Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Chris Blumenshine. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Chris, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s jump right into the heart of things. Outsiders often think businesses or industries have much larger profit margins than they actually do – the reason is that outsiders are often unaware of the biggest challenges to profitability in various industries – what’s the biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?
Biggest challenge has been the development of smartphones. They’re a technological marvel able to capture images that can be used for print easily. What is the major source of media consumption today? Smartphones.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I started my career in Los Angeles as a photo editor for a company called Saban, which produced movies and television shows that included the infamous Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. I spent my early days filing and sorting transparencies of the photos taken on set and soon began editing and selecting photos for the publicity department to use in press releases. I was privileged enough to work with some of the best photographers in the world and soon fell in love with the art of photography.

After my time with Saban, I landed a job as an editor for ImageDirect, a company that transmitted digital images on site from all the major award shows, the Academy Awards, The Grammy’s, The Emmy’s, MTV’s Video Music Awards and every other award show imaginable. At the time, this practice was state of the art and exciting, and it was during this time that I got my first photo assignment. It was Fox’s Celebrity Boxing, and I was lucky enough to have one of my photos from the event make it as one of AOL’s Pictures of the Week. Needless to say, I was thrilled and knew that this was what I wanted to do with my career. I even kept the screen grab to remind me of where I started.

I really enjoyed my time in Los Angeles. It was exciting. I met a lot of celebrities and formed relationships with very talented photographers. I wouldn’t be where I am today without those experiences. To be honest, the main reason why I left California was because of the traffic. Lol. I couldn’t handle the hour commute to travel 12 miles on a daily basis! I had family moving to North Texas and decided to leave L.A and settle in an eclectic town known as Denton. In 2007, I started my own photography business and after A LOT of networking and Craigslist hunting (back when Craigslist was legit) I got lucky one day when I responded to a Craigslist ad looking for a photographer for a Dallas Cowboy’s event. After submitting my portfolio, I got the job and have been working with the same client for over 15 years. That opened a lot of doors for me and more professional opportunities.

About 6 years ago I started to get very interested in time lapse photography. I was fascinated at the movement of the clouds, shapes and lighting. I did a lot of research and started making my own movies. A client of mine was about to break ground on their new headquarters and I pitched them on time lapse coverage from start to end. To my surprise, they accepted. Lol. I immediately had to get my ducks in a row. I called a local power company and purchased a telephone poll to mount the camera on. I had to get a solar powered camera system that had the capability to have its settings changed remotely and have the images transmitted wirelessly to a server on a daily basis. After 3 years of weather ranging from a 100 degrees plus and below 20 degrees. I didn’t miss a shot and delivered a 15 minute clip of 3 years of construction. I’m very proud of that project.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on NFTs. (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice
I’m bullish on few and bearish on most. One NFT project I’m involved in is one called “Zed Run”. It’s a horse racing platform that uses Ethereum as it’s currency. You can start your own racing stable where you can buy, breed, sell and race digital race horses. It’s quite fascinating. I have a stable of 12 digital race horses. Some with rare characteristics that are appealing to some stable owners. I have 3 horses that are making 12% plus on racing. I’ve sold at least a dozen of horses and have been profitable in this NFT platform.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on NFTs. (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice
Bearish on most NFTs, bullish on one, Zed Run. It’s a Ethereum based horse racing platform where you can purchase, breed, sell and race digital horse races. It’s a ton of fun and has been a profitable venture for me over the last 2 years.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.bellissimofoto.com
• Instagram: bellissimofoto
• Linkedin: chris blumenshine

Image Credits
chris blumenshine/bellissimofoto