Today we’d like to introduce you to Richard Van De Water
Hi Richard, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Well, I didn’t study photography in college, and it wasn’t until 4 years ago that I started shooting. Prior to that I had been in the cinematography field for about 7 years, starting a few years after college, ultimately getting burnt out from it. So I stepped away from doing anything camera related for about 3-4 years until the pandemic hit. I went on a trip to Hawaii and wanted to document it just for fun, so I borrowed a friends camera, because I had sold everything I ever had. It was over the course of a few weeks there that I realized I wanted to try my hand at it. Fast forward, here I am 4 years later and it’s clear to me that this is something I am naturally good at, though it’s been a hard road to get to where I am.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It has not been easy at all. In fact, I think the advice I would give those thinking about getting into photography full time is to think strategically and thoughtfully about it. It’s a grind (to understate it), and there have been many many times I’ve considered quitting and doing something else. Times that make me question if I’ve made a foolish decision, or if i’ll ever make it to “this” point, or make “X” amount of money, or if i’ll always be grinding. I’ve come to learn how to receive “NO” and pick my head back up, continuing to move forward. “Onward” so to say. I’m not a natural salesman or business person, so that whole side of the business has been an extremely difficult learning curve, but i’ve come a long way in 4 years, learned from some amazing people, and also had to teach myself a lot, but I’ve worked really hard to get where I am, and i’m really hopeful for what God has for me in the coming year or two.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
My name is Richard Van De Water. I am a photographer who specializes in Travel/Lifestyle/Brand work, with an additional focus on selling prints.
When setting out to start photography, one of the things I didn’t want to do was put my time into projects I didn’t really care to shoot. For me, that was weddings, family portraits, engagements, things like that. I wanted to be clear about what I was shooting so that people would think of me when thinking of those generes (travel, Prints, lifestyle, etc). When it came to a name, I realized that most successful photographers were just known by their name and not a business name, so I decided to use the unique name I have instead of a photography brand name. I wanted the brand to be associated with me.
A friend of mine, who I deeply respect in the creative world and look up to, said one of my greatest strengths he’s noticed in my photography is that I’m really good at curating emotion without words. I’ve heard a lot of others tell me that as well, and I believe that’s just a natural form of how I see things in this world and how I capture it in photography. While there are so many others that can do that as well, each one of us is different with a different perspective, but I believe the way I see things sometimes has set me apart from a lot of others that do this work.
One of the things I am most proud of, and by no effort of my own … what I contribute to God being kind in giving me this opportunity right off the bat … is the luxury coffee table book called “Israel: Beauty, Light, and Luxury”. It was a project that came to me within 6 months of starting photography through the well known author, Tara-Leigh Cobble, and host one of the most popular podcasts, “The Bible Recap”. We spent 2 months in Israel during the pandemic when everything was shut down, which gave us the opportunity to shoot areas all over the country of Israel that would otherwise have been impossible to shoot. The book hit #9 on the Wall Street Journal, and that was a huge accomplished for me. It’s something I’m very proud of, and I hope I can go on to create more books in the future.
I am also very proud to be able to sell my work and know that people want to buy it. It’s very humbling and I feel very honored that people love my work that much. My hope for this side of my business is that I would be able to make that a second major source of income in the years ahead.
One thing I’d want others to know is that the kind of material I shoot are mainly brands, action sports work, and Travel/Lifestyle that affords me to be able to sell prints.
Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
Take advantage of the time you are given.
Pricing:
- I think pricing is relative to where you are, what you’ve accomplished, and what credibility you have in the eyes of other (clients, buyers, etc). When I started out, i had to price lower than i wanted to just to get jobs and build a portfolio. I would say, if people want to know my pricing, i’m always happy to share and guide them through it. I think that’s one of the things we as photographers need to help each other with, because it’s not a one size fits all kind of pricing. It’s unique to what you shoot and how you structure your business.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.richardvandewater.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/richardvandewater/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/richardcarltonvandewater
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardvandewater/
- Other: https://www.pinterest.com/richardcarltonvandewater
