Meet Kevin Avery | Fine Art Photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kevin Avery and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kevin, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
So, I started this business with my father, not too long into the beginning of the pandemic when my previous career pretty much slowed to a halt. It was initially something I was going to do on the side to provide some extra income for my family. However, after about 12 months of traveling around art shows and galleries I was able to make it my full-time career. I had one print in particular that sold enough to take it from a part time job to a full-time career…so my dad and I decided to name it “Nine to Five” since it allowed me to quit my nine to five job!

I had grown up surfing and spending a ton of time in the water…and I would always see the ocean do these insane things from the perspective of a surfboard. I always thought it would be really cool to capture those things and bring them to land. The main goal was to provide that unique view and perspective to people who may not know what it looks like out there.

A few months into the pandemic I told my dad (who was retired at the time) that I was going to teach myself how to take photos and we were going to start this business together. I was very fortunate that he was just as on-board as I was and that he believed we could actually do this. Initially I naively figured, how hard can it be to take photos? It turns out it is incredibly difficult, haha. So, for several months we would shoot as much as I possibly could…and each time I would just try to reduce the number of mistakes I made from the time before. Our main goal was don’t make the same mistake twice and over time our hit rate on successful photos will have to go up.

So, for 95% of the fine art that I produce now I tread water, I shoot photos, and then I dive under the incoming waves! I have a pretty intense water housing that goes around my camera to keep it dry. I feel incredibly fortunate and very lucky that I am able to do this for a career…and that I am able to do it with my dad. We travel around from about March to December and we do about 25+ art shows per year. The most rewarding part for us has been looking back and seeing all of the different places this career change has brought us both…and all of the different people we’ve been able to meet. Most people have a positive association when they think of the beach…so to see people connect with my work at the shows that we go to in such a positive way is really a benefit that I never really anticipated.

Our thought process behind starting this business was just to show people what the ocean is doing every moment of every day. With the photos that I take, usually every single thing in the frame is moving…so having the chance to freeze a moment in time and study the texture, light, and power of the water is really the coolest part. Everyone has been down to the beach at some point and seen waves crashing…but getting a freeze frame of that movement can really change the way you see the ocean moving forward!

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
The main goal of my art is just to spark joy and intrigue about the ocean. There are a handful of other artists that shoot similar subject matter…and there are so many different ways to do it. However, I think what sets my work apart from others is just that I keep it as natural as I can without changing too much about what I actually saw when I was in the water. When I started out, I would oftentimes fall into the trap of “over-editing” something…but as I learned more about what I was doing, I realized that I didn’t need to cover up what was already so interesting about the images by using a bunch of fake colors and unnecessary filters. Obviously, my images are edited to enhance things like saturation, vibrance, and clarity…but I keep the colors and the lighting as natural as possible so that it doesn’t look fake…and so you can see the ocean for what it really is. Sometimes the thing that people resonate with my images for is that it is a scene that they can imagine being in if they were in the water.

I got to where I am professionally by continuing to push through all of the ups and downs. I feel like I have learned a lot about the art business and more specifically the “art show” business…and it can really push you to lose perspective if you don’t take a step back once in a while. At the end of the day I have to remind myself that I am insanely lucky to do what I do for a living. Sometimes we will meet other artists that really don’t seem like they are happy or enjoying the work that they do. So, my dad and I have made a promise that we will only do this job as long as we are still having fun and loving what we do every day. In a weird way I feel like I owe that to people that purchase my work. If someone is going to spend their own money on one of my images…I want them to hear the story behind it, how I felt when I shot that day, what the conditions were like, and why it means so much more than just a photo. I know it’s not always easy to spend money on fine art, so when people do purchase my work I want them to be happy and thrilled with their decision.

Sometimes when we don’t get juried into a show or we lose out on a big sale it is easy to let the rejection of this business sink in… but just like any industry, there are so many moving parts and so many different reasons for certain outcomes…that all I can do is continue to put my work out there and be thankful for everyone that enjoys it and wants to know more about it.

The main thing that I want the world to know about my brand and story is that I feel fortunate to be where I am and I don’t ever take it for granted. I want to continue to push myself with my work and what I am able to produce. I want to always be thinking of new ways to push the niche of water photography and come up with new and unique ways to capture the ocean. And finally, I never want to stop growing this business and coming up with new ways to keep this circus going. Thus far, I have made a living from shooting the ocean…but as a I learn more as a photographer, I am always open to expanding that subject if I feel like I can bring a new and unique perspective!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Oh man this is a good question…a lot of the places my wife and I used to go didn’t seem to survive the pandemic…but of the places that are still open I would say some of the following:

1.) Breakfast Spot – Solar De Cahuenga in Hollywood
2.) Diner Food – Fred 62 in Los Feliz
3.) Best Sandwich – Green Store in Hermosa Beach
3.) Dinner Spot – Home Restaurant in Los Feliz
4.) Drinks Spot – The Den on Sunset in West Hollywood (where I met my wife, haha!)
5.) Another Drinks Spot – Edendale in Silver Lake
6.) Bookstore – Book Soup in West Hollywood
7.) Fun Event – The Comedy Store in West Hollywood
8.) Favorite Beach – South side of the Venice Pier
9.) Best Surf Shop – Rider Shack in Venice Beach
10.) Best Concert Spot – Hollywood Bowl
11.) Cool Random Night – The Magic Castle in Hollywood

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My dad, Alan Avery, definitely deserves my shoutout. Over the course of starting this business of being a fine art photographer he has been there every step of the way. It is not an exaggeration when I say that I would not be able to run this business without his help. He helps me set up and run all of our art shows, he helps me manage all of our inventory, and most importantly he installs 90% of the work that we sell. We did the math the other day and discovered that over the last 3 years he has delivered and installed over 200 of my prints across Southern California!

A lot of dads would have said their son was crazy when a few months into a global pandemic they tell them that they are going to quit their job to become a fine art photographer who takes pictures of waves. But my dad never hesitated, and he just asked “when do we get started?”

There are a ton of ups and downs with a career like this…a ton of rejection from art shows, galleries, and potential clients…However, having a partner that is going through it with me makes it immensely better every day.

Even though he never gets in the water…he goes with me to every shoot we do to help in any way that he can. I feel very lucky that he has chosen to spend his retirement going back to work with his son to build this business that we have created.

Website: https://www.KevinAveryPhotography.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kevinaveryphoto/

Image Credits
All of the images are mine so we’re all good.