Some of My favorite moments in my career

Hey!  My name is Alex Thomas; I’m a 21 year old autistic photographer, videographer, digital marketing manager, social media manager, tour manager, graphic designer, publicist, publication owner, website designer, “tour mom”, merch girl and more based out of Dallas, TX 

 I’ve had a camera in my hands since I was 18 months old when my great-grandmother gave me a disposable film camera.  I stumbled all over her house that day taking photos of everything I saw, and photography has been my passion ever since then. I was homeschooled just about my whole life so I spent every minute of every day outside taking photos growing up and when I was 12 I had the opportunity to study photography under Ann Beard— who was taught by possibly the biggest legend in the photography industry, Ansel Adams.   At 15 years old I attended UTA where I would receive certifications in multiple photography and Photoshop courses.  Around that same time I was also training to become a veterinarian while volunteering at Arlington Animal Shelter, when suddenly one day I would attend my first MISSIO concert and fall in love with the music industry.  After seeing MISSIO and Zeale live at House of Blues Dallas in 2017 I started doing as much research as possible to learn all I could about the music industry, and eventually would have the honor of working with both of them and learning a lot through them along the way.  That same year some of my photos of alternative band I Dont Know How But They Found Me would be published in Alt Press magazine, I would go on my first small tour run, skip my graduation to photograph Hangout Music Festival, and work for a local music venue as the house photographer and work for multiple music publications as a photographer and writer.   I would continue to photograph concerts all over the US and film my first music video alongside photo & video legend Will Von Bolton.  

By 17 I met my tour family in Prophets and Outlaws and I have spent most my time on the road with them since then doing photo, video, digital marketing management, band management, tour management, merch design, website design, publicity, and much more.  I had the incredible honor of helping them use their 2021 single with Pat Green “Little Bit Of Love” to raise over $10,000 for The North Texas Food Bank, providing over 30,000 meals to hungry children, seniors and families across North Texas during the horrible snow storm where many were without food or shelter.  The music video I directed, shot, and edited for this song would eventually be shared on Fox 4 News here in Dallas with Pat Green and our lead singer Matt Boggs talking about the song to help encourage more donations and generally encourage more kindness around the world.  

Between 2019-2022 whenever I wasn’t on the road with PAO I was working with MISSIO, Blackillac, Jena Rose, Young Optimist, and many more bands for photo and video work along with continuing to photograph review and interview the touring bands coming through Texas and surrounding states for the publications I was working for.  In 2019 I had the honor of doing photo and video for Blackillac at Austin City Limits Music Festival where we would end the day on stage with Gary Clark Jr. (the headliner that year) and film the sea of hundreds of thousands of people crowded together singing “Come Together” with Blackillac and Gary Clark Jr.  

At 18 years old I also started hosting a yearly benefit concert raising money for The Trevor Project, a non profit suicide hotline for LGBT+ youth across America.  I would reach out to The Trevor Project, all musicians, venues, and crew on my own and got these shows booked all by myself with any and all money spent on hosting these events coming out of my pockets directly so that every penny made from ticket sales could go right to The Trevor Project and hopefully help those in need.  Having struggled severely with depression my whole life I always want to do what I can to help those who are at their worst moments and encourage them to keep fighting their demons because it does eventually get so much better.  

Recently I’ve decided to go back to college to attend NYU’s online music industry essentials courses to learn more about band social media management, marketing music, writing music, artist management, mixing mastering and producing music, tour management and more along with doing more research on different fields in the music industry.  I started my own music publication, Tour Life Mag, to help get more women, POC, and LGBT+ creatives in the music industry assisting them any way I can with the knowledge and experience I’ve gained over the last 5 years of non stop work in many different roles.  I’ve started providing much more digital marketing management and website design for bands and companies over the last several months.  And I've been training my German shepherd puppy Bandit as a service dog.  

My goal for my business is to one day be a one stop shop for musicians and artists so that they can focus solely on making the art they love and spend time with their families and friends instead of needing to spend every spare minute on the business side of their industry; and hopefully start my own non profit one day to help those with mental health issues get all of the help they need.  Until then I'm continuing to learn and grow and help out wherever I can, however I can

I'm always up for new adventures and challenges and I'm currently looking to tour, so don’t hesitate to reach out to me at aetphotographer@gmail.com to work together.