Meet Cara Bloch | Photographer

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

Hi Cara, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking.
In the late 90’s, I was a hostess at a chic hotel restaurant with my best friend right out of college. It was a fun job with little responsibility beyond seating people. My best friend struck up a mild flirtation with a hotel guest and picked up the phone one evening, dialing his hotel room number with the intention of meeting him. Startled, I said, “That is against company policy; you’ll get fired.” With a serious glance, she turned to me and said ” Life is not a dress rehearsal; I go after what I want.” Inspired by her confidence, I applied to art school and moved to NYC knowing no one. I could have stayed in the city where I was born, but I chose the risk of a more challenging, wild environment that would stretch me beyond my comfort zone and push me to grow. While many aspire to become magazine photographers, success depends on an artist’s willingness to put their work into the world, take risks, and accept rejection as part of the process. Each time I felt nervous about dropping my portfolio off, completing a job I wasn’t so sure I was qualified for, or jumping on a plane to complete a job in an unfamiliar area, I think about her statement, and I realize I have nothing to lose. Taking risks is not only necessary-it’s also fun.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans, and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I have been photographing since I was a teenager. Our family home served as an early studio, with friends stepping in as muses as I recreated fashion editorials and rock album artwork that inspired me, simply with a vintage point-and-shoot disc camera. In high school, I was a fan of hair metal music and spent nights at local clubs, convincing local bands to pose for me, creating promotional images that helped them secure bookings and were published in local magazines and newspapers. I hung out outside the local clubs and began to sell the images that I printed in my high school darkroom and quietly built my first photography business. Then I went to college at the University of Colorado. In college, I did not decide to study photography, convinced it was still just a hobby, and secured a safe liberal arts degree just like everyone else. I felt perplexed and disenchanted, and started working for my Dad in Miami, where I am from. Feeling stuck, a friend encouraged me to apply to the International Center of Photography in NYC, and I jumped at the opportunity and was thrilled to be accepted.

After a challenging year at Art School, I ran into another friend, Belinda Lopez, in the photography section at Barnes & Noble in New York City. Belinda was trying to secure a job as a photo assistant in NYC, and she explained to me her process. The next day, we went to Office Max, and she introduced me to my new best friend, the fax machine, and I bought a cover letter book. Driven by the anxiety of slipping back into a conventional life, Belinda and I met daily to write cover letters and resumes, faxing them to photographers we admired and were dying to assist. We hung out in the Condé Nast cafeteria, introduced ourselves to editors over lunch, and stalked photo editors and agency people at Art Basel and fashion week parties. We were relentless. Ultimately, the hard work and long hours paid off, and I landed a job as an assistant to a prominent music video director, Matt Mahurin. I felt really happy, but still had the desire to become a rock photojournalist like him and craft stories about bands just like Annie Leibovitz, Mick Rock, Anton Corbijn, and Lynn Goldsmith, to name a few. While assisting during the day, I spent nights in New York City music venues photographing local bands and live performances the same way I did in High School. In the early 2000s, the NYC rock scene was exploding with bands like The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Rapture, Interpol, LCD Soundsystem, and TV on the Radio, creating a new version of the NYC rock identity. I snapped a majority of these bands outside after shows, and the images were eventually published in publications such as Punk Planet, Index Magazine, Pop Smear, Nylon, and The Fader. As I tried to pursue photography full time, I presented my portfolio to numerous magazines, facing constant rejection. During this period, I stepped away from nightlife, drinking, and romantic relationships to focus entirely on work. I heard the magazine market in London was less commercial and more visually daring, so I traveled to London and dropped my portfolio off at NME, only to have them return with a contract. I worked as a correspondent, and I constantly traveled for the next ten years, photographing bands and music festivals all over the world. Those images were recently featured in the documentary Meet Me in the Bathroom, which describes the explosion of the music scene and cultural cool changes NYC was experiencing during that time period. It was gritty, competitive, and I loved being right in the middle of it.

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?
Denver is an amazing city with restaurants and bars galore, but my most treasured item is a black card at Casa Bonita and my favorite place to take guests

Hiking at Piney River Ranch, a concert at Mission Ballroom, dinner at The Ginger Pig, shopping for records at Wax Tracks, or a beer at Proust at Bierstadt Lagerhaus.

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?
To begin my boyfriend Jason Chinnock. When we first met I was experiencing career burn out. I packed my lenses in socks and carried tools in plastic bags. He bought me a proper bag, tools, and organized not only my equipment but my hard drives are all alphabetically organized as well. Basically, organizing my mind. His message, organization is the foundation of success. A clean desk is a clean mind.

My dad was a salesman. From being around him all the time, we rarely ever left somewhere without him making an acquaintance. His outgoing personality has only inspired me to take the risks I did thoughout my career.

The amazing photographers I admired growing up : Bruce Gilden, Diane Arbus, Tim Walker, Matt Mahurin, Sally Mann, Mary Ellen Mark, Annie Leibovitz, Jim Marshall, Anton Corbijn, and Mick Rock and all the stories they have to tell has been inspiring as an artist.

I have read a majority of their biographies. A great biography especially about a struggling rock band is also inspiring and motivational.

Website: https://carabloch.com

Instagram: https://cara.bloch

Linkedin: Cara Bloch

Facebook: Cara Bloch

Image Credits
Photography by Cara Bloch
Photo os me by Jason Chinnock