Greven Photographics

Introduction: My Story I was educated as a fine artist, earning a Batchelor of Fine Arts degree from John Herron Art Institute, majoring in printmaking, minoring in photography. My career path started in a different direction, which actually helped me be a better photographer. Instead of exhibiting in galleries, I started my career as an art director with ad agencies working on national accounts, and Fortune 500 corporations on the client side. I’ve art directed many photo shoots with nationally-recognized photographers, concepting the idea, presenting to the client, then supervising the photographer to capture the image consisting of products, fashion and editorial imagery. While I love doing traditional photography, what separates me from other photographers is a couple of things: I think like a graphic artist and a marketer. Having been in advertising for 25+ years, my first question is “what kind of story are we trying to tell?”? What feeling or emotion do we want to evoke? Second, what happens after the image is captured. Photography can be expensive. Clients like to save money. Often, when art directing a photo shoot, in order to protect the budget, I would take the photo and build it into something that would be cost-prohibitive, or even impossible, to create in-camera. I’ve taken that experience and put it behind the lens. What’s your story?