Todd Surber- Founder / Owner Photographer

I’ve always been fascinated with pictures. Moving and stills. As far back as I can remember imagery and light have captured my attention. I grew up in the Portland area. I started taking pictures with disposable cameras to document my life and fun times with friends. It was always exciting to go pick up the prints and see how they turned out. When digital cameras came out, I was really hooked on photography. I loved being able to preview the images immediately and make adjustments on the fly. That’s when the creative part of it really kicked in for me.

My passion, in the beginning, was mainly photographing bands' live shows. I was always a fan of live music and it was natural to want to document the bands to remember the event and the feeling. 

After a couple of years of photographing bands locally, I moved to LA and got deep in the music scene. There was only a handful of us at the time out shooting live bands. Not very many photographers had adopted digital yet. I was literally using the first version of the Canon Rebel. So the demand for photographs from the bands and venues was high because they all wanted pictures for Myspace and their new websites. Things moved fast from then on. The next thing I know I’m touring the world with well-known bands all over the world, documenting their lives on stage and behind the scenes.

In 2006, iTunes came out and sent the music industry into a tailspin. Most bands stopped touring. So during this downtime, I decided to drive across America and landed in Charleston, SC. after spending years in LA and traveling the world on assignment, photographing and touring with rock stars such as Papa Roach, Buckcherry, The Cult, and so many more I decided to try something completely new and different. A small southern town on the east coast was definitely that coming from Los Angeles.

That’s where I built my first studio that became very successful called King Street Studios.

After 16 years in Charleston, South Carolina, I have come full circle back to Portland, Oregon—the only place that has ever truly felt like home to me. My new photography business here is called the Portland Photography Studio.