We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Marcus Kole. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Marcus below.
Marcus, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?
My dad. Growing up I would watch him leave to work in the middle of the night while we were sleeping. His drive was to take care of his family. That is mine also.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I owned a clothing company that took off in 2005. I was selling items all over the world and in stores nationwide. I had a vision for how I wanted the brand to look and was hiring photographers to do my ideas. One day I decided to buy a camera and start doing the photography myself. To save money and also really capture my vision. It took me some time but I taught myself how to adjust lights and the various camera settings. My images helped take the clothing company to another level and I sold it in 2016 to Inked magazine. After trying other business ideas, I decided to do what I did best… capture product photography that would help other companies create a look that would appeal to their customers. One thing remains the same no matter what company I work with, I love capturing color and I shoot the items as if it was my company.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
I love working with people that don’t have attitudes. I’ve never had one and don’t understand some of the egos that come with being a photographer. I have been successful being real, kind and staying true to my style no matter what the latest trend is in photography.
Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?
Pray. There are days where clients make me want to pull my hair out (other photographers will get that) and I pray for peace. before that, I tried to do everything myself and that only led to stress and anxiety. I have peace now through prayer no matter how difficult the client. Ha Ha!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://getsocialsocial.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getsocialsocial
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@socialsocial3812
Image Credits
All images by Marcus Kole.
