Adin Parks
Almost Famous
23 year old Halsey Riesberg lives with a chronic illness, but that didn't stop her from chasing her dream of being a concert photographer.
"Having to shoot differently than everyone else has made it a lot harder to do a job I would give up everything for."
It has been a hard battle for Halsey Reisberg. She’s visited the doctor countless times since her teenage years, all with no full diagnosis. "It kind of felt like even doctors didn’t really listen,” Riesberg said. “I’m coming to you with concerns that shouldn’t be normal for a, at the time, 15, 16, 17, year old otherwise healthy girl.”
Riesberg’s symptoms of her illness are fatigue, chronic migraines, nausea, and a fluctuating heart rate. Sitting or standing up too fast can be dangerous. It opens up the possibility of losing consciousness, so Riesberg is very cautious and slow when it comes to moving up or down.
This affects her ability to work as a concert photographer. She can’t move as well as other photographers in the pool pit of concert venues. Instead, she finds a good vantage point and makes it worth her time.
Riesberg’s symptoms of her illness are fatigue, chronic migraines, nausea, and a fluctuating heart rate. Sitting or standing up too fast can be dangerous. It opens up the possibility of losing consciousness, so Riesberg is very cautious and slow when it comes to moving up or down.
This affects her ability to work as a concert photographer. She can’t move as well as other photographers in the pool pit of concert venues. Instead, she finds a good vantage point and makes it worth her time.
Despite her setback, Halsey continues to live out her dream. She works part time as a concert photographer, putting a lot of effort into the music scene in Nashville.
It took a couple months for Riesberg to get into the music scene in Nashville. She worked hard to get into a couple shows. Once she built up a portfolio, she decided to launch her own publication, Almost Famous Magazine.
The publication was created to help grant opportunities to photographers who are struggling getting started in their career. Riesberg wanted to provide that opportunity because she knows what it's like trying to get into the career.
Almost Famous Magazine was created to help grant opportunities to photographers who struggled getting started in their music career. Riesberg wanted to make it a little easier because of her experience getting into the career. Riesberg is currently producing the first physical edition of Almost Famous Magazine, which is predicted to be done by the end of next year.
Riesberg typically covers multiple artists and bands a night. She covered Wolf Twin, a rising artist in the Nashville area.
Riesberg is usually placed in the green room with all of the artists before the shows. She meets a lot of local artists that way, and often grows professional relationships.
Riesberg sets up for an on-camera interview with Shuteye, a rising rock band from the Nashville Area. Riesberg often conducts interviews and puts them on the magazine's social media and website.
Riesberg lives with her family because of her medical condition. “I’m almost 24 years old and I can’t go anywhere alone without someone actually tracking me.”