Alumni Spotlight: Abby Waisler on working in the Music Industry, The Eras Tour, and Beyond

I arrived at HMI in the early months of COVID-19, without an ability to understand how life-saving the experience would be. As Zoom became my left-behind peers’ classroom, the canyons of Cedar Mesa and climbs of the Sawatch mountains became mine. I felt present grounded where I was for the first time in my life. But what was the most unexpected and lucky was the skills that HMI taught me, and all of the ways they have guided me through my work and life in the years since.

Over the past few years, I have been fortunate to work in a very strange, unique field of work. My years have been split into two sections: the months of the year when I am in college in Maine, and the months where I travel to close and far-away countries, living on a tour bus and photographing live music. My life during these non-academic times consist of working into the wee hours of the mornings, often falling asleep on a moving vehicle, and waking up in a country I have never been to. It’s pretty strange and really wonderful. Through this work, I have toured on Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour, gone on long runs through Hyde Park in London (a practice that I have carried from AMX on Country Road 5A), and explored the locker rooms of almost every NFL football stadium in the country.