Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeff Delacruz.
Jeff, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I’ve been a photographer my whole life. There are actually photos of me with a lens cap in my mouth as a baby and to my credit, I won first place in the 2nd-grade photography contest at Lydia Hawk Elementary school. Professionally though, when I started paying the bills, I’ve been a commercial photographer since around 2001. I’ve shot a little bit of every niche, but my passion has always been with product photography. People who become product photographers are typically introverts with a fascination for how light plays with matter.
In 2007 I moved to Chicago and opened up a photography studio with Paul Zimmerman, who is my business partner still today. Back then we were just focused on our own personal freelance work. It was the recession, but somehow we hustled enough business to stay alive as photographers.
We started getting calls for simple white background product photos for e-commerce sellers around 2010. The commercial photo industry back then was structured around expensive ‘day-rate’ billing, which didn’t make a lot of sense if you only needed 2-3 product photos. E-commerce opened the doors to allow anyone to sell online and we realized that anyone who wanted to sell products online needed awesome product photos for their listings. You may not know this but Amazon, for example, is made up of 2.5 mil+ 3rd party sellers with over 400 mil+ products and they are all responsible for their own listings. On Amazon, the best product photo gets the click.
We saw an opportunity and created a photography business model that allows us to manage 100’s of orders at a time. We wanted customers to get the same high quality of photography they would get from a traditional photographer but easily, quickly and at 1/2 the price. Things like managing communications, inventory, and billing at this scale becomes challenging, so we started building software to manage this. Our workflows allow us to create high-quality imagery on set with an easy step by step experience and we are still working it makes it better.
As we’ve grown, I’ve transitioned from shooting products to more of a business role. I spend my days talking with businesses owners about their photography and how they can sell more online.
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?
Of course not, running a small business is never easy. In particular, the photography industry is extremely challenging these days. There are more photographers than ever and the ability to do it yourself is easier. However, just because I can do my own taxes with Turbotax, doesn’t make me a CPA. Online, the best photo wins & our customers find value in our services because it allows their images to stand out in a way that they couldn’t do on their own without a lot of specialized equipment and know-how.
Products On White Photography – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Our service is simple. Customers place their orders on our website, send us their products and our staff of professional photographers photograph them. The customers can download the images and upload them to their websites digitally. Because we are niched into only photographing products on a white background, we’ve become very adept at it.
What really makes POW special is our online ordering system that allows us to manage the complex nuances and demands of 100’s of different customers every year. We are always working to make this processes easier, faster and more affordable for our customers.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
I’m so proud of our growth as a company and the team that we’ve built. We have so many great customers and I feel like we get to be a small part of their businesses as they expand into e-commerce.
In 2017 we moved into a much larger studio space and it’s changed our ability to offer new services like clothing photography, which we couldn’t offer before.
Pricing:
- Pricing starts at $39.99 per photo & is based on the total number of photos you need.
Contact Info:
- Address: 1801 W. Warner Ave #102
Chicago, IL 60613 - Website: powproductphotography.com
- Phone: 312-880-7124
- Email: info@powphotography.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/powphotography/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/POWPhotography
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/powphotography
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