We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Greg Thomas a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Greg, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
It sounds cliche, but I joke that photography is my first love. I was so lucky to have a close cousin who was a travel agent, and she took me on test trips for her travel agency. One trip was to Morocco when I was 14, and that’s the first time I saw a working photographer – Peter Halmagyi. During the whole trip, I was fascinated by the way he worked and interacted with people … to this day I have never seen any of those photographs, but he was the spark that lit the flame of desire.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
When I was in college, my photography advisor held a portfolio review, and she asked me what kind of photographer I wanted to me. “A photojournalist.” I replied. After looking at my portfolio and weighing my answer, she said I wouldn’t gain anything in art school and I should just go do it. So I did.
I enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps as a combat correspondent and was trained as a print and broadcast journalist. I spent two decades as a correspondent and photojournalist, with the honor of telling stories around the globe.
As you can imagine, that amazing experience informs my work now, and I don’t know many other wedding and portrait photographers who were military photojournalists. At the same time, I’m very much an introverted empath (INTJ-A). So I love working with people and couples who think they’re “awkward”.
My work has been published here and there – when I first started, I was so proud to see an Associated Press photo credit – but the greatest honor is seeing my work hung on the walls of the couples I photograph. It’s truly humbling to know that my photographs are literally documenting a family’s beginning and milestones!
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
In my opinion, photography has always been viewed as a lower art form, and that is especially the case in today’s world. Because the barrier to entry is basically nonexistent, so many people think of photographers as technicians rather than artists. Swiping your iPhone camera app into portrait mode doesn’t, in and of itself, make you an artist, so when society views artists whose medium is photography as true artists, we’ll all be better off.
At the same time, the American societal obsession with trying to dominate the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields has likely crippled budding young artists across the country. Tomorrow’s artists deserve to be supported, regardless of the medium.
Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
The biggest one I can think of is a supportive community. So much of my artistic life has been spent in a competition mindset, and it’s so exhausting. I recently had the opportunity to go through a 3-month group coaching program, and I forced myself to be vulnerable and lean on the others in my group, even if just a little.
You can learn so much so quickly because of modern technology, especially as it relates to photography. In a matter of days or weeks, someone can learn technical skills it took many of us years to learn. But you can only take yourself so far. A supportive community can do so much to feed your creative soul and support you when you’re down.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.gregthomasphotography.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gregthomasphoto/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GregThomasPhoto/
