Today we’d like to introduce you to Scott Toepfer.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I was on the ‘good college, good job’ track of education, which landed me at UCSD in 2002. After graduating I worked at a military facility doing basic lab work, and taking photographs at music shows and for surf reports. I eventually hit a wall with my career path and decided that while I still had that youthful leeway on my side, I would pursue photography professionally. I went to the East Coast for a bit, then the Pacific Northwest, Los Angeles, and back to my hometown of Ventura. Being a working freelance artist has taken me all over the world, but has definitely been a challenging professional path.
Please tell us about your art.
I make photographs. It took a long time to understand the ‘Why?’ question, but while wading through the milieu of this art form, I realized that I really love telling a good story about a person. I loved the photographers who could see through the mundane and choose a moment that connected with a person. Every person we’ve ever met has a good story to tell, and that’s what I’m always searching for.
As an artist, how do you define success and what quality or characteristic do you feel is essential to success as an artist?
As an artist, we are always our harshest critics, and set extraordinary bars to define success. Right now, with two young kids, my success is defined by the ability to pay my bills and do what I love. Ultimately, I have a few goals I’d like to hit before I’m done: produce a book of such substance and magnitude it garners me an interview with Terry Gross (NPR), shoot the cover of Rolling Stone Magazine (a kid can dream right?), and write and direct a screenplay. I love goals, they keep me motivated.
Success is such a fluid idea. Money, power, popularity… these sorts of things are always relevant. Anyone that denies those things is lying to themselves in one way or another. But the way we blend their importance in our own minds is what makes us all unique in that respect. Once we know what we are looking for, it’s much easier to define our own success.
The characteristics I believe essential to any working artist are openness, flexibility, and humility. We all come from a unique place and have unique perspectives, and but to survive in a professional atmosphere it is essential to always be learning new skills, artistically, professionally, socially, etc. To be so rigid that your own growth is stifled is a pitfall to be avoided in my view.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
My professional portfolio is listed at www.sgtoepfer.com, and www.sgtcreative.com. If you are glued to Instagram most days like myself, I can be found at @sgtoepfer. In terms of support, I always enjoy hearing from folks in emails or Instagram messages. Freelance can be isolating at times, so I’m always up for a coffee and chatting about photos.
Contact Info:
- Website: sgtoepfer.com
- Email: sgtoepfer@gmail.com
- Instagram: sgtoepfer
- Twitter: sgtoepfer
- Other: sgtcreative.com
Image Credit:
These are photos taken from personal projects throughout the US.
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