We were lucky to catch up with Kevin Griggs recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Kevin, thanks for joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

The Atlanta Hyatt Regency Downtown has always been intriguing. I can remember riding in my grandfather’s car down the connector in the 1980s and waiting for the moment we could see the blue dome of Polaris. The “UFO” shaped dome made Atlanta feel like a futuristic city in my 6 year old world. In those years it was the most rememberable feature of the skyline. This monument to John Portman’s design had been owned and operated by Hyatt Hotels Corp since it opened in 1967, In 2019 it went on the market and one of our clients was going to be the broker. “It’s a big deal.” are the exact words my client said. This fascinating building was now my responsibility to photograph. Documenting an iconic building that had been photographed infinite times by professionals and hobbyists over it’s 52 year history was daunting. It was up to our studio produce a library of imagery and media that would WOW ownership. Over the course of four days we used every single tool in our bag. We photographed everything : lobbies, restaurants, ballrooms, guest rooms, exteriors, daytime, sunrises, sunsets, from the ground, from neighboring roofs, from drones, from helicopters. When we started to peel through and process all the media shot it was obvious we had something special. After it was all said and done our client and ownership where floored. On September 12, 2019 the Atlanta Hyatt Regency was sold for the first time for $355 million.

Kevin, 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 run a photography studio that only caters to commercial real estate and architecture. We provide marketing content for commercial brokers, builders, managment, leasing companies in all markets. Most assignments are creating comprehensive image libraries to show a property’s assets. These assignments ofter require ground, drone, and manned aerial photography. Documenting several properties across multiple locations makes logistics and weather are the biggest problem we solve. Representing portfolios ranging from a few million to over one billion dollars requires discretion when communicating with onsite staff. We have been delivering consistent imagery for over 2 decades focusing on solely these types of assignments.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

After finishing art school in 2001 I was hustling to get as much freelance work as possible. I had a pretty good stable of clients ranging from studio, fashion, portraiture, concert, and architecture photographers. Ultimately it was the architecture shooter that offered me a regular job so I could be solely focused on his studio. He was friends with studio owners where I worked and needed help. Over the course of 10 years we worked together covering a wide variety of projects nation wide. It was the hands on education that enabled me to build the company we are currently running and my mentor is now one of my clients.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

There was this land assignment in downtown Nashville that was a real pickle. We had scheduled a helicopter flight to photograph the site for day and sunset. The problem was Tennessee Titans where hosting Monday night football which meant there was TFR (temporary fight restriction) for flights downtown at dusk. Since the sunset flight was canceled a sunrise flight seemed like the best solution. There where no hotel rooms available anywhere close to Nashville due to Monday night football. The only hotel with a vacancy was over an hour away. Ultimately I had to get wake up at 4AM to drive an hour to get to the helicopter before sunrise. After all the hurdles we got the shot.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.capitolphotography.com
• Instagram: @capitolphotographyatl
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/capitolphotographypartners/
• Other: https://vimeo.com/capitolphotography