Turning Your Photography Passion into A Career: How Kevin Garrett Did It
Three and a half billion people on the planet own smartphones and Instagram has more than one billion active users. When you add the convenience of high-quality image makers in the palm of the hand with easy to publish and edit platforms, it equals a massive amount of people who consider themselves to be professional photographers. Confidence is a step in the right direction for aspiring photographers and the barrier to entry is lower than ever, but making a serious six or seven figure living at it is an extremely strategic and skillful endeavor that requires discipline and an extensive marketing and sales acumen. So we decided to reach out to someone who managed to turn what many consider a hobby into his full-time profession.
Atlanta-based lifestyle and advertising photographer Kevin Garrett has traveled the world for more than 30 years doing what he loves to do.
“When I was a boy, my grandmother got me a camera. It was a little too complicated for me back then, but I was fascinated by the idea of taking pictures,” says Garrett.
Coming from a small town in rural South Georgia, he only imagined his work would take him everywhere from Australia to Zambia for the wide of array of clients and publications he’s shot for including Vogue, Conde Nast Traveler, Forbes, Town and Country, Coastal Living, Private Clubs, Virtuoso Life, Entrepreneur, Inc., Atlanta Magazine, and more.
Photo taken by Kevin Garrett
“You have to have your eyes open, but I think purpose sort of finds you,” says Garrett. “I was in my twenties modeling in New York and L.A. Back then catalogues were a thing so I did a lot of catalogue work and runway shows in Italy for high-end brands such Valentino, Ferre, and Ungaro. The real blessing of all of this is that it put me around a lot of incredible photographers like Albert Watson, Irving Penn, and Bruce Weber. I was interested in their lights and equipment. Being on that side of the lens brought me closer to my passion, but it was actually travel writing that got me all the way there. I met an editor at a party in New York City during the eighties, which helped me break into magazine writing — specifically honeymoon, bridal, and travel magazines. I noticed there were photos running next to the stories I was writing for these publications and I thought why shouldn’t I learn how to take the photos. That turned out to be easier said than done, but I quickly fell in love with photography. I bought a camera and read the Time Life series of photography from the library on Fifth Avenue. They say it’s about trial and error. Early on, however, most of my shooting could be categorized as error. But that’s the way it goes if you want to become great at something; if you’re deeply passionate about it, then you’ll put in the hours it takes to develop competence like Malcolm Gladwell talks about in Outliers. I fanned it into flame by shooting cityscapes, dogs, people, food, and I clicked away day and night. There may be a time with perfect light, but there’s no bad time to take a photo.”
Garrett’s charisma leads people who meet him to believe his rise was meteoric, yet he attributes his career in part to his persistence. He frequently shoots for large corporations and may be the only man around with long hair and a ponytail in those settings. Some more of his notable clients include Audi, Buick, Dodge, The Coca-Cola Company, McDonald’s, Google, Texas Pete, The Home Depot, Chick-Fil-A, Mohawk Industries, Neiman Marcus, Prestone, the Center for Disease Control, and La-Z-Boy among others.
Photo taken by Kevin Garrett
“You have to find your place in the market. What are you great at? Some photographers specialize shooting bubbles and splashes of liquid. Some shoot surfing competitions. Others photograph women at different stages of pregnancy. The only right answer is that you need to go for whatever sets you on fire. What do you love? What subject matter do you have access to? You might find that in a rural area you have to be a bit more of a generalist, but it is possible to be so transcendent that they’ll fly you to exotic places for one particular purpose. I know outdoor photographers that mastered drones and GoPros and are just brilliant when it comes to action. I’ve been flown all the way to Sydney, Australia to shoot a fifteen minute corporate portrait for a bank.”
Garrett has carved out a reputation for himself as a flexible, fast-to-adapt photographer who is equally comfortable working solo with a light footprint or with a large crew on a complex, high pressure production shoot. His three decades in the industry have also enabled him to assemble a friendly, uber-talented team of top hair and makeup stylists, photo assistants, and lighting technicians.
“You have to pick a niche. TGI Fridays used to have a 25-page menu. It was like a book. Ever see TGI Friday’s around anymore? No. You have to simplify, which makes you predictable for a client. In this business, predictable isn’t a bad thing because it means the client can trust you to execute on their specific vision. For me, my crew needs to be predictable. I need to know that they understand when you’re shooting, you don’t get to have personal problems. Your fight with your partner, or whatever else stays at home. The client is paying you for the atmosphere to be fun, energetic, and collaborative,” says Garrett. “People’s jobs are on the line. If I don’t do a good job, it can get someone else fired. You don’t always have control of the weather or how the dog or the little kid is behaving for the shot, but the reason you’re a professional is that you are the constant out of all the other variables. That’s also why redundancy, like predictability, is a good thing. I always have two camera bodies in my bag, extra lighting, two Pocket Wizards, and multiple batteries and modifiers. Your consistency is the difference between making $300 or $25,000 for shooting the same subject matter. The other part of it is simply knowing what other people are being paid. Young photographers often get so excited about having a job that they don't ask whether or not the client is hiring them because they’re a great photographer or because they’ve sold themselves for cheap. You have to get your rates up and stick to your guns to really make a living.”
Professional photographers are often prime examples of living the location independent lifestyle of a digital nomad. In fact, Garrett’s photography and travel writing have taken him around the world and he even wrote one of Frommer's travel guidebooks Caribbean for Dummies, which took him to every single island in the region. His passion for travel has also led him to work with the Jamaica Tourist Board, Norwegian Cruise Lines, The Ritz-Carlton Company, the Republic of Georgia, Micato Safaris, and many other tourism groups and agencies.
“As a kid I used to dream that I could play an instrument well enough to be in a band and go on tour, staying in hotels and eating exotic foods. After I fell in love with photography it opened up the realities of what once seemed like a faraway dream,” says Garrett.
In 2019, his photos for Louisiana Northshore earned him the top award for best tourism photography out of all of the southern states. He’s also won the international Hermes Creative Award for Best Tourism Campaign in the government category and he’s won two national awards for his editorial work in Atlanta Magazine. Additionally, Garrett has been nominated for photos he shot for Esquire, New York Magazine, Vanity Fair, and Texas Monthly. For his fine art, Garrett was the highest-selling artist out of Soho Myriad for about a decade.
“In retrospect, people like to say they knew they were going to figure everything out, but you start off doing what you love and you do it obsessively. You have to start off shooting the type of things you want to be hired to do. You assign yourself the task to build out your portfolio and you’ll end up attracting those opportunities,” says Garrett. “But here’s the thing: You’re only as good as the images you can show. People are going to judge your portfolio by your weakest picture, not your best, so you don’t need to show that you can shoot everything. Just prove that you can do one thing extremely well. My style is sophisticated, high energy. I tend to capture happy-looking subjects in happy situations and the mood of their expressions are usually proud and bright. Your goal needs to be to develop a signature and yet, your craft should be invisible to the point that you can take a picture of a CEO and talk to him about his favorite places to play golf as you adjust the settings on your camera.”
Garrett’s earnings range from the low to mid six figures depending on the year, which is especially remarkable considering the median income for a professional photographer is around $34,000 per year.
“I don’t have to be everyone in America’s cup of tea. If I can find five new clients each year and keep my current base of clients happy, then I’m good. Eventually, your contacts at ad agencies will retire, get furloughed, or laid off, so you need to stay fresh. I look for clients that are enthusiastic about what they’re doing. Like attracts like. On your end, as the photographer, just be passionate. People respond to that. They’ll stop whatever they’re doing to watch a man on fire. When you love what you do, it’s magnetic and the joy is contagious.”
Garrett became a published fantasy novelist in 2020, utilizing the same storytelling he has throughout his photography and travel writing career to co-author Spellbound Under The Spanish Moss with his son, which was signed to a movie production deal with Grow Georgia Films and adapted into a screenplay by the award-winning screenwriter Jeanette Onorati.
“Writing and photography feed into each other. Writing helps me be more thorough in my imagining of life in photos. I have a story in mind as I capture images,” says Garrett. “We’re deep into the rough draft of the sequel to Spellbound and I’m at work on a fine art book of flowers that will be out next year.”
Garrett was also generous enough to share his favorite gear and gadgets to work with:
ProFoto A1 (on-camera flash)
Wescott Soft Boxes (small, medium, and large)
Canon 24-70 F2.8 fixed aperture (says it’s the sharpest, fastest zoom lens he’s ever worked with)
Canon 16-35mm F2.8 (rectilinear fisheye lens)
Adobe Programs (Lightroom, Bridge, and Photoshop)