Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephan Pruitt.
Hi Stephan, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Whew thats a long one…I stole my parents handycam when I was 12 years old. Back then we were obsessed with Jackass and sketch comedy, so we made our own series called RoostBoost, which was just us little redneck kids doing stunts on our motorcross atv’s jumping the camcorder mixed with really silly sketch comedy. When I graduated high school I started getting more into photography and was running all over downtown Asheville with my friends shooting (what we considered then) artsy photos, staying up all night running around the streets until all the security guards knew us by our cars.
My first gigs were shooting motogp racing for my cousin (the same one that I grew up making the roostboost series with) and soon got into more of the stuff people start on: family photoshoots, senior photos, moving my way into weddings, then through college and after info food/drink, commercial, the whole shebang. I’ve always really loved the “ask forgiveness not permission” and I’ve shot about everything imaginable since then. A few years ago I was working with a start up company and wrote an idea for a video and hired a local guy named Dave Saich to shoot it and we won an Emmy for it, so we struck up a friendship and starting working together. Fast forward 5 years, and we decided to officially merge our businesses: my photography, his videography, and start a media production company that provides high end, creative work and it’s called Fiasco Media, and now we have employees and are booking gigs that I could only dream about as a kid. Thats the short version of the story.
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?
Hahahaha
uhhhhh noooooo
I grew up in a low income household, and during college my parents went through bankrupcy, so I spent ages 17-22 about as broke as someone could be. Me shooting on the side helped me make enough money to buy gas, get to school and back, and just afford to get by while also working part time in Asheville on the weekends while studying Business Law at Western Carolina University.
I worked various jobs from age 16 to 31, when i went full solo photography. If I knew then what I know now, I’d have made the jump so, so much earlier. But everything I did those years grew my network and put me in a much smoother spot to be able to have such a good community taking care of me now, so I’m thankful that I didn’t put all my eggs in one basket too early like many people do. I’ve worked in a factory, was a photographer for the biltmore estate in my late teens, sold tvs and cameras at sears through college, was a freight broker in charlotte (misery), but really what helped me the most was starting with a small brand new start up called Dig Local in 2014 when it was only 2 months old. I made absolutely no money the first few months other than the little bit of commision they were able to offer and had to do many other side gigs to get by until it grew enough to pay more commission, but my job was the community director and sales manager, and my job was getting as many locally owned businesses involved as possible and through the 5 years I worked for them I met almost every local business owner in town, and continued to foster those relationships. That really tied me into the Asheville community and became my anchor and still is. Asheville is home, and Asheville takes care of me, and now having Fiasco Media, takes care of us. I’m eternally grateful for how tight knit this town is. Still, it’s been an absolute grind to get where we are now.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Specialization is for ants.
thats always been one of my favorite sayings, to me, photography in general is a specialization. I don’t see the need to niche down further from that, sure, I’d much rather shoot fine art photography than a real estate shoot, but coming from a mindset of growth and wanting to get out from the bonds of poverty, you’ll do about anything to make money. And that drive forces you to grow, to be uncomfortable, to shoot out of your comfort zone. There’s also such a beautiful freedom in having nothing to lose, it’s not something I experience as much nowadays, but thats how life works. There’s an old Chinese proverb: “there are no solutions, only trades” and anytime I get decision fatigue, that thought brings me some peace.
I think where I specialize is once I get into a flow state, ideas come very naturally to me. I’d love to always sit along the edge of blending interesting composition, intentional color work, and the highest quality work I can provide. Studying how we get into that flow state is extremely interesting to me, and knowing what I need to get into the state of mind that allows us to see things just from a slightly different angle that might bring something out in a photo or video thats never been seen: thats special.
Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
Play.
All great work feels like play, and play feels like flow state. Relaxed, yet focused. It’s easier said than done in our world today, especially when the main commodity in todays economy is our attention. True, intentional creativity thrives in our ability to have the camera as a toy, something that we can play with to capture a fleeting moment and turn it into something that lives forever.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.fiasco-media.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fiasco.media/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FilmImageAndSoundCo
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Fiasco-Media
