We recently connected with Gabriel Giannelli and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Gabriel, thanks for joining us today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

What does it take to be successful? To me success is defined by freedom. Am I financially successful enough to do more of what I want and less of what I don’t. Thankfully, I love taking pictures of people and taking quality pictures of people that they can use in their businesses pays pretty well.
I take pictures of everyday people who don’t particularly enjoy the idea of having their photo taken and my goal is to make it a pleasant experience with a high quality outcome. The daily exercise of surprising people with how enjoyable a photo session can be and then delivery images that they didn’t imagine could be them is a success. String enough of those together and it’s also a financial success. If you can find a way to take what you enjoy and use it to give people what they want and need then you’ll be successful.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Hi everyone, I’m Gabriel. I’m a professional photographer and a professional musician. I started out as a musician, went to an arts high school, Berkeley College of Music, played on cruise ships for a couple of years, then joined the Navy Fleet Bands. I was always kind of a hobbyist photographer but the Navy decided it wanted us to do more outreach and content creation so they offered some educational opportunities to really dig into photography and video. I learned that video is NOT my thing but I found just as much enjoyment from getting a great photograph as I do playing music. I started doing official headshots and photographing ceremonies for the Navy then started a side business doing headshots and senior portraits. When I retired from the Navy I opened First Coast Headshots in St. Augustine, FL. I primarily do commercial portraits. I give a variety of looks from standard headshots to executive portraits, to marketing images to fit their fields. It’s a lot of fun because every client is different yet they all need the same thing; high quality images that reflect who they are and their professionalism.
The two things I’m most proud of this past year are winning a Gold in the International Photography Awards for a portrait I did of my buddy Vince Moody who is a Chief Musician in the Navy, and being published in Forbes magazine.
My goal is to give each person the best photographs they’ve ever had of themselves and I strive for this through constant study of fashion photography, street photography, portraiture and of course headshots.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Well, I pivoted from making a living as a musician to making a living as a photographer. I’m still an artist so I didn’t pivot too far. I joined the Navy Bands because I have a family to support. The only way to make a living as a performing musician is to be on tour performing. Surprisingly, being in a military band gives you more nights at home than being in a touring civilian band, not to mention health insurance. When it was time to get out of the Navy I knew that I wasn’t interested in touring and I had developed another art that potentially pays well if you do it right. So, I spent my last few years in the navy working on photography, honing my skills, and learning about business. I now have a photography studio in historic downtown St. Augustine and I play music in the local Jacksonville scene. I may have to pivot again as times change but I’ll always be an artist and I’ll always enjoy working with people.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

LinkedIn has been the best source of new clients recently. People who bother to use LinkedIn properly understand its power to connect and show who you are in business. Those people also understand that their image is their first impression! Every successful leader on LinkedIn has a professional image that matches who they are in their industry. Those who think ahead have images that match who they are working towards being. The more my images end up on LinkedIn, the more people see what I do and it’s had a snowball effect. That’s just the tip though. Most people get a variety of images that they use for their websites and social media posts too. But a great LinkedIn profile is a must.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://firstcoastheadshot.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabrielgiannelli/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriel-giannelli/

Image Credits

Gabriel Giannelli