Today we’d like to introduce you to Calvin Brown.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Calvin. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
My journey into photography started in the fall of 2008, I’ve always been involved in some sort of entertainment. However, during one of my many events for which I did logistics for was when I officially got the shutterbug.
I was the logistics coordinator for a concert event featuring my good friend Dewayne Washington and his group FACES The Band, They were opening for gospel artist Vickie Winans at the Will Rodgers Auditorium in Fort Worth, at the time I never thought I would be holding a camera because event planning was my niche’, My friend and fellow classmate William Washington of Extreme Works Studios had just started his photography business and
was there covering the event for Taboo Thick and Sassy Magazine which was run by Tabitha Murphy. Watching him with his camera and capturing all of the activities sparked an interest I can’t explain.
After the event, I and William Keep in contact and I asked could I ghost him sometimes and if he would teach me how to use a camera. William had a studio located in Fort Worth on Meadowbrook Dr. at he was doing the pretty good getting booking and running a modeling group the Extreme Hunnies. I purchase a point and shoot camera a Kodak to be exact. My first time out on a shoot with Will was to the Stockyards in Fort Worth he was shooting a plus size modeling group called Texas Plus. It was so much fun watching him do his thing and me with my little unprofessional point and shoot camera lol. I took a few shots and they were pretty good but I knew I had a long way to go. But never the less, I keep going I would snap pictures of people and learn editing techniques and of course what Will had taught me as well. I met a young lady who was in the adult entertainment industry who need pictures for promo and took photos for her she told me I shot the images better than the folks in California who had done her box covers. Her Stage name was Brandy Dearborn.
We became friends then shortly after that I meet her husband Michael who had moved down from Las Vegas and we became best friends. I trusted them so much I maid them my son’s godparents as time continued I finally was able to get a semi-pro SLR Canon Rebel the Xt model. From there William began to teach me how to use my camera on manual setting and stop, iso, and shutter speeds he also took me to my first hotel shoot and allowed me to host him and shoot some of his models. It was then I decided its what I wanted to do. In February of 2009, my relationship with My son’s good parents had gone from good to bad, Myself and Brandy where and odds over comments she made about some of the people I had shoot and we weren’t talking. But Michael was still a big supporter of my work and was always pushing me. On the morning of February 17th, 2009, Mike had asked me to not allow the beef between me and his wife to get in the way of our friendship. And that I was the closest thing to a brother he had since he had no family here. He asked me about recent phone calls and had been getting from bill collectors who were trying to reach him and his wife. He also asked me that day what I planned to do with this new camera had purchased.
He looked me in the eyes and said: “Promise me you will learn all you can about photography and make it make you some money” I looked at him and said I will. The very same night he had come to visit me at home after learning why the bill collectors were looking for them, he was going home to discuss the matter with his wife. He told me he would see me tomorrow but before he left he looked at me and told me he loves me and we gave each other the bro hug and he walked out the door. That would be the last time I would see Michael alive after he left me there was an incident between him and his wife which left him stabbed and he crashed his vehicle trying to get help, he died that night.
So I spent the rest of the year keeping my promise to learn all I could like he had asked. I met Jeff Benham of Vision East Photography shortly thereafter who taught me even more in regards to the composition of a photo editing and framing the shot. he was my hardest teacher because he expected nothing but the best.
And then the game changed on creativity when I met Alex Hudson of Alex Hudson Photography he taught me creative thinking going against the grain of what I was taught and just doing what feels good. So I took all I learn from all three of my mentors and created my own world my vision on my art. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Michael saw something in me I didn’t see in myself and I owed him to honor his memory to be the best I could.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Smooth, not by a long shot, It affected my marriage the most because when it’s your vision, it’s yours and no one can see what you see it was given to you. My biggest struggle was trying to balance the love of art for the love of family. I lost my way on that and I can admit I failed in that aspect. We are currently at a crossroad but I have no hard feelings at all. Challenges for me have been trying to get people the respect my craft and juggling the workload that comes with demand. And being an artist my mind is always going. and I tend to not slow down and just breath. I always have something in my mind that needs to get out. I have to shoot it or it drives me crazy. But my biggest challenge is me trying to outdo me.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Calvin Brown Photography – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
I officially made 10 yrs in the business in February, and I have been so blessed. I have an awesome two awesome assistants Charly Baltimore the owner and operator of Charly Chamz and my right-hand lady Lisa Hamilton who pushing and stays on top of my misses every day. She also runs her own business Mirror Reflections by Lisa Rene and she also models and I’m training her to become a photographer as well. I don’t have one thing I specialize in I do it all. I love the art period, but I guess one thing would be if I had to pick one would be my Spirit of photos where I take an image of a loved who’s past and incorporate it into and the photo was taken by me built around the photo so it fits seamlessly. I’m known for being a person that tries to give the best of what I have in making the client as comfortable as I can, helping them build their shoot from beginning to end. I even bring my team in certain situations. I am most proud of the fact that people embrace my work as they do. I am very humble and hate when people call me the best. I don’t believe in that, I’d rather let the work speak for its self.
I think what set me apart is I go against the grain I don’t want to be in the popularity circle I’d rather just do me. I want people to just enjoy my art. When I’m gone it’s my legacy. I wanna be remembered like the greats before me. When you let the art speak, the noise is so much louder.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
Man future plans are crazy and have already begun to unfold unfortunately I can’t go into full detail (NDA) but I’ve joined MyBeautyfill which is an app that is current;y in beta test with an official launch coming soon.
I am their brand photographer and will be going on the road soon with the first stop in New Orleans in July.
to a major event that begins with an E and ends with a T, lol. I’m just looking forward to all God has to offer and the amazing people that you meet every day when do what I do the networking and connections are out of this world.
And as far as changes everything must evolve so I move when the soul says so. I will continue to grow my brand and hope to expand to other cities soon.
Contact Info:
- Address: The Studios Of VHO
2400 W Pioneer Parkway Pantego Tx
STE 114
Inside the Virgin Hair Outlet - Phone: 817-932-3063
- Email: calvinbrownphotography@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/calvinbrownphotography/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/calvin.c.brown?ref=bookmarks
Image Credit:
Image shot by Chris Booth
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