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

Ivan, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What do you think it takes to be successful?

Being successful to me was being able to take the losses and recover from them to become something greater. Losing my older brother really pushed me to be the man I am today. He used to tell me if you sit around all day doing absolutely nothing and letting time pass you by then you’ll just wither away and die off. It was a big wake-up call for me because a long time ago all I was doing was spending hours at home and doing nothing but playing games and sitting around. Making no progress with my life, I knew it was time for a change. I started making beats and doing photography, I got good at the beats and then started taking my photography journey a lot more seriously. I ended up ranking top 3 as a photographer in the 2022 Best of the Bay, Creative Loafing Tampa contest.

One of the best things that could have happened to me was being let go from my kava bar job, it added fuel to the flame that I already had going. I’m thankful for the opportunity that was given. But it pushed me to be even greater, I got to the point where I was outgrowing the place I was in anyways so it all worked out in my favor. I’m going to talk more about how I got to where I am now…

How I got to where I am now was by being fearless and I was outside and meeting the right people almost every day for a year straight and putting countless hours in. I even had sleepless nights where I didn’t know where it would lead me but I knew something great would come out of all of the hard work that I put in. It’s been a blessing and nothing but great things have happened since. Spending time with specific people is important to being successful too, you’ll never see me around anything that doesn’t align with my spirit. Having a solid team will help push you further than you could imagine, stay focused and never give up even when times are tough.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions can you tell us more about your journey?

It all started when I used to take pictures on my mom’s disposable camera’s and she got sick of me using up her film so she ended up getting me my own digital Nikon coolpix camera when I was much younger. I used the heck out of that camera, taking pictures and videos of everything me and my friends did. It was really fun, then I ended up putting the camera down for a while and many years later I picked photography back up and it stuck with me ever since. Within the last year, I’ve been taking photography very seriously, taking photos of musicians, and working at big festivals like Reggae Rise Up, Lost in St. Pete, and Odyssey Music Festival. It’s been amazing, I’ve started working more on the video side as much as I can so I can develop more content for myself and help out my clients even more.

What made me stand out from my competitors in my field was doing more and spending more time doing it. I didn’t like just posting the content and forgetting about it, I’ll talk about it and try to share it with as many people as I can often. Not being afraid or really caring about what people think of me and the work I produce helped out a lot. If you like it cool, if not oh well. That type of stuff doesn’t hurt my feelings haha.

One thing I’m happy and proud about is how far I’ve come as a Photographer and content creator, without the support of my true friends and family I don’t know where I would be without them. One thing i’ll never do is give up and stop going after my dreams, I cant wait to be able to travel all around the world doing what I love to do with my friends and family.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Going to the places that fit your niche helped me get the clientele that I wanted. I like nightlife photography and videography so I met the people I needed to meet to make it happen. I started showing up and doing the work and then I ended up getting booked by multiple different companies after they saw what I can do. Not only did I do this but you can do this too, I wanted to pave the way for photographers and let them know that you can really do this if you put your mind to it. It took a ton of time and effort but at the end of the day, it was so worth it. The valuable connections I made will last a lifetime, so find the people who fit your niche and go for it. Don’t look back either…

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

Check up on your old clients and see if they need something done, there’s always work out there to do. Even if it’s not business related, keeping those connections is truly important because those clients you once had can tell other potential clients about you and give you more work, which means more income and opportunity for you. Always leave your clients better off than where you met them. It goes a long way I promise you!

Contact Info:

• Website: http://ivanwashington.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ivanwashington_/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IvanWashington727/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ivan-washington-4899a322a/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ivanwashington

Image Credits
Photos by: Ivan Washington Photography