Meet Erik Scherb | Photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Erik Scherb and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Erik, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
My thought process behind going into business for myself boiled down to wanting to hold on to my own signature style and create images that reflect my passion for photography. Working for an outside company or for another photographer always comes with compromising your own style to fit someone else’s aesthetic. This in an important step to take in the beginning, however, because you learn so much about the business and the creative process from peers and other outside influences. But eventually you must break away to find your own style.

As for the nuts and bolts of creating my company “SageCat Studio,” I strive to balance offering both fine art and commercial imagery to clients. Sometimes they overlap and that’s really when things get interesting.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My creative and commercial work has traditionally been centered around people. I have spent several years doing fashion and beauty work that focuses on the model slightly more that the clothing or product. Portraiture goes hand in hand with that genre of photography as it is so focused on the emotional expression of the subject. People fascinate me and is the reason I went into photography early on. My fine art work actually took a slight detour into urban landscape as I explored a more abstract style of photography while earning my MFA at SCAD ATL. It was a much-needed tangent for me to grow as an artist, but of course I am now circling back to the subject of people and body movement utilizing the same technique I used to work with landscape. Basically, my abstract photography is created through a combination of motion blurred camera movement to allow my own personal expression to enter the frame along with the subject in front of the lens. The motion blur effectively deconstructs the subject matter and is then reconstructed by digitally layering several images together to create a transformed final image that carries both the outside subject and my own creative expression. The road to where I am at now has not been easy or been a straight line. I took a short hiatus from photography in 2009 to join the Army, and after two tours in Afghanistan, I feel that my outlook as a photographer has evolved for the better. I can’t say that I have achieved all of my photography goals yet, but I can say that I am on the right path now that I am completely focused on the business.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
The Atlanta area is filled with so many amazing spots and interesting things to see and do! If I was given a week to show new people around, I’m going to start with downtown Woodstock and Reformation Brewery. The outside lawn is truly the center piece of the town a great place to start any tour. We grab a Cold One (their newest pilsner) and walk over to the Reeves House to check out the latest installation. After that we head to Madlife. They host amazing live music on the patio almost every day and truly have the best food in town. Of course, throughout the week we have to hit up downtown ATL to see the aquarium and eat at Der Biergarten for the most authentic German food in GA. Little Five Points is great to hang out for a day and mid-town shopping is cool if you have those lottery winnings. But I would not allow any friend of mine to leave the area without going up to Canton to Local On North for their onion soup. I know it’s a strange take away, but that soup is truly different and amazing.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My shoutout goes to the amazing people at Woodstock Arts and specifically The Reeves House. From the generous volunteers to the staff who make the Reeves House a central hub for the Woodstock community, they have all created something very special. My most current fine art show was accepted and shown as part of a duel show with another visual artist who I would not have ever thought to pair with on my own. It was through the curating savvy of the Visual Arts Director Nicole Lampl that the show came together and really brought out the best of what my work could do in a shared space. The Executive Director, Christopher Brazelton was the first to open the doors to me at Woodstock Arts months before the Reeves House was opened to the public and I am eternally grateful that he allowed me the opportunity to be a small part of the artist community there. Once Nicole came on board, the Reeves House really started rolling and is fast becoming a true destination for the visual arts in North GA. Their expertise and vision have given me a fantastic opportunity to show my work and to be a part of a growing fine art journey.

Website: www.sagecatstudio.com

Instagram: @SageCatStudio

Facebook: @SageCatStudio

Image Credits
Erik Scherb