EMiSpicer is creating
Photography! (mostly)
A twenty-something good-for-nothing trying to take photos of people having fun and music and stuff.
25
$204
Milestone Goals
Become A Full-Time Photographer
This is the minimum amount of money I need in order to cease having a day job. You will be helping facilitate my ability to pay my bills so I can focus on photography instead of having to split my time with other things!
Photography AND Travel
If I'm able to make this amount of money monthly it will guarantee my ability to be present at events even if I haven't been hired to be there. It will mean I'll be able to have a greater worldwide presence and better coverage of local games and music communities. I want to go to A MAZE! I want to go to Fantastic Arcade! I want to go to IndieCade Proper! I want to go back to Tokyo!! You can help me make this happen.
About
EMiSpicer is a twenty-something good-for-nothing living in New York. She is a freelance photographer best known for her documentation of video game and nerd culture events, as well as chiptune and general concert photography. She has been published on websites including CNN, Kotaku, The Verge (One, Two, Three), and Vice's Motherboard (One, Two, Three). She is staff photographer for MAGFest, Pulsewave, Falsebit, and OriginalSoundVersion. She is a member of Babycastles, participating by managing their Kickstarter, maintaining their Twitter, and acting as their Archivist. She also makes a weird noise in Indie Game the Movie. Sometimes she talks too much.
EMi is all over the internet, but can also be reached at uglymachineproductions at gmail dot com
She knows the email is like, really long.
EMi is all over the internet, but can also be reached at uglymachineproductions at gmail dot com
She knows the email is like, really long.
Location
New York, NY, USA
Top PatronsSee all 25
;){kind=link}
;){kind=link}
Hi! My name is EMiSpicer and I want to be a full-time photographer.
I've spent the past four and a half years active in both music and video game communities in New York City, which has led to me traveling all over the world. While my original focus was in music, I stumbled into some Babycastles events back in 2010 which in turn brought me to the games community. At first I didn't have a clear plan for existing in that space, I just brought my camera with me to practice and hopefully become a better photographer. But as time went on I fell in love with the community and began calling myself a video game culture photographer. I still do music photography too, especially for the chiptune community, but I think I'm best known for my work in games. Since that time I've done a ton of work that I'm really proud of, taking a lot of very recognizable photos at events all over the world. My goal is to beautifully prove that these strange and amazing events happened as well as try to show others what it felt like to be there.
For the most part, everything I've accomplished has been at my own personal expense. Most of the money for travel, attendance, and sometimes lodging has come out of my own pocket at a loss for me. In recent years I've been able to have some of those expenses covered by either client money or the blog I work for but that usually happens at little to no personal profit. As a result I've had to balance my photography work with a day job to make sure I can pay my bills.
In the summer of 2013, my job evaporated and for the first time in ten years I was unemployed. I decided to treat the six months during which I would receive unemployment benefits as a gift and do everything I could to "make it." I applied to countless places for photography positions while continuing to work for blogs and other small groups who invited me to participate in projects I believed in. I was finally able to publish photos at a rate I was proud of, maintain a blog presence, take on client work, and finish enough of my backlog to start planning projects I had been wanting to do for years. But then my time ran out and I wasn't making enough money to sustain myself so I had to return to traditional employment.
Ultimately I would like to return to being a full-time photographer. While I certainly have enough work to make this happen, because a lot of this has been a personal project it doesn't always generate the income I need in order to get by. Part of the problem is that I haven't been able to work on things that could help me generate revenue due to losing a lot of my time to my day job. This is why I'm turning to you for help!!
When I first launched my Patreon I wasn't really sure how to use this service. But now that many of my peers have successful campaigns that pay their bills I'm hoping to join their ranks. If you make it possible for me to achieve my goal of being a full-time photographer I'll be able to clear out the backlog that has been haunting me since summer, create products to sell that will help me secure a sustainable future, and be able to embark on new projects that I can't tackle so long as I have to sacrifice my time to my day job. In the time until that goal is reached, I will use your support to help facilitate my ability to reach new places. Maybe one day I'll reach a place where I'll be able to both pay my bills AND travel around the world with your help! But for now I'd just be super excited to have ownership over my time again.
If you believe in me, my work, or if you've ever asked me "Hey, when are those photos going to be published?" please consider supporting me. I want to be able to share the beautiful things I've experienced with you. I'd really love it if you can help make that possible.
I've spent the past four and a half years active in both music and video game communities in New York City, which has led to me traveling all over the world. While my original focus was in music, I stumbled into some Babycastles events back in 2010 which in turn brought me to the games community. At first I didn't have a clear plan for existing in that space, I just brought my camera with me to practice and hopefully become a better photographer. But as time went on I fell in love with the community and began calling myself a video game culture photographer. I still do music photography too, especially for the chiptune community, but I think I'm best known for my work in games. Since that time I've done a ton of work that I'm really proud of, taking a lot of very recognizable photos at events all over the world. My goal is to beautifully prove that these strange and amazing events happened as well as try to show others what it felt like to be there.
For the most part, everything I've accomplished has been at my own personal expense. Most of the money for travel, attendance, and sometimes lodging has come out of my own pocket at a loss for me. In recent years I've been able to have some of those expenses covered by either client money or the blog I work for but that usually happens at little to no personal profit. As a result I've had to balance my photography work with a day job to make sure I can pay my bills.
In the summer of 2013, my job evaporated and for the first time in ten years I was unemployed. I decided to treat the six months during which I would receive unemployment benefits as a gift and do everything I could to "make it." I applied to countless places for photography positions while continuing to work for blogs and other small groups who invited me to participate in projects I believed in. I was finally able to publish photos at a rate I was proud of, maintain a blog presence, take on client work, and finish enough of my backlog to start planning projects I had been wanting to do for years. But then my time ran out and I wasn't making enough money to sustain myself so I had to return to traditional employment.
Ultimately I would like to return to being a full-time photographer. While I certainly have enough work to make this happen, because a lot of this has been a personal project it doesn't always generate the income I need in order to get by. Part of the problem is that I haven't been able to work on things that could help me generate revenue due to losing a lot of my time to my day job. This is why I'm turning to you for help!!
When I first launched my Patreon I wasn't really sure how to use this service. But now that many of my peers have successful campaigns that pay their bills I'm hoping to join their ranks. If you make it possible for me to achieve my goal of being a full-time photographer I'll be able to clear out the backlog that has been haunting me since summer, create products to sell that will help me secure a sustainable future, and be able to embark on new projects that I can't tackle so long as I have to sacrifice my time to my day job. In the time until that goal is reached, I will use your support to help facilitate my ability to reach new places. Maybe one day I'll reach a place where I'll be able to both pay my bills AND travel around the world with your help! But for now I'd just be super excited to have ownership over my time again.
If you believe in me, my work, or if you've ever asked me "Hey, when are those photos going to be published?" please consider supporting me. I want to be able to share the beautiful things I've experienced with you. I'd really love it if you can help make that possible.