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

Michael, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I was a mediocre student growing up. I never adjusted to the discipline of sitting at a desk for 7 hrs. My mind would wander. By the time I graduated from high school, 1966, the Vietnam war was raging and I feared I would flunk out of school and be drafted. So my goal was to stay in college as long as possible. I first enrolled at Staunton Military Academy to do post graduate work to raise my grades. I lasted 4 days. It was a big mistake. Over the next 3 years I went to 3 different colleges and ended up at Ohio University where there was a very big and vibrant photography department. By then I’d tried everything and nothing was clicking. All my friends were going into a business curriculum and that was not for me. I took a chance and tried a photo course. There were over 200 students in the basic 101 photo class at Ohio U. and only 15 to graduate by the end of 4 years so it was very competitive. I was not doing well my second quarter, and was advised to drop it as a major. And if I didn’t raise my grades i was going to flunk out. The final quarter of that first year I just decided to make images that were personal, not something that was “supposed” to look like “art”. From then on my grades were As and in the 4th year I secured an apprenticeship with Jack Welpott who taught photography at San Francisco State College, and who was widely known and liked. Through Jack I met and spent time with Ansel Adams, Imogene Cunningham, Frederick Sommer and was offered private study with Minor White. at MIT. I knew then I was on the right track in life.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I don’t know if proud is the right word to describe my reaching a goal. I have a thing when people say “I’m proud I got this” It’s just that word seems misused when applying to “yourself”. That’s just me, it’s my monkey. What I’m happiest about in this life, my greatest success story? My daughter. Having her and watching her go through life. Now I’m proud of her. My second greatest “happiness” is to have amassed so many images from my life that has allowed me to relive those moments over and over instead of so many of our memories going to dust before us.

Have you ever had to pivot?

In 1980 I received my MFA in Photo from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with a goal to teach. I was married then and my wife was my muse for the next 10 years and amassed a large body of work through her.. We had a daughter in 1981 and by 1985 I was in my 3rd teaching job. My wife and I separated and teaching dried up by 1989. I always thought of that period as a big enema from God. I gave the teaching career a big one finger salute and moved to Baltimore to go commercial.
One of my former students had moved there a couple years before me and landed a great position in a cutting edge Graphic Design/Advertising agency. At that time I was focused on a long development of light painting and that method was quickly picked up by that agency and used on many projects. These projects built a commercial portfolio that showcased my light painting and I was getting work from all over the country. It was exciting to find a whole new and very responsive audience to my artwork and for the next 10 years my clients and supporters were Graphic Designers. I set up Strobophoto Studio 1991 and now semi retired.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Again, thanks to another former student of mine, around 2018 I was encouraged to start posting my images on Instagram. I was told in the beginning I was to post 2 images at a time and do that in the morning, mid day, and early eve every day non stop……and start following others. It’s all part of the “Algorithm”.
I was up to 1000 followers in about a month. In that time people were throwing me incredible praises that I’d never heard like that before.. Then I hear from a well known publisher in the UK, that they’re interested in doing a book. And that book has taken me many many places. I now have over 17K followers. I have found that by the time you reach a couple thousand that you can slow down the posts to 2 images once a day. The well is only so deep.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.michaelnorthrup.com
• Instagram: michaelenorthrup
• Facebook: Michael Northrup

Image Credits

Michael E Northrup