Meet Memry Anderson

Today we’d like to introduce you to Memry Anderson.

Memry, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I grew up transitioning my time between Alaska in the summers and Colorado in the winters. My family uprooted from Seattle in 1996 and moved to Summit County, Colorado where I started ski racing. We would spend every summer in a small village on the Alaskan Peninsula commercial fishing three to four months out of the year. I was twenty years old when photography first set my mind and soul on fire!

As commercial fishing is seasonal work, my family and I utilized the off-season to travel. I’m so thankful for that opportunity. Experiencing the world’s many colorful cultures, places, and faces from an early age exponentially grew my vision of shape, form, and texture.

I continued in commercial fishing but by age 25 I realized that although fishing was my family culture, photography was my true passion. I also became a mother. While it wasn’t something I was expecting, my little boy has been a beautiful blessing in my life. He has opened my eyes and heart to a new realm of photography by diversifying my interests. He is my favorite muse.

Transitioning out of a commercial fishing career was difficult at first, especially financially, as it took time to establish myself in the photography industry. As I poured my heart, soul and creativity into my craft I quickly learned that taking a risk and leaving my seasonal Alaskan escapades had been worth it. It was the best thing I could have done to further my craft, passion and creativity.

The commercial fishing/ Village lifestyle and the whole rural and rugged environment taught me many things: the value of very hard work and perseverance, the importance of absolute attention to detail, and the solitude brought so much appreciation for simplicity and the ambience of surroundings. I’m forever thankful for what I learned and I’m working to better apply those principles to photography.

As a self-taught photographer it hasn’t always been smooth sailing, however. Thankfully, I’ve met many positive influences and role models who have helped me hone not only craft but my business model.

I get emotional when recollecting my journey through photography. I’ve discovered it’s my purest form of expression. Capturing the world in picture, brings a sense of order and symmetry out of the frequent chaos and confusion of life. By putting photography into perspective, it helps me make sense of the world, and also my own life.

As my career evolves, I discover anew, every day, how deeply my love of imagery, fashion and composition has become a part of me. Much like fishing was in the past, it is no longer just a job, it is a lifestyle.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Any road worth traveling comes with a cost. There have been many obstacles to overcome along the way. Overcoming and learning from the challenges I’ve faced has helped shape not only the photographer, but the person I am today.

Motherhood was also a challenge. I wasn’t ready to be a mother, and the new responsibilities and the reality that someone dependent on me for their life was hard to accept. Before him I was discovering my love for photography, preparing to change careers, and deciding to move back to LA. I felt vulnerable because I felt like I did not have control over my life anymore. My career wasn’t established, and I had to put my career on hold for a while as I balanced these competing realities of starting a new business and raising a son. My son has diversified my interests and taught me how to balance my time and energy between work and my personal life.

Sometimes finding your calling requires taking a risk, or a leap of faith into unknown waters. I’m learning that you have to be willing to lose your identity to truly find it. Having my son brought deeper meaning to what I was pursuing. Capturing the world through his eyes and now with new eyes as a mother has made me more creative as a photographer.

School was never something I enjoyed or excelled in. With an often-non-existent attention span—seriously, uhh, what was I writing about again? —most of my learning occurred outside the classroom. Still, the business side of photography has been challenging to learn. Math can be hard for my creative mind: why can’t one plus one equal three? I’ve found some business management applications that allowed me to streamline my business workflow and be more efficient with inquiries and questions from clients.

Most recently COVID has been an obstacle, and our recent protests and political polarization continue to disrupt. It is interesting to observe people change their relationship with photography as they seek to be present in the moment, but also capture it as a memory. Like developing a roll of film, how you process the picture puts it into its proper perspective.

While I have lost some wedding work due to COVID, event postponements have a domino effect on my life and work opportunities. It’s hard to say what will be happening next especially in creative collaborative space. COVID forced me to live in the present, and to engage the past. I’m thriving on a creative level and enjoying motherhood as my son grows and develops. Now I’m catching up on creative projects from the past and unrealized aspirations. I’ve thrived as I’ve slowed down to take in the moment and be more present.

“In the end, all we have left are memories. Bits and pieces of the time we’ve spent together. No matter how long the time was. It’ll never seem like enough” (Anonymous) Without photography, we lose part of our memory. We end up repeating history, because we never captured it. With a picture, we can capture the past, and imagine the future to bring together the future we dream, and the things we treasure. I’ve lived a life of seasons, but photography was the grounding force that forced me to plant myself in one place and focus on building a business I am truly passionate about!

We’d love to hear more about your business.
I am the photographer/creative director for (Photo by Memry), a Denver-based business specializing in wedding, fashion, and portrait photography. “Elegance with an edge” is my shooting style, and my passion is fueled by a deep desire to convey and portray the spontaneous simplicity which defines our everyday existence!

Photography is much more than a hobby for me, it’s truly a tool that helps me put the puzzle pieces together in life. I’m in love with geometric patterns and shapes, and I strive for all my images to be as compositional as they are creative. It gives my photography a unique flavor.

As a self-taught photographer, I am a student of life. I have learned composition from the clouds, symmetry from the sunsets, and portraiture from the people I’ve had the pleasure of photographing during my world travels. My deep desire to explore the core of colorful cultures and beautiful places, faces, and spaces that surround brings great joy and meaning to my life!

Do you feel like our city is a good place for businesses like yours? If someone was just starting out, would you recommend them starting out here? If not, what can our city do to improve?
I’m somewhat new to the Denver area and I’ve worked from home since moving here, so i’ve had to really dive into the social media platform and find groups to be apart of and put myself out there to find people to connect with. I’m still seeking to cement my photography business here in Colorado. However, I think Denver is doing an amazing job connecting creatives through their art, and I can’t wait to integrate myself further in the Mile High City’s art world. After all,  building creative connections is what makes a city exciting, and I’m so happy to become a part of Denver’s ever-expanding art scene and interwoven & colorful community!

Contact Info:

• Address: 2100 Delgany St. Denver, CO 80202
• Website: www.photobymemry.com
• Phone: 3038347063
• Email: info@photobymemry.com
• Facebook: Www.facebook.com/photobymemry

Image Credit:
Polly Babcock (main photo)

Suggest a story: VoyageDenver is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.