Mentor Interview
Do you enjoy your job? Why?
What do I not love about my job?! I am only speaking as half of what makes up Chowen Photography, as Daniel makes the other half, but I can honestly say that this is more than a job for me. I love that I get to create art not only for me, but for the amazing people that start as clients and become more than that. We get to create relationships with people and document their lives. They allow us into their lives and we get to create art that they will have forever. We get to be a piece of people's lives. It is an honor and so humbling that people want us to document their love, life and reality via photographs. I love that we get to be creative and set our own way for what we interpret as art and that clients connect with us and hire us so that we can continue this journey of artistic expression. I love that the more we do this "job" the more we learn about ourselves and the more our art evolves. I love that we get the freedom to express ourselves via photography and that people who connect with our work want to be a part of this journey with us. What more could we want out of a job?!
Did you always know you wanted to be a photographer?
Not quite,but... I knew I was an artist from a very young age. I never doubted that I wanted to continue that path, but there are so many mediums and Daniel and I both went in depth with many avenues of artistic expression before realizing that photography was the means to not only display art, but it could evolve along with us and we could create a business model that mimicked how we view life and connect with people to make a lasting career. In our own respects, we were accomplished artists in high school and college. We met later in college and since our art has progressed over time, we both have different styles that work well together. Photography is our favorite means of expression, but we also continue other forms of art as well.
How did you get into photography?
We both started photography in high school working in classes in film and the darkroom. I started working digitally in college where I did a lot of design so it turned to more of a perfect blend to digital photography. Art has always been in our lives, so it just progressed to something as a business where we took a leap of faith in making it happen about six years ago. We are constantly trying to push ourselves to further ourselves as artists and never stay stagnant. This is just the beginning.
Where did you learn to take pictures?
Not sure really. I remember taking photographs since I was young. I always saw a family friend's amazing imagery growing up and his main career was as a doctor, but his photography and darkroom [were] so inspiring even as a kid. It wasn't until high school that I got to experience a darkroom, but it kind of took off as more after that.
What goals did you make for yourself after college? Have you completed them?
I can only speak for myself, but my goals in college were not quite clear when I entered college. I just knew I wanted a lot of degrees and I wanted art to be a huge part of it all. It took me a while to see what I wanted and I don't really think I saw what I was supposed to do until looking back on it now. My path was set for me without even realizing it. Kind of like a calling. Like I was meant to do this, [because] no matter what I tried or [attempted], art was always a magnetic field pulling me in. I don't think you can ever stop learning. I was able to earn an International Business Degree while studying Art as well, so I got to travel and experience and document so many places I never thought I would go. I hope I never stop learning, so I guess I have not quite completed my learning goals. I graduated college a while ago now but I would always love to learn more. Life would be boring without learning new things...whether through academia or via life.
What did you do after college?
Art,some odd jobs until I figured out what I truly wanted to do; get married to the love of my life, have two beautiful daughters, and grow our business.
What is your favorite part about what you do?
Creating art for people, being involved in people's lives and doing that all with my partner in life for our amazing daughters.
What is the most challenging part about your job?
Time management between work and family since we work from home, hoping that we make people happy, hoping we create art that is beautiful all the time and pushing the envelope every time we create work.
What makes you want to continue to be a photographer?
I can't imagine doing anything else. It is the only thing that calls my soul for a "job" and pushes me to create our own path in the art world.
If you weren't doing photography, what do you think you would be doing?
No idea. When I was younger, I thought I wanted to do fashion design or textile design, but that does not appeal to me now. I would be a painter or in my dreams, a ballerina.
How did you get into creating your own business?
It just happened, honestly. I didn't expect this to be what it is now and it has just evolved from the moment it started where I said "I will put it out there and if people hire us, cool." It just took off from there and we have gone with the constant increase in our business ever since. We feel so incredibly blessed and lucky every single day that we have the opportunity to do this.
Why did you choose to have your work involve so much travel?
It didn't start that way. I never intended to travel, but what we offer seems to connect with a lot of amazing people outside of where we reside, so to connect with lovely people that love our work is nothing we want to limit to this area. We love to travel, so it just seems natural to go to clients and their locations. Every client's story and photo shoot is so unique and there are so many amazing people in this world. We are lucky to connect with so many. We feel we are meant to work with the clients we do work with.
Is it hard to travel to each client?
For us it is not hard at all. We love it.
As your own boss what are some of the responsibilities you have and challenges you face? What mistakes have you learned from being your own boss?
There are so many challenges. This business is SO much more than just taking photographs and is a lot harder than people think. There are so many factors that I won't get into, but it really just comes down to the fact that if you love what you do, you will do whatever it takes to make it a successful business and make it work for you. We make our own way and don't conform to anything but our own business model. The main challenges are always making our art stand out in a highly saturated market and getting our art seen while still maintaining our integrity as artists and not conforming. Being our own bosses is great, but also hard. We are able to set our work load and schedule, but it also means working at our own pace to make it happen and be successful. Daniel and I are two different people with completely different vantage points as artists and how we work, so it is a wonderful way to combine our art into one portfolio, but also to maintain our own vision and independence as artists is something we have to work on all the time. It is something we love doing together and something we always want to make sure that we maintain as a cohesive and collaborative business between the two of us. Making a schedule that separates work and family time is always our main challenge as we work from home as well as travel for work, so it is something we still strive to perfect to make it best for our family life. Our daughters are the most important elements in our life and so anything to make their world better makes us happy. The fact that we get to work from home and be with them whenever we can is the biggest blessing.
What advice would you give to a young person looking into photography as a career?
Don't conform. Make sure it is a true passion. Don't do it half-heartedly. Stay true to your vision of your own art and nobody else's. Know it is also a business and not as easy as it appears, because it is not. Quality versus quantity is our motto in love, life and business, so create quality art for your soul. Be open to criticism and push yourself to create YOUR vision. Love what you do and be open to evolving your art.
What do I not love about my job?! I am only speaking as half of what makes up Chowen Photography, as Daniel makes the other half, but I can honestly say that this is more than a job for me. I love that I get to create art not only for me, but for the amazing people that start as clients and become more than that. We get to create relationships with people and document their lives. They allow us into their lives and we get to create art that they will have forever. We get to be a piece of people's lives. It is an honor and so humbling that people want us to document their love, life and reality via photographs. I love that we get to be creative and set our own way for what we interpret as art and that clients connect with us and hire us so that we can continue this journey of artistic expression. I love that the more we do this "job" the more we learn about ourselves and the more our art evolves. I love that we get the freedom to express ourselves via photography and that people who connect with our work want to be a part of this journey with us. What more could we want out of a job?!
Did you always know you wanted to be a photographer?
Not quite,but... I knew I was an artist from a very young age. I never doubted that I wanted to continue that path, but there are so many mediums and Daniel and I both went in depth with many avenues of artistic expression before realizing that photography was the means to not only display art, but it could evolve along with us and we could create a business model that mimicked how we view life and connect with people to make a lasting career. In our own respects, we were accomplished artists in high school and college. We met later in college and since our art has progressed over time, we both have different styles that work well together. Photography is our favorite means of expression, but we also continue other forms of art as well.
How did you get into photography?
We both started photography in high school working in classes in film and the darkroom. I started working digitally in college where I did a lot of design so it turned to more of a perfect blend to digital photography. Art has always been in our lives, so it just progressed to something as a business where we took a leap of faith in making it happen about six years ago. We are constantly trying to push ourselves to further ourselves as artists and never stay stagnant. This is just the beginning.
Where did you learn to take pictures?
Not sure really. I remember taking photographs since I was young. I always saw a family friend's amazing imagery growing up and his main career was as a doctor, but his photography and darkroom [were] so inspiring even as a kid. It wasn't until high school that I got to experience a darkroom, but it kind of took off as more after that.
What goals did you make for yourself after college? Have you completed them?
I can only speak for myself, but my goals in college were not quite clear when I entered college. I just knew I wanted a lot of degrees and I wanted art to be a huge part of it all. It took me a while to see what I wanted and I don't really think I saw what I was supposed to do until looking back on it now. My path was set for me without even realizing it. Kind of like a calling. Like I was meant to do this, [because] no matter what I tried or [attempted], art was always a magnetic field pulling me in. I don't think you can ever stop learning. I was able to earn an International Business Degree while studying Art as well, so I got to travel and experience and document so many places I never thought I would go. I hope I never stop learning, so I guess I have not quite completed my learning goals. I graduated college a while ago now but I would always love to learn more. Life would be boring without learning new things...whether through academia or via life.
What did you do after college?
Art,some odd jobs until I figured out what I truly wanted to do; get married to the love of my life, have two beautiful daughters, and grow our business.
What is your favorite part about what you do?
Creating art for people, being involved in people's lives and doing that all with my partner in life for our amazing daughters.
What is the most challenging part about your job?
Time management between work and family since we work from home, hoping that we make people happy, hoping we create art that is beautiful all the time and pushing the envelope every time we create work.
What makes you want to continue to be a photographer?
I can't imagine doing anything else. It is the only thing that calls my soul for a "job" and pushes me to create our own path in the art world.
If you weren't doing photography, what do you think you would be doing?
No idea. When I was younger, I thought I wanted to do fashion design or textile design, but that does not appeal to me now. I would be a painter or in my dreams, a ballerina.
How did you get into creating your own business?
It just happened, honestly. I didn't expect this to be what it is now and it has just evolved from the moment it started where I said "I will put it out there and if people hire us, cool." It just took off from there and we have gone with the constant increase in our business ever since. We feel so incredibly blessed and lucky every single day that we have the opportunity to do this.
Why did you choose to have your work involve so much travel?
It didn't start that way. I never intended to travel, but what we offer seems to connect with a lot of amazing people outside of where we reside, so to connect with lovely people that love our work is nothing we want to limit to this area. We love to travel, so it just seems natural to go to clients and their locations. Every client's story and photo shoot is so unique and there are so many amazing people in this world. We are lucky to connect with so many. We feel we are meant to work with the clients we do work with.
Is it hard to travel to each client?
For us it is not hard at all. We love it.
As your own boss what are some of the responsibilities you have and challenges you face? What mistakes have you learned from being your own boss?
There are so many challenges. This business is SO much more than just taking photographs and is a lot harder than people think. There are so many factors that I won't get into, but it really just comes down to the fact that if you love what you do, you will do whatever it takes to make it a successful business and make it work for you. We make our own way and don't conform to anything but our own business model. The main challenges are always making our art stand out in a highly saturated market and getting our art seen while still maintaining our integrity as artists and not conforming. Being our own bosses is great, but also hard. We are able to set our work load and schedule, but it also means working at our own pace to make it happen and be successful. Daniel and I are two different people with completely different vantage points as artists and how we work, so it is a wonderful way to combine our art into one portfolio, but also to maintain our own vision and independence as artists is something we have to work on all the time. It is something we love doing together and something we always want to make sure that we maintain as a cohesive and collaborative business between the two of us. Making a schedule that separates work and family time is always our main challenge as we work from home as well as travel for work, so it is something we still strive to perfect to make it best for our family life. Our daughters are the most important elements in our life and so anything to make their world better makes us happy. The fact that we get to work from home and be with them whenever we can is the biggest blessing.
What advice would you give to a young person looking into photography as a career?
Don't conform. Make sure it is a true passion. Don't do it half-heartedly. Stay true to your vision of your own art and nobody else's. Know it is also a business and not as easy as it appears, because it is not. Quality versus quantity is our motto in love, life and business, so create quality art for your soul. Be open to criticism and push yourself to create YOUR vision. Love what you do and be open to evolving your art.