Meet Collin Chappelle of Collin Chappelle Photography

Today we’d like to introduce you to Collin Chappelle.

Collin, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I began shooting after finding an old Minolta 35mm film camera of my parents back in 8th grade. Unfortunately, it didn’t work, but I was intrigued, so I saved up some lunch & chore money to buy my first camera and began doing tests teaching myself how shutter speed, aperture, and film speed work. By high school, I had a solid handle on how to make images and starting shooting my high school track team.

Fast forward to college, I was studying Physics and was told to check out the school newspaper as a way to shoot a bit. I was hooked… often spending all night in the newsroom helping to get the newspaper out as the Photo Editor and even more often putting my Physics studies on the backburner.

Several summer internships later I decided to pursue photojournalism as a career and quickly landed my first staff job at the Greenville News in South Carolina, but that lasted less than a year before the big economic downturn had me pushed out of that job, upon which I moved to Atlanta in search of freelance opportunities, which were a bit thin and decided to go back to school and get a Masters in Photography.

While in grad school, I started photo assisting for commercial shooters and was able to learn much about the commercial photography market and how to work on a high-end commercial campaign. Shooting everything from architecture, to NASCAR drivers to US Marines from a helicopter, I was even more hooked. And decided I would pursue building my own client base.

However, I ended up moving to San Diego before getting a foothold in Atlanta and started from square one assisting for nearly all of San Diego’s main commercial shooters while simultaneously positioning myself to begin working for my own clients as well as providing videographer services to many of the photographers I once assisted. I currently shoot 50/50 stills and video for clients of all kinds and enjoy exploring and employing all the latest camera & lighting tech.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has not been a smooth road for me in any way. I am still building the career I want, but overall am proud of being able to get this far pursuing an accidental career. The largest challenge I’ve had to negotiate is working to build a career as a single father of two school-aged children… balancing being a present parent while expanding a freelance shooting career isn’t the easiest, especially as I’m unable to take the same risks as some others in my field when it comes to opportunities.

Please tell us about Collin Chappelle Photography.
I specialize in providing technical and creative visuals services via photography and video with the goal of telling dynamic and honest stories of people and companies.

I’m known as a bit of a camera nerd. The kind of shooter that knows where all the advanced features of a specific camera are located in the menu system or happy to spend the time of memorizing a manual of a new piece of equipment.

I enjoy the challenge of bringing high-end production concepts, techniques and equipment to every project even if budgets are constrained. It’s fun to figure out how to best maximize a client’s project and budget, while still over-delivering.

My goal would be to continue that philosophy even when I begin working on big budget projects.

As a young, father and shooter of color, I look to use my unique life experience to tell more authentic stories, especially of those who are generally under-represented.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Given where I’ve ended up in life, I would say “stealing” my lunch money to save up to buy my first camera has turned out to be my most significant memory.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.collinchappelle.com
• Phone: 404-353-5271
• Email: collin@collinchappelle.com
• Instagram: @collinchappelle
• Other: vimeo.com/user6659896

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