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

Zach, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

Photography started out as a hobby for me when I purchased my first camera. My girlfriend at the time (who is now my wife) was a photographer and I loved hiking and backpacking and bought a camera to better capture the sights and adventures I would have when in the outdoors. It was not until a wedding photographer out of a nearby city asked me to be his second photographer for weddings that I realized it could become something more.

The photographer allowed me to use the photos I captured while photographing weddings for him in my own portfolio which was one of the large reasons I was able to excel so quickly early on. After capturing weddings with him for a summer, I decided to create my own website and advertise my work online. The next year I booked 21 of my own weddings and became a full time wedding photographer. Since then my business has grown in the number of clients I have, genres of photography I capture, and price I charge for my services.

I excelled in my business very quickly and the largest factor in my success was both my personal drive and my skill set. Before I made the leap to become a photographer, I was studying chemical engineering and have a very left brained approach to many things. I am a problem solver and innovator. Most photographers are predominately right-brained but I am a good bit of both left and right. If I had to give a numerical split I’d say I’m about 60% left and 40% right. This gave me a huge leg up on many others with a similar story in that I very quickly learned and excelled in my business, and specifically the marketing side of my work which is predominately left-brained in nature. Some may argue that marketing is right brained, and they would not be completely off-base, but the fact is, that it does not matter how beautiful the marketing material is if it cannot gain visibility which requires a good bit of knowledge in analytics, SEO, A/B testing, and other left-brained concepts. Anyone can learn these things but I think I personally excelled at such a rapid rate because these things come naturally to me.

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

I am first and foremost and proud father and husband. I love my family and always put them first. Luckily, my job allows for this more than most jobs you can find.

My journey as a photographer started off as a hobby and has branched out from there into weddings, portraits, and then into many other genres. I have never turned down an opportunity related to my work with very few exceptions and I have at least tried just about every genre of photography. It is common for many photographers to pigeon hole themselves by not being open to other styles and genres of photography and it is to their detriment. The more things you try as a photographer the more you learn and can apply to other aspects of your career. One of my favorite examples of this is urban street photography. When I first started off, one of my good friends loved this style. I did not. Yet I would still go out with him to capture images around the city at night. It taught me so many unique skills that can be implemented in all other genres of photography that I would have never learned without trying it.

I personally am known for my work in the wedding industry because of the way I capture couples in nature. I edit images in a very natural and timeless manner that is true to life. This sets me apart from most other photographers in my field who edit very stylistically (using sepia tones, desaturated tones, or over-exposed images). Though the images are not “trendy” in the way they are edited, I have found huge success because there are very few who do what I do and many who edit in a stylistic manner. The competition is not the same. I chose this very strategically and also apply it to my work in professional corporate headshots, families, and seniors.

While I do love portrait photography, my passion originally came from my love for the outdoors which is still what I am probably most known for. I post my “moody” (a.k.a. rainy and foggy) Pacific Northwest themed work to Instagram and have nearly 200K followers who have joined me on my journey to show off how beautiful this area of the world is on the days people typically want to stay indoors. Yet again, I chose a smaller niche of the photography world with a style that is less-common which is a big contributing factor to my success on social media.

Lastly, I have also become increasingly well-known for my Airbnb photography and Airbnb marketing skills in the Pacific Northwest which is something I never thought would become an aspect of my work. For years, the thought of capturing real estate seemed boring and bland. However, I have fallen in love with this kind of work as Airbnb’s are very different than typical real estate. Airbnb’s are often very unique and as a photographer, I get to travel to them and stay there while I capture not only the interior photos but also the exterior, amenities, and surrounding area. I often times get to bring my family along and capture them as well to provide “lifestyle” images to hosts that further sets apart their listings while providing me and my family a free week long vacation on top of the fees that I charge for the images.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I have built my reputation in three specific ways: my work, my clients, and other vendors (within the wedding industry).

My work as a photographer does speak for itself. I have worked for years honing my skill and creative eye to capture exactly what I want without having limitations. I have gained so much technical skill over the years that the only thing that can hold me back anymore is my own creativity. In regard to my work on Instagram, I have a particular style that sets me apart from every other photographer out there. In all my other work, it is always beautiful and clean and sets me apart from those who may just be starting or may not be quite as experienced.

My clients and their experience are my top priority. Over the years I have had hundreds of clients and I have worked my hardest to give them the best experiences and end product. I always treat them with respect and conduct myself with integrity so they have nothing but great things to say about me. When you truly care about your clients, they will send you more work than you can handle just through word of mouth. I also collect reviews and believe that reviews are some of the best way to gain a trust reputation when new clients are looking for a photographer to capture whatever it is they want captured. So many photographers do not lean into this enough or collect them at all and that is a huge mistake.

Lastly, other vendors and professionals specifically in the wedding space have seen my work and experienced firsthand how I operate and relate with my clients. I am very type A and always come prepared. I am quick to reply and happy to send vendors photos for them to use for their own marketing.

I believe that is creatives utilize these three ways to build their reputation, they will never run out of work.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

The biggest thing I have had to unlearn in regard to what I do as a photographer is that you do not need a college degree to be successful. For my entire life I was told I needed to graduate from a college with a degree to be successful and make a good income. As time has gone on, I have found this simply to not be true. I know so many creatives and entrepreneurs without degrees who make way more money and have a better life than those who have traditional degrees. I am not saying that degrees are worthless but they certainly are not the sole key to success.

I went to school for Chemical Engineering and made it to my senior year of college before dropping out. I was a great student and never struggled to understand the concepts I studied; but rather dropped out because it was not what I wanted to do. Graduates often times work the same exact problems they do in school in a cubicle and that sounded awful to me. Though I may be a good bit left-brained, I am still very social and hands-on and I knew if I graduated I may make a great income but it would be to my own detriment. After dropping out of college, it took me years to overcome the mindset that I needed to graduate college to be successful and even when I did achieve success, it took me a couple more years to accept that I was successful. I felt what a lot of people have termed “imposter syndrome”. Now, I am confident and truly happy about what I do and am proud of my work.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.zachnicholz.com/
• Instagram: @zachnicholz