Meet Brooke Lee | Photographer and Wanderer

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

Hi Brooke, why did you pursue a creative career?
I have always had a creative mind, I just did not know where to channel it. I’ve always loved music and photography and so I started bringing my camera to concerts, merging two things I loved together. I worked hard to better my skills and taught myself most of what I know now about photography. I was hired by a music magazine and my career took off from there. Truly living the dream. Once covid hit, my career just vanished, as there was no more live music and no one booking photographers for things. So I began taking my skills into different areas. I love to travel, I love being near the ocean, so, I started bringing my camera to the beach. Catching surfers, sea life and stunning natural landscapes. Photography isn’t a job for me, its my passion and I have been so blessed to be able to have captured so many incredible memories with my camera.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My heart lives in live music photography. There is no way to describe the feeling, of walking into the photo pit (the area between the stage and the crowd), with the lights going down, the intro building and the explosion of the band on stage and the energy from the crowd behind you. Music brings everyone together, all walks of life and to be apart of when music is in real time, is a very special thing. It was not easy to get where I am. When I started out in this industry, there were not many female music photographers. I had hate messages written to me, I was bullied in the photo pit by some male photographers, shoved or stood in front of, but I kept showing up, I kept learning the skill and bettering my art and even when I was very intimidating, I kept going with it. Learning to not quit, learning that being out of your comfort zone, is where you find yourself, is the main lesson I’ve learned through my career. No matter who you are, or where you are in your skill..if you love what you do, fight for it, something great will happen for you.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
There are so many people that should be in this shoutout. The one person that gave me a shot, the one person that saw that I had potential as a photographer, is David Stagg. He owns the magazine I have worked for, for over 10 years. He hired me on, when I was still learning the skill (and to be honest was not very good at it), but he have me a shot and if it was not for him, I wouldn’t be where I am in my photography.

Instagram: photosbybrookelee