24 Hours with Stand-Up Comedy Photographer Liz Viggiano

Like many working photographers, Liz Viggiano‘s career trajectory has been anything but linear. After studying photography at the Massachusetts school of Art and Design, Viggiano moved west, to Los Angeles, with a kernel of aspiration but no clear goal.

“I had this idea of photographing a certain subculture, but I didn’t really know what that was,” she recalls. “I was making all sorts of work and then finally some friends of mine invited me to a comedy show.”

The rest, as they say, is history. Viggiano has since carved out a niche for herself documenting the previously under-documented, behind-the-scenes moments at stand-up comedy clubs.

We spent a day chasing Viggiano from the streets of West Hollywood to the greenroom at The Comedy Store to learn about her vision, approach, and gear.

Because Viggiano shoots mostly in black and white, she spends much of her time behind the lens of her Leica Q2 Monochrom.

“There’s something very limiting about black and white, in a good way, where I become a different photographer,” she says. “I’m paying attention to very specific things – like highlights, mid-tones, shadows – or a specific gesture, a specific emotion. I’m not disregarding color, I just love black and white.”

During our time with Viggiano, she shot on her trusted 28mm Leica Summulix 1:1.7 but also experimented with a Leica 50mm Noctilux F1 acquired through MPB, the leading platform for buying, selling, and trading camera equipment. For photographers like Viggiano who are constantly pushing their craft in new and inspiring directions, MPB makes the process of up-leveling photography gear more accessible, affordable, and worry-free thanks to an industry-leading inspection process and six-month warranty.

Sample gallery by Liz Viggiano

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