Photographer, editor, and publicist Heather Hawke found her calling

Before she found her footing in the music industry, Heather Hawke studied business management. She also worked a few retail jobs and tried her hand in the culinary arts. Oh, and she did a stint as a part-time caregiver for a family friend with dementia, and at one point, held a day-time job at a bakery. Throughout it all, though, there was a constant: “I was absolutely certain that I wanted to be involved in music. I just had to figure out a way into it.”

On finding a back door

It was her dad who sparked Hawke’s love of photography. He would make home videos about their day-to-day life, she said, and she’d always want to look at the playback immediately afterwards. Hawke documented outings herself, through disposable cameras or journaling, and when her dad gifted her a small point-and-shoot digital camera, she got the chance to work with a different format. Her dad loved to chronicle their lives, and she felt like that was in her blood too.

Like most teens in the early aughts, Hawke had a Myspace account. But instead of worrying about her Top 8, she used it to “friend” people who worked in the music industry. The social media platform also encouraged music discovery, and it was where she found out about bands like Hellogoodbye, The Format, and Say Anything. When she thought about what she’d do after college, the first field she thought of was music.

Cage the Elephant. Photo by Heather Hawke.

When Hawke made her way towards college, she struggled to find a clear path into the music industry. She spent the next few years trying her hand at a variety of degrees and professions, hoping the next thing would pull her out of her rut.

In 2010, she was casually scrolling through the local jobs section on Craigslist when she came across a listing for a Production Assistant role for an independent movie that was filming in her city in Nevada. Hawke reached out, got an interview, and was hired on the spot. Although the job lasted for only two months, she said that “it was the hardest and one of the best experiences of my life… It made me even more persistent to find a way into the music and entertainment industry.”

In 2011, she got an in. Hawke responded to a call for journalists for an online entertainment magazine and started writing music news articles, interviewing up-and-coming musicians.

“I felt so good about myself and the path that it was leading,” Hawke said. “It was mind-blowing that it took me this long to figure out how to get involved.”

Her first foray in concert photography was when she requested a press ticket for a fun. concert. The band’s publicist asked if she’d also want a photo pass, and since Hawke recently got a DSLR camera, she said sure. “During this time, being in communication with photographers that worked for the site, I became aware that music photography was a feasible thing for other people,” she said. “I just didn’t think it was ever an option for me.”

Because she didn’t know any photographers in her hometown, she turned to the internet for guidance. And when she went to another fun. show later in the year, she got to shoot in the photo pit for the first time.

“It was from that point on that my passion for music photography was solidified,” she said. “I started attending and shooting as many shows as I could.”

Paramore. Photo by Heather Hawke.

On her photography style

When shooting concerts, Hawke admits that she’s drawn to a combination of amber, blue, green, and white. She hardly ever edits photos in black and white.

“I love how using different tones can suggest thoughts of certain emotions,” she said.

When it comes to shooting portraits of musicians, Hawke is self-taught. She’s never seen how other photographers have conducted photoshoots, so she relies on her instincts (and research). Before she meets with a musician, she’ll use Google Street View to find potential places to shoot. These locations are typically near the concert venue where the musician will be performing at later in the day (“There really is no venue that seems to be in a beautiful/not-sketchy location, am I right?”).

“I like to go into portrait shoots with the thought that it’s not just about the musicians looking good,” she said. “It’s about finding a way to make them look like how they want people to feel through their music.”

On Decorated Youth

After getting a chance to write for a music publication, Hawke didn’t want to lose her momentum as a contributor to the music industry. While working at her day job in a bakery, she came up with the idea of starting her own magazine: Decorated Youth.

Hawke grew it into a digital and print publication, despite having zero experience in magazine creation and graphic design. She approached it the same way she did when she first started concert photography — spending hours on the internet, teaching herself how to use editing programs. She released the Decorated Youth’s first issue in June of 2013, with a core mission of dedicating the same amount of time and energy to each article and musician, no matter their popularity.

Tame Impala. Photo by Heather Hawke.

On her worlds of music PR and concert photography colliding

Hawke also works as a publicist for Reybee Inc., an L.A.-based record label that cites Lissie, Gang of Four, and the Fratellis in its roster. She pitches journalists for features, album reviews, and music video premieres; does tour outreach; accompanies artists to press events; and researches new writers and publications. Because of her experience as a freelance photographer, journalist, and publicist, Hawke understands how all of these facets of the music industry inform each other (and how best to approach each).

Hawke’s entry into the industry was unconventional, to say the least. But after years of trial and error, she found her way in, on her own terms.

The 20th issue of Decorated Youth will be out June of this year. Here are Heather Hawke’s 12 songs.

I got heavy into pop punk in the eighth grade and found most bands though MTV, browsing the aisles of Tower of Records, or listening to my hometown alternative rock station. I remember watching this music video play on the TV screen while at home one day, and just falling head over heels in love with it and the culture surrounding it. When I got the album, I listened to it so much that it didn’t take long for the CD’s plastic case to start falling apart from wear and tear.

This is truly one of my favorite songs of all time. I feel like it’s one of the most iconic from this time period. In 2003, I was in summer school with one of my best friends, and our moms would carpool us to school and our after-school activities. I remember this song always being on the radio (along with Coheed and Cambria’s “A Favor House Atlantic,” The Darkness’ “I Believe In A Thing Called Love,” and The Ataris “In This Diary”). Every time I hear it, it still brings me right back.

In 2004, my immediate family hosted a family reunion for our huge extended family and I, being a fourteen-year-old daredevil (who already had one bad knee), decided to copy my younger sister and cousin, and jump off a six- to eight-foot retaining wall on the property. The jump did not go as expected and I ended up hurting my “good” knee in the process. After a trip to the ER, I got put in a full-leg, soft cast for a couple of weeks and had to rely on crutches. You can definitely say it was a summer to remember.

The passion that emits from this song still makes it the best to sing (or scream) along to.

The 2000s were near-perfect for alt-rock and pop-punk, and this tune was one of my favorites to come from it. My parents grew up in the Los Angeles-Orange County area, so I always had a longing for Southern California and any pop-punk song that mentioned anything Southern California-related. If it felt like you could drive around, blasting the music with the windows down, I was all over it.

I got my first iPod (an aqua blue 4GB iPod mini) for my birthday in the summer of 2005 and put as much music as I had (and could download) onto it. I started listening to music so much more, since I could take more of it with me than with a CD player, that it basically felt like I had a soundtrack to my life.

My younger sister actually found this song before I did and had it as her ringtone for the longest time. I know it’s such a popular tune to pick, but I feel like this album (along with bands like Ima Robot) was such a gateway for me into the indie-alt world.

Myspace was legendary with music discovery. It was so easy and addicting to find new tracks and musicians off the platform (i.e. The Cab, Motion City Soundtrack, PlayRadioPlay!, Miniature Tigers). After the demise of it, I still craved discovering new music in any way possible, whether it be from TV commercials, compilation CDs, or Urban Outfitter’s digital mixtape they released every so often.

Before Spotify, one of the ways I’d find new music was to go onto iTunes on my iPod touch (before I had an iPhone) and go to the “new alternative releases.” I’d listen to the 30-second clips to see if it was worth buying. I remember finding out about Vampire Weekend and Tokyo Police Club at around the same time, and my mind was blown. They both had the guitar shredding I craved yet the pop sensibilities I adored. They were so loud and wild and uninhibited that I felt an almost instantaneously love and respect for their music. Crazy enough, I didn’t see either band perform live until last year. I can say though, that it was well worth the wait as I got to see two back-to-back shows from each.

Before this album was released Fueled By Ramen put on a show in New York City in 2011 (at Terminal 5, I think) with a few of their bands and did a live stream of it. fun. was one of those bands. They performed this song, which I don’t think was out yet, and I completely fell in love with it.

After a really bad, life-changing night in 2010, I was trying to come to terms with who I wanted to become and how I was going to get there. In 2011, I met some amazing ladies who wrote for an online music zine, and they let me start writing and interviewing musicians for the outlet. I finally found a purpose for myself and I started to see a path that was obtainable.

When I heard this song, especially the line, “You wouldn’t believe the most amazing things/That can come from some terrible nights,” I felt that the song was written for me. When the album finally came out, I listened to it obsessively. It was such a vital album for me at that point in my life. A couple months later, the band was the first band I ever photographed. Completely life-changing.

I was working graveyard hours at a retail job during the winter of 2011 and came across this band when somebody put this track in a playlist. I regularly made nighttime playlists to help me calm down after running around work. This entire EP, especially this song, was a such a good way to wind down, and I’d listen to it when I got home every night. I ended up taking a road trip from Northern Nevada to the Bay Area with some friends a couple years later, and got to see the Paper Kites in concert. It was my first show outside of my hometown.

In 2012 to 2013, I was working full-time at a bakery and at a local radio station as an intern. As I worked in the back of the shop, my coworkers and I took turns picking out the music. Since there was a handful of us who liked the same type of indie and alternative music, we always took the chance to share old and new favorites.

While at that internship, I got free tickets to a Local Natives show about an hour away. Knowing my coworker was in love with them, I invited her along. The day I told her I got the tickets, she immediately started playing their music and said something to the extent of “They’re a band that everyone could appreciate.” They have such a dedicated fan base, nearly every person I talk music with has the same love for them.

Tame Impala’s music, especially Currents, has a huge influence on me because the album came out at a huge turning point in my life. I grew up in a super remote city and when they released “Let It Happen” in spring of 2015, I was in the midst of doing a photography internship in New York, a rewarding period in my life. It was everything that I had been working towards.

I’ve read that when “Let It Happen” was made, it was a turning point for Kevin Parker as well. I related to the theme of isolation around Tame’s previous albums because I’ve always felt isolated, literally from the music and photo community, and because of where I live. Figuratively, I’ve never quite “fit in” anywhere.

However, I vividly remember sitting in my room in New York, playing “Let It Happen” for the first, second, and third time in a row, and feeling overcome with a sense of relief that everything was working out the way it was supposed to. When the album came out, it showed off a new sense of confidence and optimism, and I got swept away by it. It was one of those records that was released at just the right time for me to relate and connect to it.

I got my first freelance photography job in February 2016 and it kicked off a bunch of crazy exciting opportunities that had me traveling to Austin for SXSW and to Chicago for Lollapalooza. I was in Chicago for five nights and for four of those nights, I was shooting some of the after-shows, and one of them was The 1975 at the House of Blues. This was my first time at SXSW, and the second time traveling and being in a city by myself without knowing anyone. These trips out of my hometown, specifically the ones where I was going to shows and meeting people in the industry, made me crave to be a part of this tight knit community.

When I first heard “If I Believe You,” I was immediately taken aback. It’s such a profound track and it hit me right in the gut. That night at the House of Blues, they played it. I was going through personal issues then, so hearing that track live was overwhelming. When I got back to my hotel room, all the emotions sunk in and I had a complete emotional breakdown.

With this song, the 1975 allowed themselves to be vulnerable and were able to convey their own inner battles. They weren’t afraid of sharing their truth, no matter how painful it is. It’s what I admire about them and music in general.

Listen to Heather Hawke’s curated 12 songs playlist on Spotify.