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

Gary, appreciate you joining us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I knew I wanted to work with photography at the age of 10. My dad had a twin reflex camera that had a large viewfinder on top that you would look down into. I was fascinated looking into it as if it was its own little world. I would walk around the house and yard looking at everything through it, and knew I wanted to take pictures to preserve those views. He bought me a small camera, explained the basics, and set me loose to do my own thing. That’s where my love of photography started.

Real life got in the way after I graduated from school, and I had to have a paying job right away. After a few odd jobs, I worked toward becoming a Commercial Construction Foreman… but I never gave up on taking photos and having fun with the creativity of photography.

When I was around 30, I was experimenting with photography more than other people in my circle that took photos. I played around with night time city street photography, infrared photography, night sky photography, double exposures, and various other things. Since these were the film days, it got expensive, but I wanted to keep pushing myself, and teaching myself new things. I really wanted to do this for a living, but the time wasn’t right since I was starting a family, was making good money as a foreman, and had to pay the bills.

Gary, 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 happily married family man, just your average everyday guy. For years I worked the typical 40-hour week, with photography as my main hobby… along with camping, hiking, cycling, and woodworking. While photography was a hobby, it sometimes paid, which was only a bonus.

As time went on, I started to have a lot of positive feedback from friends, family, and peers, so I became more confident in what I was doing. I started pushing my work. Around 2007 various businesses were finding my photos on Flickr, and asking to buy this photo or that one. Most of these were for their web sites, or office walls. A publisher contacted me about purchasing one for a book cover. A designer wanted about a dozen of my local cityscape photos blown up to 30″ x 40″, had them framed, and hung them in a downtown law firm office. Around that time, I was contacted by Experience Grand Rapids (local Visitor and Convention Bureau). This started a business relationship for a few years where my photography was all over their web site, published in their annual visitor guides, put up on billboards, and used for various other media of theirs. My wife is also a photographer, and they liked her work as well.  This made it nice because we were going on various photoshoots together, and it’s a lot more fun when your best friend is with you, both doing something you enjoy.

I’ve also done a lot of finish line photography for local marathons and triathlons. I normally avoid taking photos of people, but this is quite different. Instead of having people pose (which I dislike trying to do) you are catching people who are achieving personal fitness goals. They come across the finish line totally exhausted, some are shocked they made it this far, and all of them are proud of what they did. I love catching that instant in time for each of these people.  The best photos are when young kids are waiting near the finish line, see their parent running, and they run out to join them for those final 50 steps.

Fast forward to today. I’m recently retired from my regular job, which has given me more time to concentrate on the business end of photography. So instead of word of mouth, I now have a fine art web site with an online store. I am pushing myself more on social media, and it’s paying off. And although I have had Facebook and Instagram accounts for years, I have now opened business accounts on each platform this year.

I am blessed to live in Michigan. Many people that have never been here don’t realize the beauty of this state. We have over 3,000 miles of freshwater beaches, beautiful sand dunes, thick forests, and many inland lakes, rivers, and waterfalls. Michigan also has more lighthouses than any other state with 129 of them. I live within 30 minutes of Lake Michigan, so it’s easy to go to the lakeshore any time. I am lucky enough to get to take photos of all of this, and the real bonus is that these are my happy places.

The two types of photography I love the most would be infrared, and night sky. I find them both a challenge, and I love challenging my creativity. Infrared is difficult because it is hard to read light waves that the human eye cannot see. I love the otherworldly look of the photos. I have been shooting infrared long enough that a fair amount of my work looks different than a lot of other infrared photographer’s work, mostly because I try to make my images unique. The challenge of night sky work is not too difficult. The main challenge here in Michigan is avoiding cloudy nights. The Great Lakes produce a lot of clouds, so it’s a lot of luck catching clear nights, and hopefully on the new moon nights because the sky is darker.

My fine art also includes Michigan lighthouses, landscapes, cityscapes, and when I can catch them, the Northern Lights. I also photograph classic cars, street scenes, drone scenery, and a few other things. I’ll shoot just about anything except portrait work. Photography is my Zen, and I enjoy being out in nature.

In my online public store, I sell my work as prints on paper, prints on metal, and canvas wraps. I also sell digital photo files to businesses. I am currently in negotiations with a Michigan magazine publisher, so things are looking up.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Actually, there is not a business goal or mission like most companies have. I have always done the creative process to please me. If a photo is not something that I would hang on my own wall, then it will never be seen by other folks. I constantly try to improve my photography, even after decades of shooting. The reason is simply my own inner challenge, and I suppose a bit of OCD on perfectionism. I am horribly self-critical of my work. Even for new photos of mine that I love, my first thought is “How can I do this better next time?” To me, if other people love my work, it is simply a bonus.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Since 2007 I have had a handful of very good years selling my work. This was followed by a few very bad years to where the only photography money I was making was from shooting marathon finish lines. I am glad that I still had a regular job, but still, it was discouraging trying to sell my photography. It’s even harder the last few years because a so many people who have a nice cell phone think they are a photographer, and many give their work away simply for recognition – so I’m up against trying to sell mine, while others are saying “Sure, take this photo for free!” It changes the value of those of us trying to sell fine art. Even though cell phone photos are amazing these days, there is a lot of things that you cannot do as well with them compared to a professional camera (Infrared, and nighttime photography being just two of many examples). So, I just keep doing what I am doing – enjoying the Zen of taking photos, and constantly trying to improve my work. With the recent retirement from my regular job, and the time I am now dedicating to the photography business accounts, things are starting to turn in my favor.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://garysyrba.shootshareprint.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gary_syrba
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/garysyrbaphotography

Image Credits
All images were taken by myself.