Photography for a Cause

I’ve had the privilege of supporting RiseUp Malawi for two consecutive years as the event photographer. It takes place at The Ridge, a beautiful golf course nestled into the mountain landscape in Castle Pines, Colorado. So they didn’t need to ask twice if I’d essentially drive a golf cart around in a pretty location and take photos of golfers.

While the location is gorgeous, luxurious even, it wasn’t lost on me that the donations from the 50+ golfers were going to alleviate poverty in a place where such luxuries exist only in dreams. It’s inspiring to see those with the ability to help engaging in a meaningful way to bring about positive change for those with limited ability to help themselves. I’m proud to have been a part of RiseUp Malawi’s mission and look forward to working with them again in the future. Please check out their site to see how you might also help make a difference.

riseupmalawi.org

Keep it Fun: Caterpillar, Chrysalis, Butterfly

As an analogy, I think “caterpillar - chrysalis - butterfly” works perfectly to describe the evolution of my photography path.

Caterpillar | How it started:

Simply put, I caught the bug. I loved capturing landscapes of the places I lived and traveled to, and over time, through lots of study, feedback, and practice, I saw incremental improvements. I just loved the process of creating, improvement, and spending time outdoors.

Then one day, someone who thought my work was alright asked if I would take family photos for them. And so it began. Over a period of several years, I began booking more and more shoots. By the end of 2019, I was fitting photo sessions into most of my Saturdays plus “golden hour” shoots on weekdays. It was great. Being able to charge for photography allowed me to invest in better equipment and tools. I was on a pretty good trajectory. But…

Chrysalis | Then I stopped:

At the end of 2019, I began working for Zoom. The job change required me to move from Salt Lake City, Utah, to Denver, Colorado, which I was happy to do. I spent my formative years (4th grade through high school graduation) in Colorado, and a chance to bring my family back to CO sounded great. I threw myself into the new role and really, for a Localization professional, I saw it as a dream job. It was an opportunity to build a Localization program from scratch. I had a great manager (shout out Derek Pando!) who afforded me the autonomy and necessary support to build out a vision for tools, processes, and people.

It wasn’t long after joining Zoom that COVID hit. We were slammed. Every team was working on overdrive to keep up with the demand. I joined late-night meetings and early-morning meetings, weekdays and weekends, to keep abreast of the spread of the pandemic and the impact it was having on the company. For example, as the virus moved into Vietnam, we saw our free user signups spiking in Vietnam. As the virus moved into Italy, we saw our free user signups spiking in Italy. People needed to communicate and Zoom was how they were doing it. We didn’t have support for Vietnamese or Italian prior to COVID, but we turned these languages around rather quickly.

Needless to say, I didn’t have the bandwidth to start building a new photography client base in a new state, let alone spend much time adventuring with a camera taking landscape shots. Photography was on hold.

Butterfly | Then I started, again:

Eventually, the pandemic came to an end, the Localization program was humming, and I had hired great Localization team. As things went back to “normal”, I gradually started spreading the word about photography. It can actually be pretty simple to advertise. Just start talking about it, let people know what you like to do, share a photo and some insights on social media, offer a free shoot here and there, etc. Those steps helped gain some momentum. As word got out, I was approached by a non-profit called RiseUp Malawi to cover a golf fundraiser at a local course. I had a great time. So much so that I did it two years in a row. The second year I put a QR code on the first tee box and placed brochures in all the golf carts. I even put them directly in golf bags.

Flying | What’s next?

Time to fly.

Recently, I made the hard decision to pull the plug on my old website that I put a lot of hours into. As its renewal date came and went, I stood by and watched Google analytics flatline. RIP tysonshelleyphotography.com.

No need to wallow though! Summit Frame Photography is now live!

Here’s a list of things I never did pre-pandemic, but I do now or that are coming up…

• Budget for advertising

• Ads in local paper

• Sponsoring a local high school prom where I’ll attend the open house expecting 1,500 potential clients who will walk by my booth where I’ll be ready to go with games, brochures, and a “booking station” e.g. an iPad with my reservation site/form.

• Focus advertising messaging intentionally on Weddings, Family, and Events

• Legitimized Summit Frame Photography as an LLC

• Keep track of expenses for taxes

• Official contracts and release forms

• Configured bookkeeping software for streamlined signatures for contracts, proposals, and invoicing

• Business bank account

• And of course, my site is localized for a Spanish-speaking market!

Last key thing… I have a new rule. Keep it fun. The second I get too serious about leveraging my passion into a business, I’ll have lost my north star. There are a lot of reasons why I love photography from the technical side of how cameras are able to interact with light to the artistic side of composition and lighting, to the human side of capturing emotions and relationships for people to look at and remember for years to come. As much as I’ve enjoyed all the recent “firsts” for my photography business, it’s key that I keep it fun! And that goes for my the experience my clients have as well.

Let’s have some fun!

What a storm!

This storm was massive. It hovered over Denver for about 36 hours dropping heavy wet snow at a rate that doesn’t happen that often. I got out my measuring tape and measured 18in on the top of my truck, and that was about half way through the storm!

I had a lot going on and almost didn’t get out to get any shots. I wasn’t planning on getting outside much at all with everything I had to get done for work. But as I sat there from my work chair I kept glancing out the window and knew my kids were out there forming core memories that I was missing. So, grabbed my camera and a cloth (to protect it from getting doused with wet snow) and trudged my way through knee deep snow to the backyard where they were. This is that shot. Really, there are two “keepers”. One wide and one zoomed in, but both shot on my Canon 70-200 2.8. When I shoot for clients I often deliver shots that are similar but at different levels of zoom. Tighter feels more intimate, it’s about the people and their expressions, their life, their feelings etc. Wider tells a broader story about what was going on. One isn’t better that the other, but together my clients get the best of both worlds… seeing up close the ones they love, coupled with a broader context for the overall experience and memory. In this case, the broader context (wider shot) shows the winter wonderland that our backyard became. The closer shot shows rosy-cheeked sisters bonding over the same experience. Both are “posed” shots, which is great. But I did snap several of them just doing what they do in their element. I always aim to deliver both posed as well as candid shots for my clients.

All in all, I was glad to get out in the storm if only for a few minutes to capture this moment that I know my girls will one day love to look back at and remember the impact this storm had.