Life & Work with EJ Carr

Today, we’d like to introduce you to EJ Carr.

Hi EJ, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
I wanted to be an artist when I discovered I had the talent to create. It was the first thing I felt somewhat confident with as a future. I attended art school, and through that experience, I discovered a passion for photography at a time when photography was on an explosive rise in advertising.

The late 1960s was the beginning of the golden age of photography in fashion and advertising. I had an opportunity to be an apprentice to an advertising photographer in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and I decided that this is what I’m going to do forever. After military service, I went back to school. I attended a private school in California, Brooks Institute of Photography, and from there to a position in a fashion studio in Dallas, Texas, shooting catalogs.

Having had enough of that culture, I yearned for a more creative, fulfilling experience, and I went to NYC. I worked in New York with great assignments, opportunities, and relationships that I treasure today. In 2007, I moved to the West of Ireland with my family and lived there for 3 years, working on personal projects and assignments from the US and Irish clients.

In 2010, I moved back to the US, Denver, Colorado, and I am now living here. My assignment work has changed in this market as it is different from the NYC or LA market in size, but it keeps me busy.

We all face challenges, but would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I can’t say that it has been a smooth road. I’ve had challenges all along the way and still find challenges after all this time.

Early on, challenges were start-up issues. Marketing, portfolio development, meeting and securing clients, and getting assignments. The competition in a major market such as NYC was overwhelming for a newbie, and I wasn’t the most confident. I had a huge desire, but I was a bit shy and self-conscious.

It’s not a great formula for making a big splash. I’ve come to see that There will always be challenges in the commercial photography biz. We now live in a world where almost anyone can claim to be a photographer, and I find that daunting.

I appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I discovered early on that what I wanted to do was to photograph women. I had been inspired by an internship I had with a photographer In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where I grew up.

This photographer guided me and exposed me to options I had no idea existed in the world of photography. The area that I could see that would create income and creative freedom was the fashion world. I was off. I find that editorial photography opens the “space” for personal expression more readily than other practices, i.e., advertising and corporate.

I’m an editorial photographer at heart. I don’t see that changing. My work has primarily been in the music industry.

So maybe we end by discussing what matters most to you and why.
Freedom of expression is the most important thing to me In my work. Knowing that a project or idea presents space to welcome my vision.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ejcphoto.com
• Instagram: @ejcarr
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ejcvision/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ejcarr/
• Other: https://www.behance.net/ejcphoto

Image Credits
Charlie Price, Tiaja Pierre, Charles Keating, Maria Masha Pichugina, Judith Boyd, Steve Sells, Genevieve de Fontaine, Donna Baldwin Agency, Emerson Soleil, Nigel Dick, Susan Zagar, Madison Spialek, Haleigh Burckley, Vincent and Saul Menez, Andreas Tsagas, and Mirtha Boles