Twitch.tv – A Photographer’s Perspective

In this interview Twitch influencer Michelle G. Hunder and I discuss her music photography career, and how she's come to love the Twitch.tv service. We discuss how she was able to skyrocket her channel to popularity in such a short time. We also discuss her efforts to inspire young women.


About Michelle

Beginning her career in professional photography 9 years ago, Michelle Grace Hunder already has two separate portrait series in the National Sound and Film Archive of Australia and is considered one of the most revered Australian Music Photographers.

After the 2015 release of her highly anticipated photographic book- “RISE”, a detailed insight of her personal journey into the world of Australian Hip-Hop, Michelle has also spreads her creativity into a number of different avenues, showing an agile versatility – from fashion, to international cultural events.

Her repertoire continues to grow, with Australian and international artists requesting her talents to photograph both live performances and portrait images, used for press, publicity and album covers.

Michelle has been invited as the official tour photographer for Ruel, Seth Sentry & Illy, and was the Official Festival Photographer for “Come Together” at Sydney's iconic Big Top at Luna Park for 4 consecutive years.

Michelle G. Hunder

After shooting with literally every major player in the Australian Hip-Hip scene, Michelle then spent four years on a major personal project called “Her Sound, Her Story” celebrating Women in Australian Music, across all genres, with her project partner, Claudia Sangiorgi Dalimore.

Michelle & Claudia worked with over 80 women, both artists and behind the scenes in the music industry, across all genres, shooting portraits and interviews for this highly ambitious project. The full length documentary of “Her Sound, Her Story” premiered with huge industry acclaim in May of 2018.

Michelle also live streams photography workshops, interviews and follower challenges on Twitch, three times a week.

Contact Michelle

Website: https://www.michellegracehunder.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michelleghunder
Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/michelleghunder

About Twitch (via Wikipedia)

Twitch is a video live streaming service operated by Twitch Interactive, a subsidiary of Amazon. The service was introduced in June 2011 as a spin-off of the general-interest streaming platform Justin.tv. The site primarily focuses on video game live streaming, including broadcasts of esports competitions, in addition to music broadcasts, creative content, and more recently, IRL or “in real life” streams. Content on the site can be viewed either live or via video on demand.

The popularity of Twitch eclipsed that of its general-interest counterpart. In October 2013, the website had 45 million unique viewers, and by February 2014, it was considered the fourth largest source of peak Internet traffic in the United States. At the same time, Justin.tv's parent company was re-branded as Twitch Interactive to represent the shift in focus – Justin.tv was shut down in August 2014.

That month, the service was acquired by Amazon for US$970 million, which later led to the introduction of synergies with the company's subscription service Amazon Prime. Twitch later acquired Curse, an operator of online video gaming communities and introduced means to purchase games through links on streams along with a program allowing streamers to receive commissions on the sales of games that they play.

By June of 2020, Twitch had more than 15 million daily active users who watch video streaming each day.