I have followed Zack Whitford on Instagram for as long as I can remember, in fact I think he was one of the first I followed after joining Instagram. You know how you have photographers whose work you like because it makes you feel an emotion, just makes you smile? Well, Zack is one of those photographers whose work speaks to me on multiple levels.
His images span from travel and humanitarian, to rock stars and red carpets, and all of it, every single image, makes me stop. For some, I just love the moment he’s captured, while for others I find myself dissecting the angle, the light, and the subject on a deeper level.
As a music photographer, my first introduction to Zack was his work as the tour photographer for Aerosmith. His dad is Aerosmith guitarist Brad Whitford, and I’d say that Zack’s talent with a camera is equal to that of his dad’s with a guitar. Whether the creativity gene is an inherited trait or not, Zack has it.
If you stop after calling Zack a music photographer then you’ve missed the point. Zack is a documentary, commercial, event & music photographer. His website has portfolios for Street, Music, Portrait, and Lifestyle and his work has been seen in Vanity Fair, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Vogue, Rolling Stone, GQ, Billboard Magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, and People Magazine to name a few.
There is a quote in his bio, where he is talking about training to be a stage actor when he was younger. His acting teacher said something that, looking back now, seemingly changed his life.
“As actors, you are investigators of humanity”
The way Zack tells it, that statement made him realize that he had a fascination with “seeking out the contrasting emotional moments that occur within ourselves, and between one another: The monumental disquiet that we work so diligently to mask, and the allure of human triumph”.
Read that again… “The monumental disquiet that we work so diligently to mask, and the allure of human triumph”. Wow. I love that. That. Is. Deep. Now, contrast that with an interview I found of Zack with HuffPost where he says at one point ” Most people love dogs. I’m not really interested in people who don’t like dogs”. I agree with him on that!
The problem, from a podcast point-of-view, when setting up an episode with someone like Zack is picking the photo we break-down. It wasn’t easy but, luckily, Zack was patient with me. Of the image we settled on, Zack said “that’s one of my personal favorites, and the story behind it is good”, so as I am writing this I am really looking forward to sitting down and chatting with L.A.based photographer Zack Whitford.
Join photographer Zack Whitford and me as we discuss his life as tour photographer, his humanitarian work, and his beautiful black & white image of Steven Tyler and Amiee Preston in the rain, on this Behind the Shot.
Connect with Zack
Website: zwhitford.com
Instagram: @zack.whitford
Facebook: @zwhitford
Twitter: @zwhitford
Vimeo: @zwhitford
Zack’s Photographer Picks
Kes Glozier: @kesglozier
Ryan Muirhead: ryanmuirhead.com
Alan Schaller: alanschaller.com
