Rockstar Photographer

Regular folks like me take pictures of vacation adventures, baby’s first steps, and adorable pet antics — but Rockstar Photographer Brook Pifer takes pictures of celebrities like Akon and American Idol contestant Robbie Carrico, hot bands like Million Year Echo…and the occasional supermodel.

If you want to peek behind the lens that created the images in this entry and those in her gallery to see Brook herself at work, you can visit her awesome video blog. I think each of her pictures says a thousand words, starting with “Hey! The gal that took this shot definitely has a cool job!”

But it can’t all be about meeting rock stars and traveling to exotic locations to do something you love…or can it? Here’s what Cool Jobster Brook has to say about being a professional photographer:

When people ask you “what do you do?” how do you describe your job?
I shoot rockstars and celebrities for the entertainment business. Be it in the studio or on location, there is no such thing as a typical day and I love every minute of it.

What are the things about your job that you love?
Making clients uber happy, holding the camera, making light do what I want it to do, collaborating with other creative people, seeing the finished work, referrals that lead to bigger and better things, all the production that goes into a shoot, watching the mad skills of hair and makeup stylists, the overall vibe of a fun shooting day, waking up excited about work.

What are the things about your job that you hate?
Needing a big SUV for all my equipment. Sorry planet, I really do have a good reason for driving it, I swear.

What education, training, vocation, or just plain luck would someone have to have in order to get a job like yours?
Regarding photography in general it helps to have some education. There are so many niches in photography and some are easier to get into that others. That doesn’t mean they are any less exciting than my genre, just different. I’m not really an hard core advocate on formal education. I know plenty of successful photographers that never even went to school. In that case it’s just a matter of getting a camera and learning on your own. A typical path for up and comers is to intern or assist pros. Honestly, I think its one of the best ways to get a real understanding on just how intense this business can be.

What is the funniest story you can think of that involves your professional training or your job?

I had this giant all day shoot with Devin Lima and the Cadbury Diesel. One of the shoot concepts was to photograph them in a seedy motel. Prior to the shoot I scouted a couple places, found one that looked just right and got clearance to shoot there. We arrive at the hotel, get keys to the room and start setting up. I think we were there 3 minutes before the management showed up, gave us the shoot fee back and kicked us out. They thought we were shooting a porno! The band guys were horsing around a bit, one of them had no shirt on because they were changing into their next outfit, yadda, yadda, yadda. Thankfully the part of town we were in has all sorts of seedy motels for the hookers that work it day and night. It took one phone call in route to arrange for an alternate location. We had a good laugh about it for the rest of the day.