A Photographer’s Path

The moment photography sparked a passion

I first picked up a 35mm camera my senior year in high school to fill an elective class. Developing my own film was the beginning of my love for photography. A sports journalist at a local newspaper took me under his wing, let me tag along to football and basketball games (even to a rodeo once) and he gave me many pointers. One thing he said has always stuck with me: “the best shot might be the one behind you.” I think of this often when traveling or when scouting a new location.

From passion to profession

In 2006 my wife and I found out we were having identical twin boys. At that time, I’d photographed for friends and family on the side, but never as a business. Having the twins was a great inspiration to accelerate my game. By 2007 I was shooting and editing almost daily, along with my primary job in property management; photography was both a creative outlet and one that helped me support our family’s financial needs.

In 2008 paddle boarding was coming on the scene. As a kid and young adult, I’d spent countless hours in the water and surfing and was very comfortable in the water. This led to me buy my first true water camera housing which allowed me to shoot from perspectives different from anyone else at the time. I began working with a local, growing paddle board company. Originally, they just wanted to purchase some of my images, but I wanted to partner with them to leverage their PR and marketing efforts. We worked together – including on location travel — for about four years, during which time they helped me get published locally, regionally and nationally. I did this all while keeping my full-time job. The owners and I still have a great friendship. My marketing developed along a very organic route, with a lot of word of mouth and networking, including donating my landscape art and photo services to multiple fundraisers for local charitable events. Finally, I was able to go full time as a professional photographer in 2014.

Overcoming challenges to build a creative business

A constant challenge for any creative is having to think like a business owner. I believe my childhood of very humble beginnings, having had to develop a solid work ethic, and trusting in myself has helped me to overcome challenges and confidently take risks and steps to further my career as a photographer.

In the beginning, I had to figure out the value of the local market. Since there was really no one else in the area doing what I was doing, I was able to do art shows and find the balance between the prices I felt comfortable with and what the client was willing to pay. Creating this value proposition, all while being a developing photographer, was a tough challenge. Meanwhile, I was investing any extra bit of time and expense I could spare. When other 30-year-olds were going out at night, I was getting back home from a shoot and editing and working on my portfolio, betting on myself and investing my time to turn a passion into a career.

A signature style shaped by surfing and travel

I was asked once in an interview “Chandler, what’s your endgame with photography?” My response was “I wanted to experience life and see as much of the world as possible behind the lens.”  My life has been shaped around surfing, photography and travel. Inherently my design choices and compositions have been formed by my experiences so far. I like to create minimalist, uncluttered imagery that expresses a natural feeling driven by realistic color palettes.

Redefining image quality

Image quality to me means that I am providing the best possible outcome for the client with the best tools available for the job. I always wanted better printing and detail quality than what 35mm sensors could offer. I had no idea how much shooting with my Phase One XF system would change my perspective of what quality really means.

When it comes to shooting landscape and fine art photography, shooting with Phase One has allowed me to think without any creative boundaries.  I had wanted more out of my large-scale printing, and I felt my clients deserved better quality. After I got the Phase One, I challenged myself to shoot in some of the same locations but in a wide variety of weather conditions. Doing this allowed me to push my own boundaries and get to know the camera. That process ignited my love for photography again! I loved knowing that I could show up to a location shooting with the 16-bit medium format sensor and use the frame averaging process so quickly without compromising any image quality.  When I use the frame averaging process, I seriously feel like I’m cheating! There is not another camera like it on the market!

When I shoot with the Phase, I feel a connection to quality that might sound weird, but it reminds me of the same feeling and love I have for film. Yes, it is about the quality, but it’s just as much about personal growth of understanding quality and being able to take my time and love being in that moment.

The perfect fit for studio and landscape work

For me Phase One is best suited for my in-studio projects and landscape art photography. I love it in the studio due to its reliability in light shaping with Profoto and my landscape art photography because of its amazing detail and frame averaging capabilities.

Keys to success for aspiring photographers

My number one suggestion would be to put in the time and shoot under all kinds of different weather conditions and lighting scenarios. I do not have any specific resources that I reference. I make it a point to not be on social media for inspiration and instead travel and visit other artists’ galleries and embrace the local daily environment.

Expanding horizons

I have recently opened a retail clothing store, using my images on apparel and doing custom hats, sweaters and other merchandise leveraging my open edition images. It is a little over a year old and we are already thinking of more locations! It’s been so much fun to be able to have images used in so many different genres!

My next level ambitions are to offer photo workshops that will be more experiential than any others being offered out there. I’ve always loved working with students, and now I plan on setting up photo workshops for amazing humanitarian experiential learning!