We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Chris Hynes. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Chris below.
Alright, Chris thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What do you think it takes to be successful?
As a young teen, I knew I wanted to be a professional, commercial photographer. I knew the dream of a professional photography career was a long shot, so as a motivational tool, I taped a poster on my bedroom door that said, “Success is a Journey, Not, a Destination”. To this day, that line stays with me every time a new challenge pops up. After 30 years of working as a commercial/advertising photographer, I have found that passion and determination are the tools that work best for me in my journey towards success.
Three decades ago, it was unusual for a woman to go into commercial photography. After graduating with a photo degree, my next step was to work as an assistant. It was the first step to learn the profession from the photographers I admired and get paid to work in the field. That’s when I started hearing comments like, “it will look bad to my clients to have a woman carrying my gear” and “we are only hiring you, so the young female model feels comfortable on set, so don’t touch anything”. I quickly decided to try a different direction and work as a studio manager with an established fashion photographer. Once I earned the photographer’s trust, I was able to ask for responsibilities as an assistant photographer in that studio and start moving forward in my career.
Chris, 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 am a professional photographer specializing in product/food/clothing photography (aka, studio photography) and maintain an 8,000 sq ft. studio in Madison, WI providing these imaging solutions for a variety of national and regional clients.
I grew up in Central Oregon. I became fascinated with photography after building a pinhole camera in my 8th grade science class. I was incredibly fortunate that in high school, there was an amazing set of photography classes taught by an inspirational and tough art teacher, Mr. Gerke. I stayed in touch with the Gerke family after high school as I was trying to find my way into professional photography. With their advice, and the generous loan of a 4X5 view camera, I headed down to Santa Barbara, CA to attend Brooks Institute of Photography. At the time, Brooks was one of the top photo schools in the country. It was expensive, and I took it very seriously. It was the first time I was surrounded by a group of like-minded people working towards the same goal. It was also the first time I became completely immersed in focusing my attention on imagery.
After a year of attending school and living in Santa Barbara, I ran out of money- packed my car and moved back home. I got a job with the main objective of working a year to go back to Brooks. Along the way, I met my first husband who also wanted to pursue a photo career and together we went back to photography school in East Texas (ETSU, now known as Texas A&M University-Commerce). ETSU, was a classic 4-year University but with a fascinating history of turning out top advertising and photography creatives.
From college we began our careers in Dallas (where I worked for the fashion photographer), I separated from my husband and through a photographer friend found a staff photographer position at a retail company in Milwaukee, WI (Boston Store/Carson Pirie Scott). I really enjoyed the close team environment working at Boston Store and am still friends/working with many of those same people today. However, I kept wanting to grow as a photographer and find a lead photographer position at a smaller independent commercial photography studio.
I took my search to a national level and was open to any opportunity that met the criteria I was looking for. It arrived just a short distance from Milwaukee with a little studio in Madison, WI. A Chicago photographer had decided to expand his operations to meet the needs of one his clients, Lands’ End. At the time, Lands’ End kept their in-house studio very busy and relied on several local commercial photo studios to meet the high demand for their multiple catalogs and soon to be growing on-line internet business. I was thrilled to accept the position of lead photographer for this studio (the studio was called, “Hotshots”… I hated that name) and to add an Internationally recognized client to my imagery portfolio.
In 2001, after the .com bubble burst the economy slowed, and I found myself looking for the next studio to work in. An Art Director friend pulled me aside during a photo shoot and suggested that I should open my own studio because, in her words, “you are doing all of the work anyway”. It was that little push from someone I respected that gave me the mental permission to take on the responsibilities and rewards of such a huge endeavor.
At the beginning of 2002, my hours and my salary had been cut by the studio I was working in and I had to scramble to figure out how to get my studio running in the next 4 months. I was able to get into an incubator space that had just enough square space for what a basic commercial studio would need. In April 2002, I picked up the phone and called all of the art directors I was working for at Lands’ End, American Girl, Famous Footwear and a few others and told then I would be leaving “Hotshots” and would be honored if they would consider working with me in my own new studio. To the horror of my former employer-every single client decided to follow me to my new studio!
It was the gutsiest move I had ever made. I threw every minute of every day and every dime on every credit card I had to start setting up my new studio and outfit it with all of the equipment needed. I knew I had to make sure these clients had a comfortable space and the same quality gear they were used to. Along the way I met my future husband who wholeheartedly became a life and business partner in making the new studio work. Mark Gillespie is an amazing photographer, retouching expert and all around digital imaging expert and I could not have accomplished alone what we have done together.
Within the first year, we quickly grew out of that space and expanded (via the incubator space connection) by more than doubling the square footage. We were in this studio space for 17 years… I can hardly believe that! We had 2400 sq. ft to work in and utilized every square inch of that space. In those 17 years, clients came and went, there were ups and downs, exceptionally prosperous years and very scary slow years.
After 17 years of making 2400 sq. ft of space work we were seeing a shift in what our clients needed and in our own requirements for meeting a demand for our services. When you find yourself turning down projects because you don’t have any place to put the client, then it’s time to expand.
In 2019, we had a long talk and came up with a plan that I insisted was long overdue for the Midwest. My thoughts were that we should get a larger building and create a space that would be a rental studio/production house for local and out of town image creators that would rival any studio found in areas like New York or L.A. I knew that in bigger markets it was too expensive for smaller imaging companies to maintain the overhead of a nice studio space and that there were companies that specialized in renting these spaces on an “as needed” basis. That was exactly what I wanted to do with our new space. The best part of it would be that it was our studio as well. We also decided to have a separate name for this new business,-GHP Studio, as I didn’t want anyone to feel competitive with myself if they wanted to work in our space (GHP stands for Gillespie – Hynes Productions).
Fast forward to the end of 2019, signing the lease on our new 8,000 sq ft. studio and spending $150k just on the build out of the space- We were looking forward to our grand opening party slated for April of 2020, when the world shut down. I feel like I am whining when I say that it was a tough year as I know it was a tough year on every single person on the planet. The odd thing is that after a few months, the “no traveling” and pandemic lockdown requirements worked in our favor. Suddenly, we had a client who needed a studio space that they could rent locally instead of putting their employees at risk by having them travel for photo shoots. Even now, that same client loves working locally in our space for their photo shoot rental and production needs rather than traveling the way they used to.
So, now here we are in 2023, the studio is in a good place, but I’ve been noticing a shift in our industry. More and more image makers are immerging via the ease of the newest cameras (phones!) and electronic technology which enables them to create beautiful photos to share with the world.
Many of these new creators can work right out of their home or on the road without the big financial investment of starting their own photography company. I am thrilled that imaging is more accessible than ever, and that it is opening a world to people who would never have considered the idea of having their own photo business before. I also know how hard I work to get final images to a client, and I see this next generation of photographers working even harder to do the same thing. At some point they or their client will grow beyond what a home kitchen can offer and will need more space, production assistance or will simply stop trying to make a living at doing the business on their own.
This brings us to our newest endeavor and biggest undertaking. Instead of being the photographer and sole person responsible for the final imagery a client needs. I want to use our expertise and respected reputation to grow our umbrella company, Chris Hynes Creative.
Chris Hynes Creative’s goal is to combine our commercial/advertising photography experience, digital media knowledge, production capabilities and vendor sourcing capabilities as a one stop shop for clients looking for a way to combine all their imaging needs. For example, most clients now are looking for some combination of still imagery and video needs, plus putting everything together for a photo shoot. Clients know they need great images/video, but unless they are working through an advertising agency, they are unsure of where to start.
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
I have always been a strong believer in self growth. I truly believe we can never grow our businesses unless we are willing to dig into our brains and figure out what makes us tick and try to learn how to use that to our advantage.
My first recommendation is to find a good therapist and spend a little time with them- they are the people who will give you honest insight into how you became who you are. I think a therapist can give a person far more help than any friend or family member has the time or ability to give you.
For my entrepreneurial thinking:
I love good self-help books; I have had Jen Sincero’s. “You Are a Badass” series of books on repeat in my car driving to the studio for almost every single day since 2018. All self-help books have the same type of message in them, just told in different ways. The difference with Sincero’s books (please do the audio versions- she narrates them herself), is that they are funny, and have relatable stories without feeling “preachy”. Is this a sales pitch? Only if I get a percentage of the sales (Jen?!).
Some other interesting books- “Originals”, by Adam Grant, “Grit” by Angela Duckworth, and “Blink” by Malcolm Gladwell
I also, love listening to the podcast, “How I Built This” with Guy Raz. It’s amazing… nothing makes you feel better than listening to some of the most famous businesspeople in the world tell their stories of falling and getting back up again.
For learning better management skills:
The book “Herding Tigers” by Todd Henry, has been a great tool for understanding how to motivate and “guide” the creative vendors that work on our team. Also, “Team Spirit”, by Brendan Hall, is a great book that will keep you on the edge of your seat as well as provide you with managerial lessons (My husband I are avid sailors but even the non-sailor will appreciate this one).
For something to just let you relax and think completely outside of the box, I just listened to, “A Most Remarkable Creature” by Jonathan Meiburg. It was so different and engaging. I think it’s important to throw your brain a wild card occasionally.
Can you open up about how you funded your business?
As I mentioned previously, I pretty much decided on a whim (and an inspirational lecture from a friend) to open my own business/studio. I was still working at my current employer while I did the extra hours researching, putting together a business plan and creating future financial statements to secure a space for my new studio. Once I secured the space, I had just enough money in the bank to cover the deposit and first month’s rent. I then gave myself the first month to: finish out the space and make it a great space to shoot in, order thousands of dollars in new lighting equipment, camera gear, all the grip equipment, furniture for the new space, fees to contractors to build out some necessities in the space (like a sink with running water and counter space for the coffee machine), computers, office supplies… basically everything. I maxed out the only 2 credit cards I had at the time.
It was only then, when I felt like I had everything I needed, that I gave my 2 weeks’ notice to my employer. Immediately after my resignation was accepted, I picked up the phone and called every client I had worked with through that employer to tell them about my own studio that I would love to have them check out sometime. Lucky for me, each one of those clients, gladly booked their next projects with me. To say I felt relieved is a huge understatement.
At one point in the middle of finishing out the studio, the paint sprayer I was renting exploded all over me. On my way to returning it (covered in paint, now dry luckily), my car died (just stopped running) 2 blocks from the rental company. I was hurrying to get to Chicago to catch a flight with my soon to be future husband to visit his family and ended up outside of the rental company on my cell phone, in tears, telling him that I thought I had just made the biggest mistake of my life. It’s those kinds of moments that make or break an entrepreneur.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.chrishynesphoto.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chrishynesphoto/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hynesphoto/
- Other: https://www.instagram.com/ghpstudio/
Image Credits
Photo of Chris Hynes (black and white image of me) photo by Tessa Tsarong