We are sharing our recent interview with a highly skilled writer and photographer Troy Bronson.
Pro Media Mag: First of all, tell us about the start of your professional career.
Troy Bronson: I started taking pictures at the age of 10, I won several awards at school and state level. It wasn’t only photography. I was also making flyers, billboards related to politics, and these set me up to continue to doing fashion photography first, it was fun! But then I moved to landscape photography after I got hired by a french Oscar nominee animator. I scouted a location for one of his films in the state of Sinaloa in Mexico, and that was the official start of my career.
Pro Media Mag: You have visited 30 plus countries. It seems you are in love with traveling?
Troy Bronson: Traveling is fun, especially when you get to do it for work, location scouting has been such an awesome gig. More than being in love with traveling is about a mindset. About doing it while I can, while I’m young, while I have got the energy to do it!
Pro Media Mag: Speaking and understanding different languages must be very tough, from where you have learned these languages? Troy Bronson: I’ve stayed at enough hostels that served me as schools for me to learn. I’ve dealt with diverse people from all over the world that it was a skill I developed. Being able to adapt by speaking. It was that or also becoming fluent in German after a few pints of beers.
Pro Media Mag: You seem to have a very active social life?
Troy Bronson: Since I started college at UC Berkeley that changed up a bit, the school is demanding, and so it is hard to find time to socialize. I also moved up here from Santa Monica, California, which is next to LA. So I left some of my friends behind. I miss them and the places we used to frequent together. For now, I hang out with new classmates as I discover the Bay Areas best bars and cool hang out spots.
Pro Media Mag: How do you spend your free time?
Troy Bronson: No free time, just study time! For now… I usually spend time doing street photography with a couple friends in San Francisco, going to art exhibits, and exploring new cuisines within the area. Every now and then, I take a small plane somewhere random with one of my friends as well.
Pro Media Mag: What’s the best part of being a professional photographer?
Troy Bronson: I get to work with incredibly talented people, it is amazing being able to materialize an idea into a real-life thing. I also feel blessed with being able to make a living while doing something I love, and I enjoy it. I can deliver bold images and make absolutely anyone look amazing in pictures.
Pro Media Mag: Have you set some goals to achieve?
Troy Bronson: My main goal, for now, is graduating from college. But my mid-career goal is to direct a commercial for the Super Bowl. That’s the Olympic Games of all the creative minds. I wish to have a brand calling me and telling me; hey, we need you to do our commercial for the Super Bowl! Now, that’s a dream!
Pro Media Mag: Tell us about your upcoming projects?
Troy Bronson: I’m currently working on an organization called RAW MEDIA ONLINE, which is a platform that gives a voice to the underrepresented Native/Indigenous and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) community. The media industry fails to recognize the urgency and importance of BIPOC news and narratives. RAW works to shed light on the Indigenous and Native community, forming a creative coalition with fellow POC communities. RAW media creates a safe platform for all BIPOC media makers to cultivate, collaborate, and display their work: whether it is journalism, photography, writing, graphic design, or videography. Here at the University of California, Berkeley, we’ve Nobel prize winners walking among us, and that serves us as motivation to deliver cutting edge journalism and give a voice to those who don’t have one.
Check out the website rawmediaonline.com which I’ve designed myself on its entirety. Look for my published articles & photo essays!
Also, check my website troybronson.com to see the photos I’ve taken through the years, and communicate with me.
