We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Craig Gary a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Craig , appreciate you joining us today. The first dollar you earn in a new endeavor is always special. We’d love to hear about how you got your first client that wasn’t a friend or family.

I just happened to own a large format printer that does 24 inch wide prints by however long you want. This was before I had any professional use for it. As luck has it, I was in the mall one day literally thinking about how I could make photography and prints as a seamless solution. Just then I looked at stores that didn’t have any pictures or banners on their store front glass.

The next step was to just ask the managers if we could discuss a solution. Although there were 12 “no’s” there was one “yes” where I came to the store, photographed their whole collection on site, and sold self-adhesive vinyl prints for their store front. That whole situation was mainly by happenstance but, taking action is what led to the business and the confidence to keep going.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m a former Army Officer with a couple of tours to Iraq. Although I claim Texas, I was born in Philadelphia and that little fact only hurts around football season since I’m a Cowboys fan.

I got into photography while I was in the Army and carried a camera while on patrol. It was a good way to get pics of the guys and take pertinent pictures for information. I never thought about it much beyond that. Fast forward years and here I am with a 3200 square foot studio taking general photography, commercial & product photography, and creating video footage all across the nation.

My friends refer to me as a jack of all trades mainly because I’ll build anything or try and learn to. But, I take pride in being able to listen to a clients vision, offer a solution, and be able to see if from both a customer and a business owners perspective. When you deliver, they know they made the right choice and I didn’t just deliver a picture but, a photograph; something that conveys emotion or highlights a product better than just pointing your cellphone at it and taking a picture.

I love what I do because I know how to make a camera’s sensor see what I want you to see. This part wasn’t born overnight and comes from experiencing film cameras and the evolution to digital. I could tell you the pixel density of my sensors and the bit depth of my photos and videos. I know most people don’t or wouldn’t care but, the experienced part of me knows that the monitors and other gear I use need to relay information to my eyes. And, an 8-bit monitor won’t show the same color values or tonal range in an image that was taken with a 16-bit camera.

That’s how detailed I am. The other thing about me is that I don’t like to rush. I’m not slow but, I just don’t hurry myself. I think as creators when we do that even unknowingly – we don’t consider how a different perspective can influence our work for the better.

My best compliments are the lessons that other business owners have had to learn the hard way. “Man, I should have come to your first. At least I know the shots I would’ve gotten would’ve been done right.” I have heard that a little too often and the businesses and people I work with rest assured when we set out to create a visual.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I mentioned earlier I own a 3200 square foot studio. This is space that I use for my professional use and also rent out via Peerspace for other creatives that need access to gear and safe space out of the elements. Now the space was empty and all concrete. This is where the jack of all trades in me kicked in. I built pretty much everything in the studio. I needed to keep my costs down and get running within 8-months.

It was hard to show up every day and labor for that long but, I had to keep the goal in mind and sometimes the chunks I bit off were too much. Or the approach I took wasn’t the correct one and I had to redo it. So, if you ever happen to rent the studio or we do business together you’ll see the 22′ cycwall I built, cabinets, countertops, ceilings, sound treatment baffles, and a greenwall for vfx compositing.

The journey took me a little over 6-months to get to my first rental and first couple of projects. As, I walk in everyday there is always a sense of accomplishment in just that piece and knowing that I can tackle any project that comes my way.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I laugh as I think about this. I’ve told my dad that I’m just too stupid to stop. I say it in jest but, I’ve thought about quitting twice, in 8 years just twice. I think tell myself two things…1) most businesses fail in 5 years, you’ve beat that now keep going and 2) don’t quit for just one more day.

The goal I want is for CraigCapture to be as big as CraigCapture can get and deliver since my name is attached to the brand. The next stop is state contracts for schools and businesses. I think its an underserved market since big box brands are able to corner it and offer substandard services. In my opinion, of course.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.craigcapture.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/craigcapture_llc
• Youtube: @craigcapture

Image Credits

Craig Gary