I am sitting down with her today to not only talk about photography, but to also learn a little bit more about what it's like being a photographer in such a new industry.
I will freely admit that I didn't even know companies like this existed, until I saw Risa's latest pictures. Complete with models using vape pens, packaged papers, and even whole cones of marijuana. It was certainly eye-opening and I knew I had to sit and chat with her about this intriguing career path.
I sit down with Risa in her dining room, surrounded by books, art, and fabulous framed photos. It's a very comfortable get away from the oppressive heat outside. Thankful for the invention of A/C, we start to catch up on her photography past. She fills me in by starting,
"I have always had a camera in-hand for as long as I can remember. The first camera I owned was one of those i-Zone instant cameras. I still have boxes full of tiny Polaroid pictures from when I was in elementary school. It was always just a small past time for me, and the photos I took, I took for myself."
(Risa Knight, photographer extraordinaire
©Risa Knight, 2018)
From those auspicious beginnings, Risa's passion blossomed as she grew older, leading to a chance realization in design school that really got thing kick started. She explains,
"I think it really hit me when I was going through design school, back in 2009-11. We were required to create all original content and, if you wanted a photo in your magazine layout, you had to prove that you took it yourself. I was thrown into a field where I had to figure out that graphic design was not just layouts, vector logos, and websites. I had to hone so many auxiliary skills in order to get a decent grade on my projects."
She adds, continuing,
"There was one project in particular that stands out to me, where our task was to create a magazine layout based on a beat in San Francisco. My group's beat was Chinatown...so because we couldn't use stock images of Chinatown, we had to physically go there to explore, research, and gather assets [photos] for our magazine layout. The only camera I had at the time was a small point and shoot. Those images are still some of my personal favorites to this day."
(Chinatown skyline
© Risa Knight, 2018)
(Chinatown graffiti
© Risa Knight, 2018)
Her craft was beginning to take shape, but upon getting her first design job, things changed a little bit. She elaborates,
"After I graduated college I snagged a job as a graphic designer at Sacramento State's College of Continuing Education. My main work day involved design but I made a friend there who did photography as a hobby. He would go out and take street photography and sell his images as stock. He taught me most of what I know now as far as photography goes...[Learning how to use] lenses, distortion, white balance, aperture, shutter speeds, ISO, basically all the mechanical elements that it takes to shoot in manual mode."
Sounds like a two-for-one kind of situation right? Well, despite my optimism, some good things do have to come to an end. She explains,
"It was a lot of fun, but I was starting to get burnt out on design, so I quit, went back to school, and started my own freelance photography/design business as a means of keeping my sanity. I only did freelance as my main income for about a year, before I realized I needed a more stable source of income."
She relaxes back in her chair, smiles a bit, and continues,
"It was a ton of fun while it lasted, and I did everything from weddings, engagements, food photography, to kid's sports portraits, and small business' photography. Once I realized I needed stability, I worked part-time as a senior portrait photographer for one season. That job was interesting but I gained a lot of experience and know-how as far as studio lighting. After all that learning and growing, I was finally able to snag a job as the main photographer for the marketing firm where I currently work."
That's where my interest has piqued. With the legalization of marijuana in California, and my general squareness, there has been a lot of information to sift through in this emerging industry. Risa's casual explanation sounds like she gets this kind of confusion often. She elaborates,
"Currently, I photograph marijuana for a living. I work at a cannabis marketing firm, here in Sacramento, called Capitol Compliance Management. I was hesitant to apply for this job, but after I interviewed and got to know my co-workers, I decided that as long as I am surrounded with creative, hard-working, empathetic individuals, then I will be able to sleep at night knowing that I get to go to work with them the next morning [laughs]."
(A few studio grade samples
© Risa Knight, 2018
"We market for, and operate, several dispensaries in the Sacramento region. My day involves shooting and editing our product and lifestyle photos for our various brands and dispensaries. The pictures I take can be found all over Weedmaps, various marijuana brand's websites, dispensary websites, social media, SN&R inserts, newsletters, all that good stuff! And when I'm not shooting or editing I am designing, too. So, I still get to use my degree, but I am able to balance out my creative energy better than ever before. I absolutely love my job."
She also goes on to add, just in case any of you were thinking it,
"And, no... we don't consume weed at work."
We both got a hearty laugh out of that one, that for sure.
In addition to her love of this work, the company also really drives home how specialist photos can help in cannabis marketing, as shown here. It's good to see how a photographer with Risa's particular skill set can have such solid backing from a growing industrial player.
(Additional product photos, also marketed by CCMUP
© Risa Knight, 2018)
That only serves to make her and her co-workers more excited. She fills me in, "We have some pretty grandiose plans for our dispensaries, and for our firm within the next year. Our Marketing Director always urges us to 'crush it' no matter how small our task is, and that is exactly what we aim to do every single day."
With any emerging market though, there are definite challenges to face, and Risa agrees with that sentiment. She explains,
"The challenges that we are constantly trying to navigate is educating our clients on legalities, protocols, and getting used to paying for invaluable marketing services. A lot of the clients that we work with have been around since before cannabis was 'legal', and they are not used to having the tools that we offer. They are used to black-market [sales], so it's a little hard getting them out of the 'we don't need a website' mentality. But, I think that as time marches forward that the mentality of our clients will shift into something different, new, completely unexpected, and super exciting for everyone."
For a split second, I sympathize with the old school mentality. This is a whole new way of looking at a product that, for as long as I have been alive, has always been illegal, albeit decriminalized by medical marijuana laws. It's also quite admirable to know that there are plenty of people out there just like Risa, eager to open people's eyes to the new way of interacting with this newly legal product.
And to think, this all stems from an iZone camera, not so long ago. It has definitely served to open my eyes to a different side of something I thought I had figured out. Inspired by Risa's very creative journey, I wonder what she would say to photographers looking to get started. She give me the answer, with,
"The further outside of your comfort zone you go, the more unique experiences you will have. It'll show through your work. Never stop learning, dreaming, and experimenting."
That's exactly what Risa's work can show us. Not just in creative output, but the creative journey as well. You never know where you'll end up, and you never know what you'll learn in the process.
Be sure to check out some of Risa's pictures and design samples on her Instagram, Facebook, and website. As well, be sure to follow Capitol Compliance Management for the latest news and updates in this exciting industry.
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