Hailing from the the outskirts of the City of Bridges, Brook Pifer takes raw human emotion and transforms them into images bursting with edge & creativity. Having mastered the skill of combining art & commerce seamlessly, she is the poster child for being good at what you do and collecting loads of money for it.
With a gleaming client list (MTV, Atlantic Records, & AIGA) she has made Axis Magazine's of 20 Coolest People in 2010 as well as recognition in Billboard Magazine's Ultimate Music Moment Awards. Brook was a pleasure to interview, a mix of edge and candor which I found ultimately refreshing.
ND: Describe a typical day in the life of Brook.
BP: One of the things I love about this business is that there is never a typical day. There may be typical tasks like shoot production, emails, phone calls, meetings, etc, but nothing that screams same ol' same ol'. Regardless of whether or not it's a shoot day, I like to get started early in the morning. Take some time to creatively free flow ideas, be it shoot related to a Client's project or for my own list of dream ideas. Somewhere in my day I do exercise, eat, play with my dog and oh yes, run a business. The hours are long, but they are my hours.
ND: Your recent shoot with award winning architect Gene Leedy was a departure from your normal subject matter. Can you give us some background info on this shoot?
The assignment was commissioned by Florida Trend Magazine. Yes, its quite a departure from my usual Client base but I've found regardless of who your client is, everyone loves a good picture. Rockstars, architects, CEOs, my passion is shooting people and combining my vision with their inner swagger. Gene was a great sport, the sense of humor on that guy was hysterical. If my mum wasn't going to read this I'd share some of the dirty jokes he told me.
ND: You are a photographer slash art director slash yogini slash triathlete. How do you find time to cultivate all your interests? Time machine? Or brilliant time management skills?
BP: Time management is my time machine. Work does suck up a majority of my time and thankfully I love what I do. When it comes to outside interests I find they only make me a better creative. Being on the go-go-go for me its a matter of taking care of my physical needs, thus yoga and tris, that lead to having an abundance of energy throughout my day. I don't see the point in settling for this or that when I can have my cake and eat it too. And let's face it, who doesn't love cake.
ND: You often feature bands and artists as subject matter. Are band portraits your bread-and-butter type work?
BP: I know much of my work is for the entertainment industry but how that translates to my advertising work is pretty on par with my internal vision. You could say the core of my work is shooting humans. Now lets take that a step further, I shoot a person's inner strength, sexiness, secrets and yes, my favorite word, swagger. No matter the subject, that is the common thread throughout my body of work.
ND: What is your favorite photographic subject?
BP: Other than my dog? People who can match my energy and enthusiasm. People who are still excited to wake up and do this. People who know the mission behind the shoot and want to go that extra step to make greatness.
Find Brook online:
- web: www.brookpifer.com
- blog: blog.brookpifer.com
- Vimeo: vimeo.com/brookpifer
- twitter: twitter.com/brookpifer
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