By Jan Carlo Marin

At the University of Maryland, everyone has a dream they want to fulfill – but at least one student is already experiencing his journey early. 

Evan Kim, junior information science and technology design double major, is a student during the day, but a buzzing photographer at night. This head start to his career has afforded him opportunities that most do not get to experience at this age.

Kim shoots for It’s My Party, an independent concert promotion and production company, that owns venues in the DMV area, including the Merriweather Post Pavilion, the 9:30 Club, the Anthem and recently, the Atlantis. Kim also works for Panorama Productions, an event management company in Washington, D.C., that operates nightlife venues such as Ultra Bar, Zebbie’s Garden and Decades. 

Growing up, Kim was influenced by his uncle-in-law who did nature photography. Then, Kim’s childhood friend, Louis Lee, a junior communications major, furthered his infatuation when he watched Lee photograph local church events.  

“He found his niche in night life/concert photography, and it’s been his bread and butter for the past couple of years,” Lee said.

Ian Kim, Evan Kim’s brother, mentioned how he used to spend a lot of time helping his brother take pictures. 

“During the beginning of his journey, it was a lot of time spent helping him take pictures of either me, or him going outside in nature to get pictures that he could edit or photoshop,” said Ian Kim, freshman fire protection major. 

Evan Kim purchased a digital single-lens reflex camera in high school using the money he made from his thrift-based streetwear business. From there, he started to photograph school sporting events and pep rallies. 

When Evan Kim started shooting high school senior portraits and making money, he said he realized he “wanted to upscale the business.” 

Then Evan Kim got a job as a wedding photographer for a local wedding planning company. He honed his skills and talents until he became more comfortable as a photographer, but COVID changed his course entirely.

“When COVID hit, I was really trying to find how I can incorporate my love for music and photography,” Evan Kim said. “So I started reaching out to smaller venues such as Union Stage and shot for them for free.”

Evan Kim moved on to work for District Fray Magazine, which helped him to shoot for bigger shows and bigger venues. The first big artist he worked with was Tyler the Creator. When he contacted Tyler the Creator’s team, he did not get a response until three hours before the concert. 

“That was probably like my biggest win, my first biggest win, getting to shoot a big artist and like that was a really crazy experience,” said Evan Kim. 

Evan Kim later got to shoot more artists at the Capital One Arena, including Post Malone, Machine Gun Kelly and Future.

He said that depending on the artist and their press manager, shooting performances can be very strict. Sometimes, the press manager would make sure that after the first three songs were done, the photographer’s camera gear was locked up, and the SD card was sent off. 

Often, they would only select a few pictures out of the many photos taken at the concert, said Evan Kim. Being a student photographer can be challenging, he said.

“Shooting nightlife stuff, I usually get back home at 3 a.m., so my sleeping schedule is messed up most of the time,” Evan Kim said. “I find that it’s really repetitive and like the rest of my weeks get messed up because of working really late and only getting like five hours of sleep.”

However, he said the upside of having his own business, Evan Kim Photography, is that he can schedule when he wants to work, or what kind of shows he would like to shoot from the companies he is partnered up with. 

As of now, Evan Kim plans to keep up with the nightlife clubs, grow his social media presence and continue doing wedding photography. 

Evan Kim described wedding photography as one of the most consistent high paying jobs a photographer can have. After graduation, he said shooting weddings will be crucial to his success. 

“I really see myself going to weddings after college, and hopefully I can do really well in that field,” said Evan Kim.

Featured Image: Evan Kim poses with his camera. Photo provided by Evan Kim.