Today we’d like to introduce you to Tomas Reyes.
Hi Tomas, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I have been doing photography for about 7 years now. I started in High School when I had a yearbook class. Our teacher would lend out cameras to take photos of sports games and school events. Since I was heavily involved in sports, I always had the camera with me to try and get a lot of shots. I also would always volunteer myself to get photos of any events so I can get out of class lol! This is where my love of photography started. When I graduated from High School, I didn’t take photography or videography seriously, it was always just for fun. In my eyes I always thought tryin to make money from photography was way too difficult, so why even try. Until I got a job with a real estate photography team. At first, it was a job that I thought could just give me the opportunity to work with cameras, but it was so much more. 8 months into this job, I get a call from the owner asking me if I wanted to take on an event; since he knew I had experience photographing High School he decided to refer me. I didn’t hesitate, and I said yes. Again, I didn’t think anything of it, it was just a one-time thing that I got the opportunity to do and something I can have fun with. I finished the event, and the client was satisfied with my work, which they then told my boss, so then for the rest of the year, he started referring me. I think in my first year, I did about 5 events that he referred to me, which gave me the opportunity to create my portfolio, which then help me connect with other photographers to then make other connections with clients. Still, after those 5 events, it became really slow. It was months until I had a paid event, which I to go and look for by putting myself out there and trying to network. I had to do a lot of free work to start building my portrait portfolio and still till this day I do free work if I need to work on a certain piece of my portfolio. I got super lucky at the beginning and when I was given the opportunity, I took it. There are some really slow months and then there are months where it can get pretty busy, but I’m just happy I get to do what I love every day, never think anything is too hard to do!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
No, it has not been a smooth road, but it has been an amazing journey! When I started taking photography seriously, I got super lucky because my boss, the owner of the real estate company I work for, referred me a few events that got me started. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a consistent thing. I went months without with doing any events. Which at the time, it wasn’t horrible cause I worked at Trader Joes, worked for the Real Estate team, and was going to school full-time. So, it gave me the time to work on my schooling. You do start to get in your head a little bit and start thinking things like you just got lucky with those few events and it was a one-time thing and for a time I went through a bit of imposter syndrome, but I fought through it. Even though I was so busy with my 2 jobs and schooling, I started doing free shoots and giveaways on my Instagram and offering to cover events for free. I did a 6-hour event one time for free so I can add it to my portfolio. As I started to this free work and networking, I started to meet other photographers that would then give me opportunities to second shoot or even refer me to clients. This started to make me busier, which then started my sleepless nights which at the time were such an obstacle for me, but now I look at it as something I’m proud of, that I went through in order to help me further my place as a photographer. I would wake up at 5 am to go into Trader Joe’s, get off at 1 pm then do Real Estate till 5:30 pm, and then the rest of the night it was editing or schoolwork or sometimes both. Still, sometimes there are sleepless nights, but it’s all photography or videography, which I am extremely grateful for. Sometimes, there are months where it slows down, which can be very hard and scary, but that’s the life of a freelancer, right?
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m a full-time freelance photographer, I specialize in weddings, events, and portraits.
I’m most proud of my photography journey. It has been such a hard and scary thing to do. You get to a point where you decide to do this full-time which is so unpredictable, or you stay working a full-time job but can’t put in the same amount of time into your work. I believe I made the right choice even though I was terrified when I made, but I did it anyways, which I’m proud of.
What sets me apart from others is the experience I want to give my clients. Whether I do events portraits or weddings. I want to make sure they are having a good time and enjoying the moment and think of the session or event as a great time. By doing that it also helps me capture candid shots which are so beautiful, it’s like capturing all the emotion and feeling in a picture of that day. So, I always make sure that my clients are present and having a good time so I can preserve the beautiful moments.
How do you think about luck?
I think that beginning when I was referred a few events from my boss. I was definitely lucky because that help me get my foot through the with my event portfolio.
I guess the bad luck is when I commit to something with family or friends and a job comes up that is happening at the same time as those plans. Being a photographer is almost like being on call; you never know when you’ll be called in for work. So sometimes I’ll have to rain check or change the plans to make it to my event, but there’s also the opposite where I can’t make the event at all which you then lose out on potential client and money. Which is extremely hard, especially at the beginning.
Pricing:
- Starting at $2500 10-Hour Wedding Coverage!
- Starting at $2050 8-Hour Wedding Coverage!
- Starting at $1500 6-Hour Wedding Coverage!
- Starting at $700 for Engagement Portraits
- Starting at $200 for Portraits/Couples/Family
Contact Info:
Image Credits
Tomas Reyes
