Ten years ago I was sipping my morning brew in my favorite coffee shop staring out at Pikes Peak, when I realized it was time to adapt. My photography business was centered around wedding photography and that genre had changed around me and I had failed to adapt. At the time I had recently moved to the mountains and was surrounded by abundant wildlife. Almost any morning I wished, I could take a short hike and would have the opportunity to photograph deer, elk, bear. fox, coyote, and many other small and fascinating creatures.
As I sat there, inspired by the majesty of the towering peak before me, I redesigned my entire life. I would begin a long and rewarding journey centered in the trees and mountains of the Pike National Forest, rather than the hotels and wedding venues of Denver and Colorado Springs.
Instagram and Tiktok were yet to become household words, and an Influencer was a concept not yet conceived of. Social media and the internet were creating breakthroughs in careers not previously available to people of average means. New platforms like iStockPhoto made it possible for anyone with a camera and a bit of talent to post and sell images online. Model Mayhem created opportunities that were previously only available to the very few, with extraordinary looks and talent and the means to attend one of the big modeling schools.
The years passed by and I noticed the herds of elk and deer becoming smaller. Coyote and fox sightings became more and more rare. Dozens of pronghorn gathered together on the high plains became just a handful, and then just one or two.
Now as I hike my favorite local trail, there is no sign of wildlife at all. I didn’t always see the elk herd, but on each hike I found ample evidence of their presence. There were abundant tracks, and I could see where they had flattened the prairie grass when they bedded down for the night. In the fall I could hear the distant sound of the big bulls bugling during the rut season.
Now the autumn air is silent, there are no tracks, and evidence left by wildlife has long since dried up. Later in the mornings, the mountain will be teeming with families, children and old people laughing and taking selfies. And it is not just my mountain that has gone silent at dawn. Photo trip after photo trip this past summer went unrewarded, resulting in long drives with little to show for it.
After yesterday’s hike I sat on a rock, enjoying the view of golden aspen leaves donning their beautiful autumn attire. As I sat pondering my life it occurred to me that with gas prices approaching four and a half dollars in the mountains, it is no longer cost effective to go searching for wildlife that will more than likely not appear. A decade after my first retooling, it came to me that it is once again time to adapt.
Times have changed since my last website overhaul. Now everyone has an Instagram page or a Tiktok feed. Everyone wants to be an internet sensation, and make a living as an influencer. A new photography genre has emerged, and adopted the modern label called Social Media Branding. Where some are content to shoot selfies with their smart phones, other more serious individuals look to professional photographers and videographers to create a look that stands out above all the others.
It occurred to me that I have been helping people create their online persona long before such a thing had been giving a name. I realized it would be a small step to modernize my site and my marketing skills to leverage that talent into the new paradigm. So as of today, I have changed the face of my website to embrace the concept of social media branding.
I have also launched a dedicated Facebook Page to serve as the conversation hub for this new venture! Please feel free to visit and follow the page to be the first to learn of new projects and photo session specials. Hopefully I will soon be able to claim a custom URL for the page, while I carefully consider the best name for the new enterprise!
Of course my love for wildlife has not been diminished at all, and I am so looking forward to the return of our bald eagle nesting pair to our beloved Eleven Mile Canyon. However where my readers could once expect each and every blog post to be centered around wildlife, they might now be surprised by an increasing number of posts about social media influencers, Instagram models, and businesses building an online presence.
So if these subjects are of interest to you, please subscribe to my blog, follow my new Facebook Page and follow my Instagram to help me with the ever changing social media algorithms. Also don’t forget to follow my Amazon Author Page to stay on top of new publications and book specials!
Photographer and author Steven W. Krull has been photographing and writing of the beauty and wildlife of the Colorado Rocky Mountains for over two decades. Visit his complete works on his website at swkrullimaging.com
Discover more from Colorado Photographer / Author / Wildlife Advocate | Steven W. Krull
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Colorado Photographer / Author / Wildlife Advocate | Steven W. Krull 