarantine with a strategy: either move on from the unstable music industry or dive headfirst into honing her photography toward a new direction. Luckily, she did the latter, and our chat with her proved to us that, despite every single uncertainty that 2020 has thrown at our industry, there are always ways to work around an obstacle. With a passion also in environmentalism, Brit hopes to combine that with her love of photography and encourage bands to work more sustainably. She has also been working on a profile series, “From Lockdown, With Love.”

What’s your backstory like? How did you get into concert photography, and what does your career look like now? Where do you want to go from here?

Brit: I started in San Francisco as a portrait photographer for a wedding photographer as an internship. I wanted to dive into photography early on; I did a bunch of art classes in high school. That was my way to prove to myself that I had to invest in an arts career since I wasn’t doing anything to get myself into college. I moved to San Francisco and got an internship as a photographer, where I then learned the basics of Lightroom and editing. While I was there I started going to a lot of concerts and met this band Finish Ticket, who is an indie rock band from the Bay area that got an offer to go on Tour with Twenty-One Pilots for their Blurry Face album. Since I had been working with them on the local scene on and off with small projects, they wanted some documentation of this crazy, life-changing experience. I went out and met up with them at the big Twenty-One Pilots shows in New York, Red Rocks, Seattle, Oakland - all the big double dates. I was like, “This is the craziest thing I’ve ever done, how do I do all of this all the time?” So, I switched from just focusing on portrait photography, weddings, and just having fun at concerts to working after that tour to continue touring. I was meeting new bands, building a website and portfolio, and working really hard. I faced lots of rejection during that time.

Eventually, I went back on tour with Finish Ticket and I met Fitz and the Tantrums, and they took me on my first headlining bus tour across America. I just started meeting more and more people as the opportunities grew and grew. I became a decent figure in that little alternative community. I met lots of bands in that world and got really lucky. So I continue to work in that world now. Once I developed a decent photography platform, I started to use that to push agendas of things I believed in, like environmentalism, by selling prints and donating chunks of money. Going forward, I want to make that a bigger focus in my photography journey. I hope to make a lot of the bands I work with in the future convert to smarter environmental practices in the touring scene. That’s my next thing, to add a bigger focus to this because I have the voice to do that. In the future, I hope to continue touring and see where that takes me next.

How has the quarantine affected your career?

Brit: At first I was ready to quickly find a new job and move away from photography and be okay with that because I was so scared that the industry was collapsing and that I wasn’t going to be able to get back to work. That being said, it definitely affected the mindset of my career at the beginning. After a week or two, I came to the idea that this was actually a pretty great time to become a better photographer. So for the second half of quarantine, this idea made me feel empowered to branch out into other aspects of photography and work on projects I otherwise would never have focused on. I’ve been using it as a tool to start working on a second book about being a photographer in lockdown. I changed my mindset from that initial thought that it was game over for everyone. It’s been good, actually, to kind of rebirth and find new ways to establish myself in other aspects of the field outside of just music.

Brit O’Brien. photo courtesy of the artist

Tell us about the photo projects you have been working on?

Brit: I started by doing weird self-portraits and after a while, I was like there's a lot I can do in this time, you know, make something out of it. The project is called From Lockdown with Love, it's about being trapped inside and trying to stay creative. So I designed all these photoshoots around being like one room of the house or being alone in the bathroom or talking to people on FaceTime documenting weird COVID signs that you'll never see again hopefully in like 5 years from now. The art that I have decided to create out of that kind of moment of despair is that I've been documenting artists over FaceTime just shaving, or putting makeup on or cutting their hair. So it's like a FaceTime photoshoot version of a normal activity with normal people doing them. It's an ever-changing project but it's really cool to work on.

If you could go back and give your younger self any advice, what would you tell her?

Brit: I would definitely warn myself that rejection is coming. My career started out always being constantly lifted up because my direct circle was empowering me to keep doing what I wanted, so I just had such good energy and I felt unstoppable. It's good to have that energy, but not all of the time because when I would get rejected I would take it really personally. I wouldn't want to work on stuff for days at a time. So as I continued working I realized that it really just made me better and stronger and more confident, allowing myself to grow from that and not letting it get to me just because someone gave me critical advice.

Have you found any methods that help you deal with the ever-changing expectations and experiences of your job?

Brit: I've found a big one - and this might sound counterproductive - is staying away from social media. It's so easy to see what other photographers are doing and judge yourself. It's so easy to say, “They’re doing that, why can't I do that?” Lifting other people up and focusing on myself is super important and a lesson that most photographers need to learn or need to remember. I'll just be hit up by people that are so sad because someone got an opportunity they didn't, and if you don't solely focus on social media, you won’t run into as many of those issues, so that's a big lesson I'm always learning.

What would you say is the most stressful part of your job?

Brit: The most stressful thing is that it's a very uncertain career. It's amazing and I love what I do, but there is no stability or certainty, pandemic aside. You finish a tour and who knows what's gonna happen next. You rely on paychecks from tour to tour and it can be stressful. On a more personal level, I think the most stressful part is maintaining relationships. It's a big job that relies on so much human communication and friendship, and it can be a big balancing act in your life, maintaining business and personal relationships in this field.

How have you walked that line of business and relationships? How do you manage to separate work and friendship?

Brit: The friendship part of it is so important because the moments I capture are so intimate and the photos will reflect that relationship. If I don’t get close with the band it will reflect on the work, but then there are bands like Hippo Campus who are truly my best friends and you can hopefully see that through the photos. These relationships are the most important thing because I'm trying to get these specific emotions out of people. Being able to read them and understand if it's a good or bad time for a photo, understanding the details of their personality - it just creates better art.

How do you avoid burnout while touring?

Brit: Luckily, I like the challenge, and touring is a mental and physical challenge. Even though every day is unpredictable, it's still nice to have a schedule for yourself. Even though it might be the same general thing every day, I just have a set schedule so I'm really able to prevent myself from overloading, so on the road i just take care of myself that way. It's a nomadic schedule but I'm still able to be centered. I'm very much a journaler too, so I'll write everything down if I just have too much to think about. I always have a notepad in my purse or in my camera bag.

Have you had any cool, full-circle moments in your career?

Brit: This is kind of random, but a big moment was when I was first getting into live music, I went to a festival and waited twelve hours to see Muse. I caught a setlist from the stage and a pick and I still have it. And I went again last year, but this time I was working the festival and I got to throw the setlist from the stage. That was a true full-circle moment, I literally started in that pit, wanting that setlist, and now I'm throwing it out to the crowd. I think about that a lot because it was such a cool moment for me. You really can put your mind to whatever you want, and achieve it if you work at it. I truly believe that.

The 30%: Photography With Brit O'Brien