We recently connected with Brian Weitzel and have shared our conversation below.

Brian, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with education – we’d love to hear your thoughts about how we can better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career.

On the first day of school, I ask my students if any of their parents emailed the school requesting to see my transcript, certifications, or diploma. They typically look at me confused. I then ask them how many tombstones they have ever seen with a GPA on it. Answer: none. “I hate to break it to you, but you have been lied to. All the things you have been told are important, no one really cares about in the real world. You don’t care where I went to school. None of you asked what my GPA or SAT score was. No, all of you made judgements about me based on what little information you have in front of you: how I present myself. And that is the key to success. Success boils down to just three things: who you are as a person, how you present yourself, and who you know.” I explain.

When I think about the education system, I think it is broken. I have never used Algebra II in my daily life, but I have had to shake hands, connect with people, and close deals. Soft skills need to be taught more. Entrepreneurship needs to be taught more. Work ethic, taking initiative, thinking analytically, writing thank you notes all need to be modeled for the students. Networking will open doors of opportunity for students.

In short, what needs to change in the education system is teaching students more applicable skills, intrinsic value and motivation, delaying instant gratification, and providing students with mentors in fields that they are interested in.

Brian, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I have the unique opportunity of balancing two careers as both a high school economics teacher and a wedding and portrait photographer. My photographic journey began in my youth; living in Warsaw, Poland after the fall of communism, my dad gave me his camera to use to document our stay and travels around Europe. I fell in love with the architecture, culture, and everyday beauty. It was during this time, the seed of photography was rooted in me. After graduating with a Master’s degree in Economics, I longed to be creative again and decided to marry my love of business with my love of photography and launched Brian Weitzel Photography in 2008. Ever since then, I specialize in documenting life’s most meaningful moments – weddings and proposals – and capturing beauty in the form of ballet photography.

The journey of an artist is an incredibly personal one. Visions and inspirations become all encompassing until you fully embody it and see life through that lens. Watching my parents age has shown me frailty of life and the importance of every day. As a result, I am moved to document, what I call, a Legacy Session, with the elderly. Inviting them into the studio to create a timeless portfolio that embraces and display their personality for generations to come. A final gift to their family after they depart. It are sessions like this that define my work; I don’t want to create just pretty pictures, but emotional and meaningful images with every client.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

My business partner is my wife! We are high school sweethearts and met not once, but twice! First was at a youth retreat and we were staying on the same hotel floor. She was sitting down on the ground, listening to Bob Marley. “You like Bob Marley?” I asked. “I like Bob Marley!” I exclaimed. (No one said I was smooth lol.). She gave me her number on a blue piece of paper (this is before cell phones.). When I looked through my luggage at the end of the retreat, I couldn’t find her number. I was crushed. I had no way of finding her.

Months later, I was volunteering at the Michigan Youth Leadership (MYLead) conference as an alumni. Becky, my now wife, walked in as the one representative of her school. When she walked up to my registration desk, I was so excited and said, “OH MY GOD! Becky! Do you remember me?” She replied in her usual poking-fun way, “Yeah, you never called.” I wasn’t going to let that happen again. We dated for many years after that and later got married.

After about 8 years of me running the business as a solopreneur, Becky started to help me on wedding days. It made the days so much more enjoyable and brought us even closer. After a few years of helping me in nearly every aspect of the business, Becky transitioned her career to work in the business full-time. Now, she takes care of all of the administrative and client-facing aspects while I focus on shooting and growing the business. We are currently looking at opening our own studio in Detroit to better serve our clients and community.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Contact Info:

• Website: www.brianweitzelphotography.com
• Instagram: www.insstragram.com/brianweitzelphoto