We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Pete Coco a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Pete, appreciate you joining us today. What do you think it takes to be successful?

In my experience, the first part of being, or becoming, successful, is believing in yourself. It might sound cliche, but I know from personal experience that it wasn’t until I began to believe in myself, in my talents, skills, and most importantly in my work ethic, that I started to see real change in my life. For a long time I would dream about being a professional photographer, and feel regret because I didn’t think I could ever make it happen. But, when I started to change my thinking, and start believing that I could do it, then my dream became a reality.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am a headshot and portrait photographer with a studio based in New York on Long Island. I began my journey as a photographer back in high school, when I got a job working at the local camera shop. I worked in the photo industry all throughout my college career, as a camera salesman and freelance photographer, but my formal education is in music.

After graduating from college, I opened a music school for kids and worked in the education industry running my own school and also as an adjunct professor at a local university. In 2017, I added a musical theatre program to our school, and this is when I started taking headshots and learning about headshot and portrait photography.
At first I only took photos for our musical theatre students, although I began to study with some of New York’s top photographers and hone my craft.

In 2020, we were forced to close the doors of our music school and go to remote learning, like most other schools. This is when I decided to not only hone my skills as a photographer but also turn it into a viable business. I began advertising my services as a headshot photographer and my business quickly took off.

Today, I still run my music school but also have a dedicated photo studio where I work with actors, CEOs, executives, authors, and many other professionals to create images that are an asset to their brands. I love imagery that is striking, dramatic, and engaging.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

In 2020, before I began my headshot business in earnest, I was ready to give up. I actually took photos of my lighting equipment and put out “for sale” ads on photography forums. Thankfully, at this time my wife gave me sage advice, and told me that instead of trying to sell my photography gear, I should take the time to really begin promoting myself as a photographer.

So, in a place of desperation and in feelings of failure, I decided to give it one more shot. I also decided to change my mindset from a failure mentality to a success mentality, and this also make a tremendous difference in my business as well as my personal life.

Once I made the decision, I began to take active steps to promote and grow my business. I found friends to photograph in order to build my portfolio, I became active on social media where I displayed my work and also promoted it. I built a website and began running Google ads. All of these steps, combined with the fact that I spent countless hours developing my skills as a photographer, began to translate into clients. As word spread, my business began to take off, and two years later, I have a wonderful and thriving studio.

I’m so grateful that my wife helped to convince me not to quit, because if I did, I would not be doing something I love today and making money doing it too!

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I wish I knew the value of mentorship over formal education earlier in my journey. Although I love education and hold a Doctorate degree myself (in music), I learned everything I know about photography through mentorship When we are speaking about a creative field, especially, I think that the most important step we can take is to find a mentor whose work speaks strongly to us and study with them directly. You will learn extremely fast this way and avoid wasting time and money doing things. that are not necessary to your creative growth.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://petecocophoto.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/petecocophoto/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pete-coco-313112b/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/PeteCocoPhoto
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeAw-QhVFXioQjQSKfSPVoQ

Image Credits
Peter Coco