Today we’d like to introduce you to Sulaiman Karim.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Left brain atrophy. In other words, my pursuit of studying to become a physician neglected the development and growth of my creative side. During my time in undergrad, I was studying economics and management alongside premedical courses and extracurriculars so I didn’t have much time for personal hobbies. My realization of the need of a creative outlet is the beginning of my story with photography and blogging.
As a child, I grew up painting, but I got interested in photography as a mentor when I decided to share my premedical journey by blogging on Instagram. In the beginning, all my photos were shot on my iPhone. I didn’t know it at the time, but this is where my hobby began to snowball.
I bought my first camera, a dusty canon T3i, in late 2018. I remember being entirely unprepared for my first photoshoot bringing a zoom lens for portrait photography. Regardless, it was such a fun way to connect with my friend and capture some priceless moments.
Fast forward to today, I’ve had the privilege of reinvesting and developing my craft. I’ve been able to photograph everything from weddings to lifestyle. I’ve met some incredible people through photography and I was finally able to launch my website SullyTheDoc.com and develop my medical student blog on Instagram @SullyTheDoc.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The road has been relatively smooth. Thankfully, I have a lot of friends backing me in my corner, but there have been some growing pains. No business, craft, or hobby is grown overnight. As a full-time pre-med student and part-time employee, I wasn’t able to invest very much time into photography until I was accepted to medical school during the fall semester of my senior year. Only in the past few months have I been able to really grow dramatically in my photography and editing.
Growing up in a financially disadvantaged family sometimes I’m not able to prioritize buying new lenses to achieve the shot in envisioning. I’ve been able to overcome this issue by really mastering my 35 mm lens for all sorts of photoshoots. Thankfully, I’ve finally turned a profit after a year of doing photography so I’m looking forward to reinvesting and growing my business and craft.
SullyTheDoc – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I’ve been working on my medical student blog and my photography since mid-2018. My blog is all about sharing my experiences and offering advice to premedical students while sharing my photography, fashion, and lifestyle. I really take pride in my Instagram feed and strive to make it look aesthetic. I’ll be attending medical school with the class of 2024 and hope to specialize in something fast-paced like emergency medicine.
My photography is mainly focused on portraits, couples, and engagement/weddings because I really love to capture raw candid photos. For me, photography is an art of observation and truly capturing the beauty in something ordinary. What I also love about photography is that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and hence a great photo really depends on the photographer rather than a great camera or lens.
I think what sets me apart from other medical student bloggers on Instagram is how my professional interests in medicine intersect with business. I’m also one of the few premed/medical students that are photographers and entrepreneurs. On my website, I share my Lightroom editing presets and study materials.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
The proudest moment in my professional career has been getting accepted to medical school as a senior while completing my degree in economics & management. When I started undergrad, I didn’t want to take any gap years so this was a dream come true.
The proudest moment in my photography/blogging career was finally designing and launching my website (SullyTheDoc.com) from scratch. I spent roughly 3-4 months designing the website and launch day will forever be a very special day for me.
Pricing:
- ($19.99) Lightroom Master Collection – Wanderlust Preset Pack
- ($9.99) 3-Month Detailed MCAT Study Schedule
- ($59) Photoshoot Starter Package
- ($99) Photoshoot Standard Package
- ($149-299) Photoshoot Delux Package
Contact Info:
- Website: https://sullythedoc.com
- Phone: (817) 606-7149
- Email: SullyTheDoc@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sullythedoc/?hl=en
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sulaimankarim/
Image Credit:
Sulaiman Karim
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