Today we’d like to introduce you to Ian Boggs.
Ian, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Creativity has always been in my veins. A big part of this is due to being born to an American father who grew up in Kenya and a Japanese mother from Japan. My father was also serving in the U.S. Navy while I grew up so we would move to a new country every three years; at the age of 18, I had already lived in and visited over 15 countries. I was engulfed with a diverse understanding of cultures from the get-go and this inevitably sparked my passion for the arts. Cultures and people tend to be very different across the globe but the one thing that unites us and stays universally unique is art.
For as long as I can remember, I have had the dream of being a professional photographer and traveling the world to capture images and stories to share with people and better our understanding of the world. My interest in photography began at the ripe age of seven when my father decided to buy my mother a very expensive photography kit, which became mine soon after my mother started using her iPhone for all of her pictures and videos. Then at the age of 14, we moved to Italy and started traveling all over Europe. I started taking photos of everything and fell in love with the idea of becoming a photographer. Though, one place that left me in complete awe was Switzerland. We were walking through the Swiss Alps and I was taking several landscape photos when I realized that people do this for a living, people travel and visit beautiful places around the globe to take photos of and make a living out of doing it. It was at that moment when I asked my parents “How do I become a professional photographer?” and they had no idea how to answer it.
Then it came time for me to go to college and I decided to go to the University of California at Irvine (UCI) to study Biological Sciences in pursuit of becoming a doctor and joining Doctors Without Borders to help people around the world. I tried my hardest to pursue biology and do my best at the sciences but there was always a part of me that felt behind, the creative side of me that felt happiest when I was doing something within the arts. At the end of my fourth year, I decided to buy my camera and do everything I can to become the best photographer I could be. I spent my days researching and studying everything about photography and working as hard as I could to being a following for my work on Instagram. I then realized that I can still help people around the world with my passion.
Through photography, I can document stories and share them with people to help them better understand what is happening on their planet and how they can help. At the same time, I can travel the world and provide them with beautiful images of the things they love, something I still do to this day. When I realized this burning passion for photography within me, I switched my major from Biological Sciences to Film and Media studies and worked my hardest to become a full-time photographer. I now have the privilege of saying I own a photography business in California where I capture photos for brands, institutions, weddings, and much more. I have also been able to travel the world to take photos for different companies, all while fueling my passion for photography.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The biggest obstacle I have faced so far has been my thoughts about not succeeding. I have faced several obstacles such as others telling me that I might not be able to make it as a photographer, that this isn’t the “safest” route for me to take, but it was never about what other people thought, it has always been about doing what I believe is the right thing to do for myself. Though, turning your passion into a career isn’t always the easiest thing to do. Some days I feel on top of the world; on these days I have a lot of clients coming to me and I feel as though I am the most productive photographer out there.
On other days I feel like I could be doing much more, marketing myself in better ways and being more organized with my workflow. Spending a lot of time by myself and working on my craft leaves me to my thoughts very often and I sometimes drown in thoughts of not getting to where I want to be, to be the best photographer in the world. But I overcame these thoughts by remembering who I am and what I am meant to be, by never letting go of my dream and always working towards it.
Please tell us about your business.
My photography business, Ian Boggs Photography, started by providing high caliber images for several different brands and influencers on Instagram. I noticed that there was a gap in the market for high quality images for several companies and influencers on Instagram, so I Direct Messaged several different brands and influencers on Instagram who I believed could use some help with their images and offered my services to them. Soon after, I had to quit my part-time job at the gym because photography became a full-time job for me. It was like a dream come true. Through working with big influencers on Instagram, my following started growing and I now have over 10,000 followers on Instagram that I get to share my photography with.
However, a couple of months ago I started doing wedding photography, as well as engagement, elopement, and family photography and fell in love with all of it. I realized that I had a lot of fun and enjoyment providing couples and families with picture-perfect memories of their favorite moments and have since been doing wedding and family photography full-time. I still enjoy working with brands and influencers, but most of my work currently revolves around wedding and family photography. I am extremely proud of my fast turnaround time and ability to create a different type of editing style from the usual wedding and family photos that are popular today.
My ultimate dream, though, is to become a full-time travel and wildlife photographer. I recently had the opportunity to work with a couple of companies in Costa Rica through photography and had the most incredible time of my life. While I was there, I had the chance to photograph tons of wildlife, many of which were animals I had never seen. I believe that travel opens our eyes up to so much more of what the world has to offer, which is why my dream will always be to travel the world constantly and share stories that the world needs to hear. At the same time, wildlife is what allows us to live but we are currently taking it for granted and I believe that through the sharing of images of our beloved wildlife, people can spark a change in the way we appreciate and take care of our planet.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
If I had to start over, I would have studied more. There’s a saying that goes “you never stop learning,” which holds to any kind of discipline. Before creating a photography business, I would research everything there was to know about photography and would spend hours studying composition, lighting, camera specifications and just about everything there is to know about photography. Though I am still learning more about photography to this day and I have been doing it professionally for a long time now.
In the same respect, I would have studied more specifically about marketing and ads. When I first started making money from my photography, I was very eager to do everything I could to turn photography into a full-time career and spent almost no time learning about ads and marketing. Now, I know that it is better to do my research on ads and create niche-specific marketing groups, but I may have saved a bit of money for my business if I had spent a bit of extra time in the beginning to better understand how to make the most out of my marketing budget.
Contact Info:
- Website: ianboggsphoto.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/sightsofian
- Facebook: facebook.com/ianboggsphotography
- Twitter: twitter.com/sightsofian
Image Credit:
Photo of me Taken by Vivian Truong (@thevividcollective on Instagram and Facebook)
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