Tec Petaja

My first experiences in professional photography threw me into grabbing coffee and lunch for people, but they also landed me right in the middle of the community I wanted to inhabit. Getting myself around photographers, shaking hands with art directors, and making friends with people who’d want to do test shoots with me—all of those things were the necessary building blocks of my early career. In the midst of doing commercial shoots I started taking on weddings here and there. At the time, wedding budgets were booming and music budgets - which was the bulk of my commercial work - were getting smaller and smaller, so weddings became my steadiest source of income. Because most commercial photographers look down on wedding work, I kept the two branches of my portfolio separate, living on two separate websites. In practice though, they supported each other—my wedding work enabled me to be more selective with the commercial projects I decided to take on. All of these different projects, collectively, lead me to where I am now. (You can find my full story - and a bit more context to all of this - in my online courses with @ifimade_ which are on sale until tonight.) #ifimade ⠀