Meet Marshall Tidrick: Freelance Photographer

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

Hi Marshall, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Honestly, there was very little planning behind where I ended up exactly. I was a music major for my first year of undergrad at UT until I realized that I absolutely did not want to do that professionally. It was far too solitary a life for me, but I had no clue where to go from there! I had always had an interest in photography, but I had never really practiced it other than carrying a little point & shoot around in highschool. I ended up taking a class, falling in love with it, working for the college newspaper, and then interning at KUTX in Austin. Ultimately, I ended up majoring in journalism (and french, for some reason) and quickly found that it was a difficult field in which to find a job where I’d feel happy and fulfilled. I ended up moving home with my parents for a year while I worked at the Apple store to save up some money, a situation that I’m very thankful for and lucky to have. After I’d had enough of that job for the rest of my life, I worked at a friend’s start-up but that didn’t really feel right either. The defining moment came when I was spinning my wheels in January 2017 and wound up getting a few various photo gigs from friends. I remember realizing “Hey! that’s enough for rent! I wonder if I can do that again!” and I’ve been saying that every month for four years now.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I love photographing people above all else. Making portraits brings me a kind of happiness that I seldom feel. I particularly enjoy working with film when I’m making portraits; there’s something special about the way people interact with film cameras as opposed to digital. I’ve been getting into large format film photography a lot lately in particular! It’s slow and expensive if you mess up but it’s so much fun and the photo quality is amazing. I’ve also been working on a series during the pandemic that I call “Front Porch-raits”, about people living through this bizarre experience and documenting them in their safe outdoor space on their front porch (or whatever equivalent space they have)

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Barton Springs is 100% necessary! Also our food scene is out of this world. Austin and Houston share that quality for sure. In Austin I think the best parts of the city are the outdoor spaces!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Oh geez, definitely more than one person to call out here.. My parents for always being enthusiastic and encouraging (even when they are not sure that I’m making the best financial move, aka studying music and then switching to photography, haha) My professors in college Dennis Darling, Eli Reed (and many others, but these two in particular.) All of my colleagues at the student paper where I worked for three great years were majorly inspiring. Perhaps my biggest thanks have to go to Jorge Sanhueza-Lyon, who was my boss at my KUTX internship. He always pushed me (and still does) to stretch my limits and make scary choices, such as leaving my safe job because I wasn’t happy! Which is how I wound up where I am today.

Website: marshalltidrickphoto.com
Instagram: @marshalltidrickphoto

Image Credits
Marshall Tidrick