1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,280 So Daniel Grove, go ahead and tell me about your vision. 2 00:00:04,280 --> 00:00:12,560 So my vision as a photographer is to create unique images that are different than the typical you see out there. 3 00:00:13,360 --> 00:00:21,520 I like to create very personalized experience for my customers. So I get to know them, I get to find out what they expect, what they're hoping for. 4 00:00:21,520 --> 00:00:28,480 And I try to one up that, you know, I give them what they want. But sometimes I give them things they didn't know were possible or didn't expect. 5 00:00:28,480 --> 00:00:34,760 And so I like to give my clients a great experience and meet their needs, but also put a unique spin on it. 6 00:00:35,240 --> 00:00:46,160 And, you know, I want to provide for my family with the skills that I have. That's another part of my vision is to turn my skill set into a full career that also branches out into other things, which it already has begun doing that. 7 00:00:46,520 --> 00:00:49,160 So yeah, that's kind of my, in a nutshell, that's my vision. 8 00:00:49,160 --> 00:00:53,880 I love that. And how many kids do you have? Do you have family or dogs or cats or whatever else? 9 00:00:53,920 --> 00:00:55,800 I only, I only have five kids. 10 00:00:55,800 --> 00:01:05,560 Okay, very good. Only five? Hey, you've only got me to be by one. So I'm catching you. We're like the modern 20 kid family. 11 00:01:05,880 --> 00:01:08,120 Yeah, equivalent freaks. 12 00:01:10,120 --> 00:01:22,640 Awesome. So, you know, you mentioned this unique experience. I'm curious to know, you know, one, can we get some shots of the portfolio of what types of unique experiences you're talking about? 13 00:01:22,640 --> 00:01:36,200 And two, where did the vision come from? Because it would be easy to do headshots just like everybody else, you know, or just kind of keep the status quo. So what drove you to, to change it up a little bit and make it different? 14 00:01:37,280 --> 00:01:51,400 So this approach came from me being a creative person before photography. So I am 35. Yeah, 35. You know, after 25, you start forgetting what age you are. 15 00:01:51,400 --> 00:01:52,600 So yeah, I'm 35. 16 00:01:52,640 --> 00:01:56,760 Yeah, no, I've got you beat by one year on that. So you got me beat by one kid, I got you beat by one year. 17 00:01:58,360 --> 00:02:13,000 So I've always been a creative individual. My whole family is very blessed with creativity. My two older brothers and I, we're all drawing like nerds. We do always drawing Legos just and then I got into 3D graphics, which led to Photoshop, which then led to image manipulation. 18 00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:28,840 And so around middle school, I was tinkering around with Photoshop, composite editing and special effects and even 3D graphics too, which is way ahead of my time. And so that that was like the foundation for what would come later, which is in high school, I discovered photography. 19 00:02:28,840 --> 00:02:43,840 And the camera to me was like this new awesome art and pencil and paper. It was a new art medium that I could create imagery on. And, you know, I didn't even think of myself as a photographer, I was taking pictures that I so that I could edit those in Photoshop and do cool stuff with them. 20 00:02:43,840 --> 00:02:47,840 And that's sort of where it started. But then fast forward about 10 years, I'm pretty deep into portraiture. I discovered, I love portraits. I love people, I love their stories and their unique beauty. And I can capture that with photography, you know, among other art forms. Photography for me was the easiest and most immediate, you know, instead of sitting in painting for an hour, it's like take a picture and it's done mostly. It was quick and it was immediate gratification. But I discovered portraiture. And then I think it was around 2014, my best friend, I think it was around 2014, I was in the 21 00:02:47,840 --> 00:03:00,980 And the first rib 4, I was in early answer of both. I was always trying to follow my word, so like I said, I found, I found my face, and I was are you gonna forget your skin, not gonna say that again. I found my face face to dem ne 22 00:03:00,980 --> 00:03:03,580 the most immediate, you know, instead of sitting and painting 23 00:03:03,580 --> 00:03:06,540 for an hour, it's like, take a picture and it's done mostly. It 24 00:03:06,540 --> 00:03:10,780 was quick and it was immediate gratification. But I discovered 25 00:03:10,780 --> 00:03:14,140 portraiture. And then I think it was around 2014, my best friend 26 00:03:14,140 --> 00:03:17,060 and I, he he said, Hey, let's go to Comic Con. Let's do pictures 27 00:03:17,060 --> 00:03:19,420 at Comic Con. I was like, I never been to one. I never I 28 00:03:19,420 --> 00:03:21,420 don't even know what that is. Like I'm a nerd. I love all 29 00:03:21,420 --> 00:03:24,020 things actually changed out of my Star Wars shirt just to be a 30 00:03:24,020 --> 00:03:27,260 little more professional. But I love Star Wars. I have four 31 00:03:27,260 --> 00:03:29,620 lightsabers. I know way too much about Lord of the Rings. I'm a 32 00:03:29,620 --> 00:03:34,220 huge geek through and through. So there's that. But that 33 00:03:34,340 --> 00:03:38,020 crossroads met with my photography and around 2014 2015 34 00:03:38,020 --> 00:03:40,660 when I started doing cosplay photo shoots, and I loved it was 35 00:03:40,660 --> 00:03:43,980 so fun. And every cosplay, by the way, cosplay stands for 36 00:03:43,980 --> 00:03:47,900 costume play, generally is for adults as well, where they're 37 00:03:47,900 --> 00:03:50,500 dressing them as a character from a book, movie and anime, 38 00:03:50,500 --> 00:03:54,900 comic book, whatever. And there's also themes like you 39 00:03:54,900 --> 00:03:57,380 could just dress up as a Renaissance person or you know, 40 00:03:57,380 --> 00:04:00,500 80s person like that could be cosplay in a sense, but mostly 41 00:04:00,500 --> 00:04:03,220 cosplay is a specific character. So anyway, cosplay 42 00:04:03,220 --> 00:04:05,940 photography became my specialty and still is and I love it. It's 43 00:04:05,940 --> 00:04:09,420 so fun. But each cosplay shoot is very unique because every 44 00:04:09,420 --> 00:04:12,260 character is different. So I kind of brought that into my 45 00:04:12,260 --> 00:04:15,620 other photo shoots like my family sessions, my senior 46 00:04:15,620 --> 00:04:18,940 photo shoots of graduates, even like kids photos, and I started 47 00:04:18,940 --> 00:04:23,660 asking these questions like what, what do you love? What are 48 00:04:23,660 --> 00:04:25,740 you into? You know, mostly for seniors, this really applies to 49 00:04:25,740 --> 00:04:28,460 seniors. Awesome. What are you into? What do you love? What 50 00:04:28,460 --> 00:04:30,620 entertainment do you like? What are your goals and dreams? What 51 00:04:30,620 --> 00:04:33,340 your personality? What's your style? Like all these questions 52 00:04:33,340 --> 00:04:36,020 I start gathering and that that allows me to craft a unique 53 00:04:36,060 --> 00:04:38,300 experience for them that captures their unique 54 00:04:38,300 --> 00:04:41,300 personality because every person is very different. And I try 55 00:04:41,300 --> 00:04:44,620 not to be that cookie cutter photographer where okay, we 56 00:04:44,660 --> 00:04:47,460 everyone hires me we all need it to either one of these three 57 00:04:47,460 --> 00:04:50,580 parks. And I only do park photos, I only do sunset time, 58 00:04:50,700 --> 00:04:53,980 I only do these these specific style. And if you hire if you 59 00:04:53,980 --> 00:04:56,180 want that you hire me there's nothing wrong with that. Most of 60 00:04:56,180 --> 00:04:59,500 my friends do that and I do a little bit as well. But I 61 00:04:59,500 --> 00:05:01,940 started going beyond that equation that cookie cutter and 62 00:05:01,940 --> 00:05:04,340 saying all right, what awesome epic stuff could I make that's 63 00:05:04,340 --> 00:05:07,980 different. And it'll stand out. Yeah, that's 64 00:05:08,020 --> 00:05:11,740 I'm gonna put somebody on your radar. This individual to me is 65 00:05:11,740 --> 00:05:15,900 Michael Jordan of photography. Ooh. And so you either have him 66 00:05:15,900 --> 00:05:19,100 on your radar right now or if you don't, you're gonna have a 67 00:05:19,100 --> 00:05:23,460 wealth of a resource. Yeah, you to draw inspiration from his 68 00:05:23,460 --> 00:05:26,660 name is Josh Rossi. You know that? Oh, yeah. He's awesome. 69 00:05:26,780 --> 00:05:31,860 Josh Rossi was a client of mine. Well, great, great guy. Yeah, 70 00:05:31,860 --> 00:05:35,860 blew my mind to how much money you could make in a red ocean. 71 00:05:36,420 --> 00:05:39,540 You know, in a market that's super saturated, but what 72 00:05:39,780 --> 00:05:43,020 phenomenal. Yeah, when you stand out, you have you have more 73 00:05:43,020 --> 00:05:45,860 value and specific types of people that want to buy that 74 00:05:45,860 --> 00:05:47,820 unique thing come to you. And so that's that's sort of what the 75 00:05:47,820 --> 00:05:51,180 boot I'm in. Yeah, that's awesome. And I'm excited to see 76 00:05:51,180 --> 00:05:54,300 it. And, you know, yeah, it is that is those are unique 77 00:05:54,300 --> 00:05:57,020 opportunities to take some really cool shots that can be 78 00:05:57,020 --> 00:05:59,940 utilized in so many different ways outside of the experience. 79 00:05:59,940 --> 00:06:02,460 That's awesome that you enjoy the experience as well. No 80 00:06:02,460 --> 00:06:05,020 shame on the Lord of the Rings stuff. I just finished the 81 00:06:05,020 --> 00:06:06,060 Amazon series. 82 00:06:06,100 --> 00:06:10,300 Oh, that's pretty good. Yeah, I enjoyed it. I did too. There's a 83 00:06:10,300 --> 00:06:12,900 lot of haters in the reviews. And I was like, I appreciate it 84 00:06:12,900 --> 00:06:16,980 for what it is. So good stuff. Thank you for being here today. 85 00:06:17,020 --> 00:06:19,620 I'm really happy that you tuned in to vision pros live. I'm 86 00:06:19,620 --> 00:06:23,300 looking forward to seeing your reactions as these episodes 87 00:06:23,340 --> 00:06:25,660 continue to move forward. This is going to get more and more 88 00:06:25,660 --> 00:06:28,020 fun. We'll have more and more engagement as well. We'll 89 00:06:28,020 --> 00:06:31,020 invite people to participate in the show. And thank you for 90 00:06:31,020 --> 00:06:33,340 giving us your time and attention. Have an excellent 91 00:06:33,340 --> 00:06:36,140 time building out your vision and becoming a vision pro 92 00:06:36,140 --> 00:06:50,140 yourself.