I guess you could say that I accidentally became a wedding photographer. In 1977 a couple of my friends were getting married and since I was a decent amateur photographer I volunteered to shoot heir weddings. Word spread and before long I was doing about 5-6 per year fro friends and relatives. Fast forward to 1993, I came to a crossroads in my career. I was getting rather tired of working the weddings instead of attending them and told my wife I was going to quit doing them. She told me to purse it more seriously instead of just passively. I mulled that thought over for a while and thought, “why not?”. I started investing in seminars, equipment and advertising and within a few years was filling up my calendar rather nicely. In 2001-2002 everything was going great, we had just completed building a custom home complete with a presentation room, studio and production area then everything changed. The company I was working for shut it’s doors and I was forced into a full time photographer situation, now it was sink or swim. It’s amazing what you can do when faced with adversity.Today I’m extremely thrilled with what I get to do, the passion has not abated one bit. I want to get even more involved in the industry and maybe in a small way help shape the direction it’s going.
Also, from 2003-2005 I conducted a series of workshops called the Digital Pow Wow to help photographers make the transition to digital capture and now my newest workshop is a 2-1/2 destination wedding photography program that is a real wedding! The next one is May 17-19, 2010 in Cancun.
It’s a well know fact we wedding photographers can get into a rut and spend an extreme amount of time in what we do, just get by and then burn out. I have sought a route that will allow me to work let and actually enjoy my family. My wife of 21 years and I have the privilege of raising 2 of our grandchildren and we owe it them to provide the time, love and nurturing they deserve. I want to share some very valuable information with those that come to my program that they can apply to their business model that will make an immediate impact on their revenue.
It’s not about the work, it’s not about the art, it’s not about post production. It’s only for those that are already good photographers that want to make more money but can’t seem to get it no matter how good they are.
This is my first Partner Con and trip to New Orleans. I’m look forward to meeting some of the other Pictagers that I’m met on the forums and to experience the whole Partner Con thing. Jim Collins is also a big draw for me. It’s not often you get a CEO that has passion for the craft, enthusiasm about the industry and a sense of humor to boot.
See some images courtesy of Grant Oakes below.
Written By Grant Oakes
Meet Denver based photographer Grant Oakes. Grant’s session titled “Perception is Reality” will be Wednesday, November 4, 2009 at 8:00 AM. For more information such as the Katrina Photo Shoot, speaker bios, and schedule visit www.partnercon.pictage.com. In the section below, Grant shares a little about his background, his session, who you should attend, and what he is most excited about for this year’s Partner Conference.