CATCHING UP WITH ... Prof. J Flynn Talks Shop with Internationally Renowned Photographer Atom Moore (COMM '05)

In this episode of the CATCHING UP WITH... series, Professor J Flynn catches up with Atom Moore (COMM ’05), to talk about about what it takes to become an internationally renowned watch photographer and artist.  Beginning with his time in the Fitchburg State photography department to becoming a master of his craft working around the world for prestigious companies, Atom and J discuss the merger of craft with one's fascination -- and the crucial role pursuing his interests with his camera and lens led to his professional success.  

In a New York Times profile about Atom's work, Tadashi Shibuya, the vice president of the Casio USA Timepiece Division, lauded Atom's artistry: “In the realm of watch photography, Atom’s lens goes beyond mere documentation....transforming timepieces into art through his innovative, unique and creative perspective.” 

Atom Moore's macro photography has been featured in several critically acclaimed gallery exhibitions -- including Second Nature, which was part of the Alumni Artist series in the Sanders Gallery on the Fitchburg State campus in 2025.

Follow Atom on Instagram and check out his work at www.atommoore.com.

The Gallery exhibition and campus visits were made possible by the generous support of The Clementi Family Lecture Fund -- and the organizational support and enthusiasm of Tanya Hoos Crowley (MS '21) of the Alumni office.

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This conversation was recorded in April 2025, before a live audience in the Hammond Lounge.  The discussion has been edited for brevity. 

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Episode transcript can be found here.

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This episode was produced by Adam Fournier (COMM '25).   Adam is the creator of the CATCHING UP WITH... series and a newly minted graduate of the Film/Video Production program in the Communications Media Department.  We thank Adam for his hard work and dedication to the mission of the Perseverantia podcast network.  Best wishes, Adam! We will miss you but you have a wonderful road ahead!

Click here to learn more about Perseverantia. Join us for programming updates on Instagram. Or reach out with ideas or suggestions at podcasts@fitchburgstate.edu.

Transcript

This transcript was created by AI robots; there may be mistakes and inaccuracies.

Atom Moore (Cold Open): Being immersed in the field that you want to be in, even if you're not necessarily into the specific things you're doing every day. 'cause you, no one is right. They're not always into everything they're doing every day. Those are the luckiest people in the world who are doing that. But like I was already following my passions for the things that I wanted to do, and eventually when I got into.

Working in the professional industry, I realized pretty quickly that the things that I was passionate about would shape the direction that I took my career.

[ Catching Up With theme fades in ] 

Adam Fournier (Host): Welcome to Catching Up With Where Fitchburg State Alumni reflect on their time here on campus, celebrate their accomplishments, and discuss how they got from here to where they are.

 Now I'm Adam Fournier, and in this episode, Communications Media Professor J Flynn catches up with Atom Moore, a 2005 Fitchburg State graduate, who is now an internationally renowned photographer and artist. Atom is known around the world for photographing watches for big name brands like Casio Belova and Grand Seko, just to name a few.

He talks about how he found his niche through his love of macro photography. Fascination with watches and how he was able to make it into a sustainable career. He also explores one of his newest artistic adventures in photography, his art exhibition called Second Nature, which was featured in Sanders Gallery at Fitchburg State.

Thank you all for joining me as we catch up with Atom Moore.

[ Catching Up With theme crescendoes then fades out ] 

Prof. J Flynn: Thank you for coming to our discussion with Atom Moore about merging craft with fascination. I wanna take a moment before we get started to thank the FSU Alumni Association. in particular Tanya Crowley for all her hard work and Jeffrey Wolfman for helping to coordinate all of these events as well.

I'd also like to thank the University Gallery Committee, the communications media department for all their help and work in communicating everything. And especially to the Clemente Family Lecture Fund, which is the benefactor of Atom's exhibition here on campus. And their fund has allowed us to have this chat, which is really great.

I wanna thank you all for attending. Atom is a 2005 Fitchburg State alumnus, internationally renowned commercial still life and product photographer who built a career in macro photography. Photographing watches his photographic craft and fascination with the mechanical nature of watches led to his show's.

 Second Nature, which is currently on view in the Sanders Gallery. If you haven't seen it yet, please go take a look. And we're very happy that it's up and that Atom was able to create this body of work really for the show.

 Atom Moore: It's the first time it's been seen.

 Prof. J Flynn: Yeah. First time it's been seen.

 Atom Moore: Thank you all for having me. I appreciate you being here and hello to all those listening or watching elsewhere.

Prof. J Flynn: So what is it about macro photography that appeals so strongly to you and how did you venture down that path?

 Atom Moore: it was actually incredibly early in my. discovery of photography is a thing that I enjoyed doing.

 I started photographing, action figures, when in, in high school and I, there was some very realistic looking action figures, and I photographed them in such a way and lit them in such a way that they, people thought they were real people at first. And it was right then that I was like, oh, interesting.

I can change people's perspective of what a thing could be. Once I had graduated from Fitchburg, it was really that I began doing a lot more macro photography commercially in that I, I started doing jewelry photography and from jewelry photography that, got me into watch photography. So that's really when, macro for me became my every day because it was in front of me all the time with watches.

 Prof. J Flynn: Yeah, it's fascinating. Like I, I always get really interested in how like macro photography has such similarity with, like large scale photography.

And like I feel like a lot of macro images almost look like NASA images.

 Atom Moore: Yeah. Out of context. Macro can allow you to think about that image, however your mind decides to interpret it.

 So for me, I think that's part of the excitement of macro is that you can. Mess with people's interpretation of what you're actually trying to, document. And I like to be a little tongue in cheek sometimes. it helps to try and purposely make people think something is something else.

 Prof. J Flynn: So what was it about Fitchburg State that drew you to study photography here?

Atom Moore: at first when I was looking for af after graduating high school, I was thinking, okay, I want to do something in photography, but I'm not a. I don't necessarily wanna go to art school. I'm not a traditional artist.

 I don't have a background or desire to go and be a painter or, draw anything. So going to an art school is a little bit lost on me. And so I started looking at direct photography programs in Massachusetts 'cause I, grew up here and I found out that. Fitchburg would let me use Hazel Bloods, pretty quickly.

And the, I think it was like sophomore year, they were like second half. I was gonna be able to touch and use a hablo where if I went to some, other schools, it was, third year before you could touch those things. I was like, oh, great. I want to, I've been doing darkroom photography.

 It's not my first foray into it. So I understood it a fair amount and in high school and then I was like, I want, I wanna graduate to that. I want to get the, get there as soon as I can. To use the higher end professional camera stuff.

Prof. J Flynn: We still do that today, which is fantastic. So I'm, glad to hear that, that was your draw.

So what is it about photography that, that made you decide to pursue it as a career? I just, I guess I wanna preface that with, I think a lot of times, we have family members and parents who worry about us going into creative fields.

 Atom Moore: Sure, yeah. Photography was, I, at the end of my program.

Here for, communications media. I went to New York City to do my internship there, and that really showed me what the, professional world of photography was like, especially in a, city like New York where there's already a large amount of industry in line for what I was good at, doing what I wanted to do.

Prof. J Flynn: Yeah. It's the place, 

Atom Moore: So it was that I could be there and there was a lot of opportunity in that place. To, make a go of it, And it's it's definitely a little daunting to go into a creative field and be at the bottom and figure out what, where you fit in.

 And I definitely, paid my dues, if you will. I was an assistant in New York for. probably eight to 10 years before I became the guy who was getting hired to do the photography. it was, I was doing my own photography on the side, of course, all the time, but it was, I wasn't getting necessarily hired to be the photographer.

I was part of the crew. It was a good learning experience because it's all about who you know, in a creative industry, right? it's definitely very important to have a good core of. Of people that you know in an industry so that there is opportunity for you. So that if I got an assisting job that was okay, we're gonna be in this studio for five days this week, somebody else on that job might say, Hey, I need a second assistant next week on a job, and I may not have anything booked yet.

 So there you go. It's it's about the relationships that you make in that field. So it was like you started at the bottom, but you. Constantly build and nurture those relationships and you look where you want to be.

Prof. J Flynn: You mentioned your internship program in New York.  Our, internship program is something that we're very proud of here. So what was that experience like and how did that help become a, catalyst to, to really join the industry and gain your reputation?

Atom Moore: At first, you have to decide where you want to go on your internship. And that's.

There were several places that I looked at and that I had contacted and back in, 2004, 2005 when I was, or 2004 when I was looking into going on my internship, I had a portfolio of prints. that's what you do. You go somewhere and you show somebody your physical prints that you had made, you know what you can bring and what your eye is like.

 And generally speaking, all the people I was going to were. I had some, did some sort of photography that I was interested in and also learning. And there I was between a place in New York and a place in LA and I decided to go to New York just because it was, it seemed more in line with, just where I wanted to be at the time.

 And it was with two photographers who is, one of them was more of a still life photographer and the other was more of a portrait photographer, which was great. So it was a small studio. They had a studio manager, and then I was the assistant. And it was great because I got to learn what it was like to be on a professional set on a commercial set, multiple days in a row.

 It was, short one day shoots at the time, of course, in 2005, most of the industry was still film and it was just then transitioning over. And the still life photographer there was, a big proponent of digital. So I got to use digital pretty early on, it being very prolific thing for the professional industry.

So because of that, I was like on the cusp of where things were about to go, right? Like I was fortunate that I was there, right when. Doing an internship with someone who was already saying, oh, this is where it's gonna go. And that was very helpful. I feel like they taught me a lot about what the industry was and how, who to contact in the studios in order to get assisting jobs and things like that. 

Ultimately, they helped me right off the bat get some work just by the connections that they already had with those particular studios.

Prof. J Flynn: I also resonate with, the idea of moving from, film to digital. and of course, that transition for the most part has fully occurred.

Here at Fitchburg we still hold on to the values of teaching film and really having students slow down and understand that history. But I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about just, how that shift impacted the industry. Because you, you got to see it firsthand.

 Right?

Atom Moore: I would say, first off, I love that Fitchburg is still teaching film, and I'll tell you why. Because when I look at, photographers who only know digital, who are coming into the world now into the professional world, it's a different way of learning than learning with film. So I think that it's a real boon for any photographer to learn.

The basics in the film world, because there's a lot more thought that goes into every click of the shutter. there's for, me, I'm, I feel grateful that I learned on film, and then when I went into the professional world, it was almost immediately a transition into digital because I understood how to light something and get it very quickly and understand what I wanted and think about it in a way, before I clicked the shutter, I was.

Already a, few steps ahead of where someone might be if digital is the only thing they know. and the reason I say that is because everybody has a camera on their phone with them at all times. Yeah. And people fancy themselves, photographers, even just because they have a camera, oftentimes people will just take a, camera of whatever sort and just start clicking away.

 And if you shoot enough shots, you're likely to get something decent.

 Prof. J Flynn: Yeah. Spray and pray.

Atom Moore: Yeah. Pray and pray. But there's a lot less intention and a little more luck in that. And I feel like the base level that I had of understanding photography's rules and understanding those basics really helped me transition into the digital world.

So I think it's great that it's the base that's here. I actually had a, an interesting experience pretty early on. I think it was around 2006 when I was assisting. I was working for a photographer who shot for Gourmet Magazine. His name was Ramo Es. And he was the guy, he was the in-house photographer at Gourmet and I went to their test kitchen, which is where they had their studio.

And for whatever reason, gourmet Magazine was very old school. the editor there loved four by five Chromes, so he made Romulo shoot four by five Chrome because that was the way that particular person. Knew how to look at the images and go, oh, this is what it, this is how I need to see this in order to lay things out.

And Mila was like, no. We need to go digital. We need to go digital. So that I was there as an assistant, what was then known as a digital tech.

Prof. J Flynn: There's nothing like working in industry. it just, again, from my experience as well, I didn't necessarily do an internship, but start working with a professional photographer right away, and the education value of that is, is really incredible.

 Atom Moore: Yeah. I would say being immersed in the field that you want to be in, even if you're. Not necessarily into the specific things you're doing every day. 'cause you, no one is right. They're not always into everything they're doing every day. Those are the luckiest people in the world who are doing that.

Even if it's a difficult thing to get through that day of shooting. and maybe you messed up a little bit. Maybe you, don't have the knowledge that you need yet, but being on set with somebody as an intern who is trying to also essentially be a coach, a teacher to you. Is, I think a really great thing that, that Fitchburg has as a program and good luck to all the people who are about to go on their internships.

 It's, a fun time for sure.

 Prof. J Flynn: One of the things that I try to impress on my students is to photograph their interest. photography is such a wonderful medium for us as artists and to be able to take to our passions, our, fascinations and what we're into.

So how has this helped in your career and how has that helped guide where you ended up?

Atom Moore: I would say that passion in photography is incredibly important. When I was here at Fitchburg, I was taking a lot of pictures of people and there was a lot of people in the tattoo and piercing world that I got very interested in, and I started doing a lot of portraiture of the, of that community.

And it was because I was passionate about all the elements of that world and what it was, and the visuals of that world and. When I moved to New York, I've always been big into bicycles. I'm a big cyclist. There was a huge cycling community there. and that passion brought me to, make many friends in the cycling world and photograph many events and many, big bike rides and things like that.

And then eventually to photograph for some, bicycle companies. Just, photographing their frames and things like that. Going to their facilities and photographing the things that they produce by hand. like I was already. Following my passions for the things that I wanted to do. And eventually when I got into digital teching and working in the, professional industry, I realized pretty quickly that the things that I was passionate about would shape the direction that I took my career.

And by that, I mean I saw right away working on like fashion shoots in New York City that I didn't want to become a fashion photographer That was just. I didn't wanna photograph people, even though I loved photographing people for my job. So still life became the thing that I enjoyed doing. I'm a neurodivergent person.

I have ADHD. I didn't realize that until much later in life. But because of that, I can oftentimes hyperfocus on things. And for me being in the studio by myself or with a small crew doing a still life shoot, there's so many little tiny details and angles and lighting and things that you can tweak. Just a tiny little amount, which changes a lot on set.

And those little details, those little things, I found very satisfying for me and therefore I was, it was easy to find passion for still life photography.

Prof. J Flynn: So how did you move from like still life photography to really developing your niche and becoming known as one of the preeminent watch photographers in, New York?

Atom Moore: So it, it's a, weird little. Transition because when I first moved to New York City, I needed a job while I was doing my internship as one does, and I got a job at the Swatch store in Times Square. if, everyone doesn't know what Swatch is, they're plastic watches with quartz movements and they're often, very artistic.

 They're very bright colored and super fun with that. I didn't have a lot of experience in watches at all that at that point. But I learned quickly that the organization, swatch Group also owned many other high-end watch brands. And because I worked at the Swatch store, I was able to see the catalogs for

Omega and Brigade, these higher-end watch brands.

And I had no concept of really what they were, but I got to see the watches in the catalog and I could, I was like, oh, okay. That's interesting. And I just filed that away. Fast forward a little bit. I had gotten married and, my wife at the time, she had a friend who started a watch club and when Instagram was a new thing, he was posting these photos of these dudes in a dark bar, hunched over a table with these watches, and we're like, what the hell is this?

What's going on here? So he's oh, come out. Come out. And we're like. we're not watch people. we've got some swatches. What do you want? we don't have, they said, no, Come out. Come out and join us, and you got swatches. Great. Bring your swatches. And I brought our swatches and I put them on the table.

And somebody with who has worked in the industry, who has worked at a retailer somewhere. Had a very expensive Patek Philippe perpetual calendar with Diamond Bezel. I, at the time, I had no concept of what that watch was, but they put their watch on the table in front of me and they said, I love Swatch.

 And they picked it up and they were, they told their story about how when they were young, they collected swatches and it was just like. Oh, the people who were there, even with their high-end watches were not snobby about it. They were there because they enjoyed collecting a thing. And I realized quickly that it wasn't about what the thing was.

It was about, oh, we're with like-minded people and by being around like-minded people, you start making friends all over the place. So I've got friends today that I met very early on in this watch collector group. So because of this collector group, I was able to. Meet one day, a guy who owned a vintage watch company.

He'd found out that I was a photographer. I would, actually, I would bring my camera to these dark bars and I'd set up in the corner and, I would be over there by myself. And one day this guy walks over and he is oh, I'm my photographer's outta town. Do you want to come by and, work for the next month with me?

And he ended up hiring me and I worked for him for four years. And by the end of it, I was his art director for his company. After working for them for four years, I became a freelance specifically to photograph watches. Then my entire business became watches with the watch collector group, red Bar.

I had been going to the watch trade shows in Switzerland, which happened twice a year at the time, and I would meet all the people who worked for the brands and the, sometimes the watchmakers, the artists, the people behind the designs themselves. So I, I started making those relationships and eventually I got enough work that I could.

Be a freelancer on my own, working directly for those brands.

Prof. J Flynn: I think it's a, it's such a great story, right? Because it truly like just revolves on our interest and where we go with the skillset that we have as photographers. And then, build a career off of photographing something that you're passionate about, the way you talk about watches and the mechanical nature of them.

The craftsmanship that goes into building them. we all know. Time is like so embedded in photography too, right? Yeah. And like the, in, in many ways, like the way cameras are made and the way watches are made, they they share a lot of similarities. Sure.

In, in the New York Times article, the, vice president of Casio wrote that in the realm of watch photography, Atom's lens goes beyond mere documentation. It breathes life into GShock, transforming time pieces into art. With his innovative and unique and creative perspectives as a photographer and thinking about these things as art and being an artist as well.

Like how is your commercial process informing your artistic process?

Atom Moore: So for those that don't know, in, in 2021, I was hired by, Casio, who has a brand called GShock, which many of you know GShock are relatively, can be relatively inexpensive watches. I was brought on because they had seen my.

My artwork and my artistic, creations that I had done with watches, was like, they were like, okay, this is very interesting and we've seen your commercial photography of watches, so your artistic side and your commercial side, and we want to hire you to come in and take our brand, which is we think is very artistic and fun and colorful and bright.

And we like to collaborate with artists when we make watches. We want to bring an artist in to do the book project. So it was serendipitous to be able to have all of that in the background. Plus, I was a watch person, right? I wasn't just a photographer, I was a person who understood what the watches needed to look like on the page, right?

And that was really important for them. Beyond that, I was just a good photographer, a good still life photographer that they could have just as easily hired any good still life photographer to come in. But because. Of my specific niche. it's really where they wanted to bring me in. On that particular thing, which was really awesome.

Prof. J Flynn: We were talking about some stories with the book. You got to handle some historic watches for,

Atom Moore: for Casio? Yep.

Prof. J Flynn: Yeah. And like photograph people throwing 'em out the window and things like that.

Atom Moore: yeah. So a real amazing story and that particular thing. So the founder of GShock, his name is, Kiko ibe.

He originally, he worked at Casio and he wanted to build a robust watch because. the watch that his dad gave him, which was a, Swiss mechanical watch, he dropped it and it broke. And he was like, ah, my God. So he was at Casio and he was like putting tape around, watches big balls of tape to, and he was throwing them outta the third floor window, just chucking them out the window and they were hitting the ground and, he was seeing what worked so he could make this internal cage that eventually worked and became GShock.

We recreated this for the book. And he threw the watch down and the person who worked for Casio caught it. And then we immediately realized that was one of the original prototypes from 40 years ago. We had just asked him to go and get a watch and throw it out the window, and he grabbed this 40-year-old prototype that was essentially priceless to the brand and chucked it out the window at us.

And we all just stared at each other and we're like. That's incredible. working in the, in, in the photo world, that's where you, those moments are the, like things that you'll remember forever about, about working on a job,

Prof. J Flynn: I guess, pivoting to, to second nature. Could you walk us through more about the exhibit and your thoughts behind it and, I think there's a really strong correlation between, your commercial work and your fascination with macro photography.

Atom Moore: So I started. I, of course, have thousands of watch photos and I was trying to figure out what the next thing was, and it took a couple of years to, to get there because with any artistic creative endeavor, it can often take a long time to really develop that in your own head and develop it as an actual thing and to make it happen.

But I, I started photographing plants and this is a little bit different than watches. I know. I moved to the Bronx from Brooklyn and I found this incredible garden called Wave Hill, and it's up on this plateau and it's overlooking the Hudson River and it's this gorgeous, beautiful place. It's a public garden.

Anyone can go there. And my wife and I started going there. It's like a mile from our apartment. So we would just go on the weekends and I started bringing my camera and photographing the plants with how I know to photograph, which is macro. And I'd never looked at plants that close before, and I started finding this world that was just super fascinating.

So I started collecting these vast amounts of images of plants, and I just took the plant images and crossed them with the macro photography of watches that I was doing. And it just became this aha moment of this is where it's supposed to go. This is the where my creative thought process is, was leading me to.

I just needed, I needed some other element outside of just taking watch parts and putting 'em together. I needed an inspiration and I found that in an unlikely place in a garden, I never thought that I would. Photograph plants. When I was here in school, my assumption about people who take pictures of flowers was that it was cliche and it was, anyone is gonna go take a picture of a flower because it's a pretty thing.

It's a traditionally pretty thing. So I just started ignoring. Plant photography because I had these preconceived notions of what kind of photographer, of someone who photographed flowers. What? Which was completely wrong, of course, it was just at the time, that's where what it was in my brain. But until I got into seeing what plants had to offer as far as macro photography, because fast forward a long distance between my thought process of plants are for a certain type of photographer and finding plants to photograph, I developed so much skill and of.A specific type of macro.

Prof. J Flynn: do you think you, were, kinda led more to the plant photography too, to just to photograph something, different?

Atom Moore: No, people ask me if I get tired of photographing watches and the answer is no. not for me. It just, it doesn't get boring. And I'm fortunate enough to work with brands who make a watch that are a hundred dollars and brands that make a watch that are a hundred thousand dollars.

And for me, neither one of those. Ends of the spectrum means that the watch is gonna be cool or something interesting to photograph, but I always have a desire to find out. So if whatever watch is put in front of me is my current favorite watch to photograph. people are like, what's your favorite watch to photograph?

And I can't answer the question because I get to see everything. So whatever's in front of my lens right now is my favorite watch to photograph. Because there's always something new to explore no matter what it is. And what I mean by that is in design, when somebody is making a physical product, when they're taking a concept and they're bringing it out into the world and they're making a physical version of it, there is intention behind it.

There is thought behind it. And with my lens, I am figuring out for myself at first. What it is that this watchmaker, this watch designer, decided to do with their product. And I get to learn that with my lens. That's just, that's the way that I get to learn and that is never boring for me.

Prof. J Flynn: So I guess, just bringing it back to the industry and starting to come to a close.

What, do you think some of the most challenging aspects of being an advertising photographer today are?

Atom Moore: Oh boy. I suppose that balancing the expectation that a client has with what you can do for them, for the amount of money is always a very, it's, that's the way that the freelance world works.

As video becomes more and more of the thing that is required of everyone, every photographer, I'm a great photographer, but. I also need to be a great videographer because all of the current ways that people market things are, very video heavy. And so I've started to do a lot more video because of that.

I never took video classes here at Fitchburg. I never took film classes, but I had many friends who did. So like I was around that, those people, and I understand the thinking behind it, and I understand how to create a, narrative and a story. That's one of the trickier things to balance is like a client coming to me and saying.

Okay, great. We can do these photos of our watches, but you can also do video of it too, right? Just throw, that in there. Just throw, in the video, right? And it's wait, how long do we have for this shoot? Oh, just today, just one shoot. Okay. no, we can't do that. and the challenge is how to tell them, no, we can't do that.

We need more time. You need more budget for this in order to do it in a way that. You've seen what I can do, right? it's always a balance to be able to talk to your clients and get what it is that you are worth because you never want to undersell yourself if you are very good at a specific thing In the photography world, you want to ask for what you're worth, but you also want to be respectful of people's budgets.

Everyone's budgets are different. So it's, sometimes when I'm working for a, multinational corporation like cao. They probably have a higher budget than the small guy who makes, a hundred watches per year. So it, there's differences in the way you have to talk to people, but that's one of the more challenging things about advertising in general.

Prof. J Flynn: what's on the horizon for you now? What? What's coming next?

Atom Moore: with the Second Nature exhibition that I have here in Fitchburg, the Garden Wave Hill that I took all the plant photography at this year happens to be their 60th anniversary. And they have. Asked me to be an ambassador for them to help, connect them with, the watch world because they've now seen my exhibition.

Of course, they've seen my images and it turns out that their executive director happens to be a watch collector. This was complete happenstance. I shared the images with them and they were like, oh, our executive director is a watch person. Let's, let's connect you guys. And immediately he was like.

Oh my God, this is amazing. I love this. And so because of that, I now have a very tight relationship with them. And we're working on ways that I can show some of my images there in their garden this year, or early next. So we're working on that. And I'm also, the whole purpose of the second nature exhibit was ultimately in my mind, was to create a book project out of it.

And that involves making more images. So what you guys have seen on the walls here in, the gallery is 15 different images, and I probably need about three times that in order to, make the book that I'm thinking about. The artwork of Second Nature is. I just enjoy creating it. And it's not specifically for a brand, it's for my creative process that I really, it just makes me happy.

Prof. J Flynn: It's one of the best reasons to make work. I think, it's, wonderful to just see like your, interests, your fascinations, like what you bring to your camera just kinda seems to keep propelling you forward and your work forward, in ways that it's really exciting. I think, from here, we haven't heard a whole lot from the audience.

Does anybody have any questions?

Student (Audience): Just more general question? Sure. do you have any tips on approaching brands, businesses, and professionals on, like collaborative work or anything like that?

Atom Moore: If you have a brand that you're interested in working for, show them work that you've already done that's similar or that they might be, might be interested in seeing that they, can understand by seeing that work that you're, on par with somebody they'd wanna hire.

And sometimes pitching them an idea for doing something interesting. sometimes they might say, I'm sorry, I don't have any budget for that. And you might say, okay, I'd love to work with you though, so let's work together and. Sometimes it's, you have to pitch yourself that way. And sometimes you, they might surprise you and go, oh, you know what?

We hadn't thought of doing this, but yes, let's do it. And we've got some budget we can put together for you and let's give it a shot. And then if they see that you have something else also that you've done on your own outside of them asking you to do it, that can go a long way to them, wanting to do more with you, which is a fun thing.

Prof. J Flynn: I have a, I have a whole list of student questions here, and I don't, want to go through them all, but I think one that's important to touch on and again, I mean you just touched on it a little bit, but what advice do you have for photo students who are starting out, who are getting ready to enter the industry?

Atom Moore: I would definitely say know your fundamentals and. I feel like I got my fundamentals more than down by being at Fitchburg and knowing your fundamentals front and back, so that if you go out and, you're, an assistant on set, you already know or can anticipate what people are gonna ask. And it's also, the other piece of advice I would have is know who you are as a photographer.

Know what your voice is. Or attempt to get there. Attempt to understand it, And that can often take a lot of trial and error of figuring out what it is that you love about photography. But if you can find your passion in photography that can help you move forward in the part of your career that is gonna work best for you.

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Prof. J Flynn: Thank you, Atom. This has, been a really great conversation. it's been wonderful to learn more about you and your work and just your path through moving, through Fitchburg into the industry and getting to where you are now. It's, I think it's really inspiring for a lot of us to be able to hang out with you and learn from you, which has.

Really great over the past, really few months. We've been hanging out for a little while.

Atom Moore: Thank you. Thanks, J.

Prof. J Flynn: Thank you.

Atom Moore: And I really appreciate being here. And if anyone either here or watching or listening, if you reach out to me, I'm on Instagram, as Atom Moore, just my name, A-T-O-M, M-O-O-R-E.

And if you have other questions, feel free to, to send them my way. And I really appreciate, coming back to Pittsburgh State.

 Prof. J Flynn: Perfect. Thank you.

Adam Fournier (host):  Thanks for listening to another installment of Catching Up With, and thank you to Jay Flynn. For hosting Atom's return to Fitchburg State. If you wanna see Atom's amazing work, you can check out his website, Atom moore.com, or you can give him a follow on Instagram at Atom Moore. Remember, that's a TOM, not a DAM like my name.

I'm Adam Fournier, and as always, thank you for joining me.

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 Brooke Taylor: This is Brooke Taylor, film student at Fitchburg State University, and you are listening to Perseverantia, the Fitchburg State Podcast Network.

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