Today we’d like to introduce you to Luke Schmidt.
Hi Luke, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
My photography journey started when I was 14 years old and received a heavy concussion while playing hockey. Feeling bad for me, my father bought me a GoPro, and I started messing around with the long exposure settings. After a few months of constantly taking photos with it, I stole my sister’s camera, a Canon T3. After a few years of photographing anything and everything, I saved up for a Canon 5D Mk III. I took a road trip taking photos through South Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, and North Dakota. That trip made me fall in love with photography. After winning the Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament my senior year, I started photographing hockey. I documented my former high school’s hockey team, St. Cloud Cathedral, as they went through the season and onto the state. During their time at state, my work was noticed by one of the Art Director at Bauer Hockey. They hired me to photograph the State Tournament for them and photograph their new products like their newest skates and sticks worn by NHL players or their new collaboration with lululemon. After photographing my first state tournament for them, my work was noticed by an NHL employee who recommended me to be the NHL Live Social Contributor in their Minnesota market. I photograph half of the Minnesota Wild home games, capturing video and photos of the Wild and the team they’re playing each night, then sending it off to both teams and the NHL’s social media staff. I finished my first season doing this and will do it again next year. I also started photographing for a nonprofit called Zoe Empowers, which empowers orphans and vulnerable children to become socially, economically, and spiritually strong — transforming entire communities. I was lucky to travel to Kenya this past February to photograph some of their graduates.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I’ve been lucky enough to have a fairly smooth road to get to where I am today. I do studio, seniors, weddings, product, lifestyle, travel, storytelling, and sports photography. But only because of marketing myself on social media effectively, I am networking with the correct people by reaching out even when it’s uncomfortable to do so while also photographing as much as possible. Diversifying myself helps me improve my work overall as an artist.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
While photographing through many avenues of photography, I am most known for my photos of the Minnesota Wild. My most proud moments in photography were photographing one-on-one with Minnesota Wild star Kirill Kaprizov and the newest NHL Playoff MVP for the Colorado Avalanche, Cale Makar. Bauer Hockey and the NHL were hiring another proud moment at 20. The photos I love the most of mine, though, are from my first season photographing my former high school team and capturing my friend Mack Motzko’s senior hockey season. A year ago, Mack was killed by a drunk driver driving 100mph, killing Mack and his older sister’s boyfriend, Sam Schuneman. Mack was my favorite person ever to photograph. He was the hardest working, funniest, nicest, caring, most respectable human I have ever met. What sets my work apart from other sports photographers is how my photos look different from the rest. I have a certain way of editing and cropping that is unique to me.
What would you say has been one of your most important lessons?
There are tens of thousands of photographers out there and thousands of sports photographers. So many sports photographers take boring and easy photos. I’ve always looked up to MN Twins photographer Brace Hemmelgarn. He photographs many baseball games yet still finds time to improve and try new things every game. When I first started photographing hockey, Brace sat me down, and the best advice he gave me was, “be different and photograph absolutely everything you can.” That is what I tell others today when asked for advice.
Contact Info:
- Website: lukeschmidtphotography.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lukeschmidtphoto/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lukeschmidtphotography
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/schmidtyphoto
Image Credits
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/83c0crskwihscvs/AACCvc5O3FxVM1a9CJB0Ra75a?dl=0
Above is a link to a ton of photos. Use whatever you’d like. Do not care which image you use as the cover; whatever you think would look good and draw more viewers to the article! They’re all of me or photos I’ve taken. Let me know if you have questions about any of the images.
