We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Louis Tinsley. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Louis below.

Louis, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What do you think it takes to be successful?

Well I think everyone has their own measurement of success, but when it comes to running a business, especially in the creative industry, you’re going to face a lot of headwinds. You really have to have an almost inhuman belief in yourself to make it.

But outside of that, success, to me, hinges on staying curious. Curiosity keeps you learning, evolving, and finding new ways to solve problems or create opportunities. It’s about asking the right questions, listening intently to everyone, exploring beyond what’s comfortable, and constantly challenging yourself to grow. When you combine that curiosity with a clear vision and the focus to keep going, you unlock the ability to adapt, innovate, and thrive in any situation. Stay curious, stay hungry, and watch how the world opens up to you.

Louis, 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 portrait photographer based in Washington, DC. I’ve been shooting for about 10 years. I started straight out of college. Reached out to every photographer I could find on google and got 1 reply. And that 1 response is how I got a job shooting headshots. Headshots by day, creative stuff at night. After 3 years doing that, I moved to KY to work under a photographer who’s work I really enjoyed and I stayed in the area ended up working in the movie industry doing G&E working under really some awesome gaffers and DP’s.

I learned a ton in KY. But our footprint was all over. We had stills and video projects in ATL, Chicago, Louisiana, Nashville, and everywhere else in between. There were large commercial shoots, small intimate projects, and really intense editorial days. On the film side I worked on a lot of Hallmark rom-coms and a few horror movies. Those were always a lot of fun. I was in lighting so I wouldn’t always read the script. And you don’t shoot anything in a linear fashion so you’d be in week 3 of shooting trying to keep up with all the twists and turns of who betrayed who. G&E was the best.

Now, I work with all types of clients. DC is very much a government/corporate run city on the media side so most of my clients come from that world. I work with some of the local city and state governments on a wide range of projects, but outside of government, my clients include TED, General Dynamics, Bon Appetit, etc.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie literally changed how I approached projects. I still go back and flip through it from time to time. The title is a little misleading, it’s not about making friends, it’s really about how to manage people. It teaches you how to get things done and keep people happy. It’s packed full of examples of historical figures problem solving in out the box ways. It’s a great leadership book that I think everybody should read.

Like I said, my first job out of college was shooting headshots for lawyers and lobbyists. I had good technical and creative ability but I was fresh out of school trying to direct partners at these big law firms. I was extremely nervous and very bad at hiding it. It takes a lot of balancing to oversee a shoot no matter how big or small it is, but that book gave me the frame work to basically be dropped in any situation and be able to manage it. Highly recommend.

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

I think my first 6 years in business were all about resilience. So straight out of the bat, pretty much any business you start is going to cost you money immediately. For photography, you have to pay for the website, the lights, the logo, the software, etc. There are smart ways to approach things, but money is going to get spent regardless.

I had a mentor that told me I was probably going to have to keep working a second job and hold on until I literally can’t do it anymore just to build up that financial base and invest in the things I needed for the business. When I first moved to KY, it was for a photography internship. It was only later that I began to get hired to 1st assist and get on the film sets. I had no contacts down there, no clients, and I was starting from scratch.

So to make ends meet I would leave the internship around 3:45 pm. Work as a host at restaurant from 4-9 pm, then drive for lyft until about 12-1 am and repeat the next day. Then when I moved back to DC, it was like starting the business all over again. I had clients but not enough to cover all the expenses yet. So I had to go back to the service industry. Most commercial shoots have very early call times. 6-7 am. But I was also working 5-6 days a week at a restaurant getting back home at 2 am sometimes.

I started building up my client list but decided to keep working. It was grueling and I’m pretty sure I went crazy a few times a long the way. Eventually I was able to cut down to 4 days then to 3, then to just Friday and Saturday. I would have stayed longer but Fridays became a problem. Work started at 4 pm but you really had to start getting ready around 1:30 pm in order to beat traffic. That left very little time to tackle anything significant for the business. So at that point, the second job was now stifling the photography business growth I knew it was time to go.

Now, I’m back to working full-time in photography, serving on the APA DC Board of Directors and co-founding a creative community called the CTLN Network.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.louistinsley.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/louistinsley/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louis-tinsley-34955839/

Image Credits

All images photographed by Louis Tinsley