Who's in the Crew? - Spotlight on Britney Young

NAME: Britney Young - https://www.instagram.com/byoungphoto
Personal Work: http://byoungphotography.com/
HSC Portfolio: https://headshotcrew.com/byoung

WHERE ARE YOU FROM AND WHERE DO YOU LIVE NOW? I’m from Nashville, Tn, and moved to New York 5 years ago.

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN SHOOTING HEADSHOTS? Professionally, I started shooting headshots about a year into working for Peter, so 4 years.

WHAT ELSE DO YOU LIKE TO SHOOT? Environmental Portraits. Also absolutely love looking/studying street photography but I never shoot it.

WHEN DID YOU FIRST DISCOVER PH AND THE HSC? My senior year of college (Jan 2015) I was interning at a studio in Franklin, Tn. One day the photographer there said he had a friend coming in for headshots and he wanted me to shoot some of it. I immediately freaked and started googling everything about headshots. Then of course Peter popped up. I’m sure I discovered The Headshot Crew around that time but didn’t really know what it was until I started working for him.

HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU TO JOIN THE CREW ONCE YOU FOUND IT? Well, technically 10 months. From January when I first discovered the crew to October when I got the assistant job and Peter made me an account.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR JOURNEY FROM STUDYING PHOTOGRAPHY TO FINDING YOURSELF ASSISTING a PHOTOGRAPHY LEGEND. Honestly, it was a long string of good luck and crazy coincidences. One of my college professors helped me get an internship at the Maine Media Workshops. For 3 months I got to assist amazing photographers like Peter Turnley and Joyce Tenneson. One of my main tasks as the studio intern was to photograph headshots for the actors that were volunteering for the video classes. This is when I really did a deep dive into Peter’s work.

With 2 weeks left in the summer, a staff member informed me that a photographer in NY was looking for an assistant. That photographer was Peter. The same photographer who’s work I was consuming all summer! Also, a B&H sales rep that I had met that same week knew Peter and passed along my info to him. While driving from Maine back to Nashville I stopped in NY for an interview.

WHAT IS A TYPICAL WORKDAY LIKE FOR YOU? Hahaha. The most interesting part of this job is that there is no ‘typical’ day. One day I could have a location shoot with a whole company while Peter has a few shoots lined up in the studio. The next day we might not have a shoot scheduled, so I will be retouching and trying to get caught up on admin things. But then someone could swing by to say hey and we will end up shooting a tutorial video with them.

WHERE DO YOU SEE YOURSELF IN 10 YEARS? I have no idea where I will be in 10 years. no idea! I hope that I’m still learning and growing, doing something creative, and that I’m happy and healthy.

WHAT IS ONE THING PEOPLE WOULD NEVER GUESS ABOUT YOU? In my early 20s, I worked the night shift as a certified nurse assistant at Vanderbilt Hospital. I would take vitals, draw blood, and give a ton of baths.

WHAT IS ONE THING YOU WISH PEOPLE KNEW ABOUT YOU? I’m really having a hard time coming up with an answer to this question. So probably that I’m indecisive and over-analyze. :)