Meet Brendan Garis | Photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Brendan Garis and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Brendan, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I’ve wanted to start my own business since I was a freshman in HighSchool. Coincidentally, I started taking photos around that time as a hobby and never really realized that would be my business. I knew the first step was to just start shooting, so I took my camera everywhere. 2018 is when people started referring me as a photographer because I would take my camera to parties, cabin trips with friends, and even some high school sporting events. I posted every one of those and then started shooting individual shoots for free with friends as more of a modeling type shoot. That’s when my portfolio started growing and then I began charging people and found my true style and it kind of just took off from there.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
What I believe sets me apart is my ability to network. It has always been about building a relationship with my clients before shooting so that there is transparency and comfortability come shoot day. It has always been client needs first because without that, nobody walks away happy from a shoot. My style is what attracts clients and the stress free process mixed with the vibe of just two friends hanging out is what keeps people coming back to shoot more. I feel that these things have gotten me to where I am today and has put a good image on my business. The challenges that I’ve faced have mostly come from people not understanding that there is a lot more to photography than people might think. It comes with more than just pressing a button. There’s licensing, editing, pre-planning, and all of those come with hours and hours of learning and mistakes to make shoots as smooth and easy as possible for the client. The other struggle that I have faced is creative lulls. I’m actually currently in one right now and photographers need to be okay with that. It happens to all of us and if this is really your passion then it’ll come back and you’ll start producing even better content than you did before if you give your mind a break once in awhile. If there’s one thing I want people to take from my brand, it’s that my goal is to make people see themselves in a different light that makes them feel confident about themselves in a way they’ve never realized. That they can show people how good they look even on days they don’t feel so good about themselves.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I’m really big on a good sunset. Some of my favorites are El Matador beach in Malibu, Griffith observatory, and laguna beach. Some of my favorite places to eat are Joeys in Woodland Hills, Fogo De Chao, Leo and Lilly for brunch, and of course In n Out. I’m also really big on late night drives to just listen to music and vibe so the pacific coast highway is top tier for that.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My Mom. She has been there since the very beginning and supported everything I’ve put into this. She’s posted so many of my shoots on her Facebook to show her friends everything that I’m growing with my business. She’s helped me in going to different photo workshops so that I can learn more about my craft and even got me the camera that I had when I started to take this whole thing seriously. I owe so much of what I’ve done to her because without her support, I would not be where I am with photography.

Instagram: Brendangarisphoto for photo. Chopitupwithb for my podcast

Image Credits
Rickywaltermolnar