Today we’d like to introduce you to Ben Allen.
Ben, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
My photography career begins in Photoshop at the age of 12. Most kids were on the internet – chatting on AIM MSN, etc. while I was discovering Photoshop. I spent a lot of time at photo manipulation and making composites of stock photos, which I would post on art forums to get critiqued. I was decent at it and it was an escape from my not so ideal childhood. It was awesome – listening to music and editing photos – all that teenage hormone energy being put to good use. That’s where it all begins. A young Ben, spending a lot of time in Photoshop.
In college, I did a lot of flyers for parties, events, etc. where there was a need for banners, posters, t-shirts, etc. – I did it, mostly for free. Again all of this with stock photos, none of my own. After graduating, I got a decent job and started traveling frequently. I would take travel photos on my phone, but the quality was just not there. So I got a pocket camera to document my travels.
Meanwhile, Photoshop had almost disappeared from my realm altogether. Now I was taking photos and editing them on my phone with basic color grades that the iPhone offers. During my travels, I often met beautiful women who would ask me to take pictures of them because I had a cool camera. Eventually, I ran out of ideas and began looking up poses to show them – at this point – I had posed and some idea of portrait composition purely from iterations – No YouTube videos or any formal training whatsoever. Eventually, I grew out of that camera and had to upgrade to the camera I currently own, this was in July 2019.
Once I got a professional camera things changed drastically – I now started bringing these photos into Photoshop to edit. Photo retouching is a completely different set of skills than creating composites. So I was now looking up tutorials on blemish removal, evening out skin tones, removing messy hair, etc. It was quite easy to follow them because of my core knowledge of Photoshop. It felt so natural doing it. From there, photography kind of just took over and felt like a calling that I had to submit to.
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?
For the most part, it’s been smooth externally – I have been grateful to have worked with talented models who believed in me even when my work was pathetic. I was lucky enough to find mentors who believed in me and still take the time to chew me out when I am making errors. The struggles have been mostly internal. There is a constant self loathing of my work. It never feels like it’s ever good. Sure sometimes I know I have a good photo but 95% of the time – it’s meh “you could’ve done better”.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
At Gorgeous Captures – we strive to capture YOU, in your absolute natural beauty. We specialize in fashion, boudoir, commercial and portrait photography. The WOW factor is what separates us from everyone else. When you see your first photo straight out of the camera, all doubt about where the photo shoot is going is gone. You can relax and focus on bringing the emotion you want to capture, knowing that on our side, we will deliver. We work for you to make sure you are satisfied and come back to us.
What were you like growing up?
Social savvy but preferred being by myself. I played sports but was mostly in nerdy classes. Almost dead in between. However, I always envied the creatives – the musicians, the painters, the dancers and actors. Never cool enough to be one of them, had/have a curious personality – usually gets me in trouble – usually good trouble. 🙂
Pricing:
- Standard Portrait Package 1.5 Hours @ $200.00 – 6 Fully Edited Photos – 1-2 Looks – 90 mins
- Premium Portrait Package 2.5 Hours @ $300.00 – 9 Fully Edited Photos – 2-3 Looks – 120 mins
- Portfolio Building/ Influencer Weekly Shoot – 4 hours @ $400.00 – 4x – 1 Hour shoots with 3 photos / shoot
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.gorgeouscaptures.com/
- Phone: 832-732-0062
- Email: ben@gorgeouscaptures.com
- Instagram: @gorgeouscaptures
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