Today we’d like to introduce you to Frank Rogozienski.
Hi Frank, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I am a commercial advertising photographer now based in Little Italy, San Diego. I opened my first studio in New Orleans many moons ago. I’ve been based in Little Italy for almost 20 years now. My work is primarily B2B for various corporate clients. I specialize is shooting real people doing real things. There’s an energy I get from working with real people who aren’t normally photographed. I get a real charge from the subject that goes into our session very nervous and telling me after our session how easy it was and that it was actually fun. That never gets old.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Commercial photography is a tough business. Running a small business is by definition a tough road I think. I’m really proud of the fact I’ve made it this far and am thriving. Any business that’s been around for 20+ years is going to go through peaks and valleys. The key, I’ve learned, is to position your business to take advantage of the peaks and prepare to weather the valleys. I was not well positioned when the economic downturn hit in 2008.
Virtually overnight in November 2008, my business was reduced to one third of my ongoing work. It took years to recover from that. I said at the time if I could weather that economic storm I would be better for it on the other side. I even thought then, as I do now, that it weeded out a lot of other commercial photo studios that couldn’t or wouldn’t make it through. While the pandemic was a very different crisis, I was much better position to take advantage of its unique opportunities.
The pandemic provided a vacuum for me to reevaluate every aspect of my business. I was able to surround myself, virtually, with like minded people, stay creative, solve problems, and move my business forward in ways I could never do in normal times. As a consequence, my business has emerged stronger and better positioned than ever before. The key I believe, is to be prepared for the downturns, whatever they may be and turn them into opportunities.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m a commercial advertising photographer. I specialize in photographing real people doing real things. I pride myself in my ability to work with real people that are not accustomed to being photographed. They have day jobs and this may be the only time they ever experienced something like this.
They don’t know how to act or what to do in front of the camera. Over the course of my career, I have developed a rapport with subjects from every profession. From boardrooms to biotech labs, tarmacs to the C-Suite. My relaxed, reassured approach, puts my subjects at ease, enabling me to capture their true personalities doing what they do, real work. Whether I’m working with a CEO or the machinist on the factory floor, I have a deep respect for what they do and want to portray that pride they have in job well done.
The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
I was scheduled to fly to Dallas for a shoot the week everything shut down in March 2020. I was actually relieved since the shoot was canceled a few hours before I was scheduled to get on a plane. I had been making contingency plans all weekend as things were so unknown. Should I drive instead of fly? Were hotels safer than airplanes. In the end, I was relieved the shoot was canceled. Within the first few days of that cancelation, I realized this was going to be a huge shift for business and families alike.
At that point, I decided to view this as a business opportunity and not a fatal blow. I’ve been in business long enough to have weathered many peaks and valleys. They’re usually economic in nature, but this was going to have to be weathered as well. The primary thing I did was to continue to work every day. While I didn’t have any billable projects I was able to work on the long list of projects every small business has and never seems to have the time to get to. I sought out and surrounded myself (virtually, though Zoom, IGlive, etc) with like minded creatives.
Truly inspirational individuals that rose to the occasion and stayed positive and worked hard to come out the other side better. I redid my website, I worked on a book of Mardi Gras Portraits from a body of work I shot in New Orleans, I honed my editing and video skills. In short, I stayed busy, inspired and challenged. It was an exciting time to be able to work on all those projects that I never seemed to have time for in the before times And gradually, the projects came back, slowly and sporadically, but those projects I was able to bring a well rested excitement and energy. In short, the pandemic was an opportunity that I felt well-positioned for at this point in my career to take advantage of the mandated downtime to work on numerous projects and re-energize creatively.
Contact Info:
- Email: studio@frankrogozienski.com
- Website: frankrogozienski.com
- Instagram: @feriiiphoto @frankrogophoto
- Twitter: @feriiiphoto
Image Credits
Frank Rogozienski
