October 29, 2016

Meet West Midtown Photographer & Painter: Kelly Embry

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kelly Embry.

Kelly, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I’ve been painting and drawing since I was little, and always had a love for creative things. When I was 14 I stumbled across my stepfather’s old 35mm Canon camera kit and that was pretty much the beginning of my love affair with photography as my primary creative medium. I absorbed everything I could about photograph, took all of the photography classes my high school had to offer (and even one they did not, and set up just for me to take my senior year). I ended up applying to SCAD in Savannah and moving down there, only to quickly falter since I had no parental support in being there (financially or emotionally). For a few years after high school I worked odd jobs and photographed a lot of small local bands and just life around me in general; All with my 35mm Canon on B&W film that I developed and printed in my bathroom makeshift darkroom. I think it is because of this that I still have a strong love for B&W imagery…. it just feels like home to me.

Around summer of 2004, I had a moment of clarity and decided that even though I had no assistance in doing so (parental or otherwise) that it was the time to start college, that it was not ever going to get any easier to make it happen so I might as well start at that moment. I ended up at The Art Institute of Atlanta for about a year, and while it was not really the “creative” environment I had longed for, I learned a lot of strong technical skills and met a lot of great people that I am still friends with to this day. Then, in 2006, I heard of SCAD buying out ACA and taking over their Atlanta campus, I knew exactly what it was that I wanted to do in that moment and promptly began the application process. In January 2007 I began attending SCAD-Atlanta and it was wondrous. Since the campus was still new, enrollment was low and there was great access to the facilities and individual attention from the teachers. I finally graduated in 2009 (five years after I set out to get my four-year degree) with a BFA in Photography. I truly feel that I got the most out of my education since it was all me; I financed it, I worked for it, it was all truly and entirely mine.

After graduation, I worked for a few years in a local pro lab running the photographic printing department, until they randomly decided to let me go one day. I admittedly panicked at first, as I think anyone would, but within a few days my “sink or swim” mentality kicked in and I knew that it was as good of a time as any to make my part time photography business my full-time gig. So I did. I fumbled and faltered a lot in the beginning, but that was in 2011 and now its 2016 and I am still here; I just expanded to a studio space in West Midtown at the Goat Farm Arts Center so I think it’s actually working out so for me so far.

Has it been a smooth road?
It definitely has not been a smooth road; A job in any creative field never really is. I think the initial struggle was a lack of support from family for choosing this path for myself. I knew early on that this was it for me, photography is my world. My family did not accept this, and constantly tried to push me to a “real” job. Neither of my parents encouraged me to attend college, nor were they able or willing to support me through it. My father actually told me at 18 that I was “too stupid to make it” and would not be helping me pay for college as there was no point; A statement that led to years of estrangement from my father. I had other family members constantly suggesting other “better” options for my future, such as fashion design or the military (I have zero clue why these were considered better options…).

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
I think I forget to stop and appreciate my accomplishments most of the time. I think my proudest moment though goes back to finishing my bachelor’s degree in 2009. It was a huge accomplishment for me that I had virtually no assistance in completing. I started when I was 24 with no financial support from my family, and it took me five years to complete my four-year bachelor of fine arts degree from SCAD-Atlanta. All while working as a server full time and living alone off campus. I did not sleep much for those five years and I ate a lot of ramen noodles, but in the end, it was all worth it and I am honestly amazed sometimes that I actually pulled it off.

Every story has ups and downs. What were some of the downs others might not be aware of?
I played the cliche “starving artist” through most of my 20’s. I ate cheap, I wore cheap clothes, I rarely had a social life. I definitely have put my everything into my art and my career, both financially and mentally. I sold off my belongings to purchase film and art supplies instead. I gladly ate plain rice or ramen for dinner to pay for the supplies I needed for school. I definitely have always found more value in my work, my photography than in personal luxuries, which has always made life a bit difficult and less fun at times.

I also had lots of resistance from my family towards my chosen career path. I was told that art college wasn’t real college and that I would NEVER succeed if I chose this path. I’ve been told I was too stupid to succeed by my father, and that he refused to contribute towards my college education when I was 18 because I graduated high school from summer school (I am terrible at Algebra). My grandfather attempted to bribe me out of photography two months before I started college with an offer of him paying my tuition and buying me a new car if only I’d give up “this nonsense of photography” and study something useful. I simply told him that I’d rather struggle and be happy than be bought and be miserable. This was either the dumbest or the smartest decision of my life…. I am still not quite sure.

What’s your outlook for the industry in our city?
I think that Atlanta has become such an amazing place for the arts and creative people in general. The art scene here is so welcoming and immense. We have an amazing foundation for photographers including, ACP’s Atlanta Celebrates Photography month every October, tons of wonderful galleries and museums, and just an amazing community in general. One of the reasons I selected the Goat Farm as the home for my new studio is that it is just a great home for creatives and has a fantastic sense of community within itself. It definitely has a wonderful feeling of home and family. Plus with the movie industry picking up here locally, we have really become a mecca for creatives in the south.

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