Hello Steemians!! My First Steemit Post & Introduction.

Hello Steemians!!

My Name is Jasen Vinlove, I am a Full Time professional photographer based in Miami Florida. Over the past 5 years I have primarily “focused” on sports photography as a contract photographer for USA Today Sports images.

My Backstory,

I am originally from Central Illinois and lived most of my life in St. Louis Missouri. I started my love of photography in 1994 as a student who was bored with general education studies in High School, so I attended the local vocational school and studied Radio/TV Broadcast and Photography for high school credits. There I leaned valuable film, darkroom, studio lighting and technique that would help me today in the digital world.

After graduating in 1995 I dabbled in the industry, all the while working a full time corporate job. It never occurred to me that I SHOULD have stayed the coarse and stuck with what I loved to do, as it really wasn’t work.

Easing back into it!

In 2003 I started to get back into the industry as I had left the corporate world and entered the retail world as a Best Buy computer sales associate. I purchased my first Digital SLR camera, the 6.3megapixal Canon Digital Rebel. I had owned digital cameras before (Sony Mavica Floppy disk and CD-rom) based cameras. Matter of fact I still have the CD-rom version 3x zoom 2mp beast. While I climbed the ladder at Best Buy from sales associate to sales manager, I continued to build my gear bag up to par, upgraded bodies along the way to the Rebal XTi and build my lens library full of “L” series glass.

The Jump!

In 2007 I left the retail world to enter the corporate world again this time in Mortgage sales … well that didn’t last long 2008 the housing bubble burst and the market crashed I had just upgraded to the Canon 5D MarkII and a Canon 1D Mark IV and a few days later was being laid off as the housing market for mortgage sales went to hell. It was at this time I realized that it was time for me to Jump back into the photography industry with both feet! For the next few years I worked mindless office jobs all while picking up photo jobs here and there, ranging from senior photos, engagement shoots, weddings and youth sports. In 2009 while attending a winter fan experience for the St. Louis Cardinals I met team photographer Scott Rovak, I showed him my digital portfolio on my iPad and he was brutally honest with me. Out of about 20 images I showed him 1 image was portfolio worthy. I took the advice and continued to learn based on the guidance that was given to me that day.

Failed Studio with a Silver Lining

In late 2010 I started to attend weekend photo-shoots put on by local studios. At the photo shoots the studio would hire male and female models to come in and photographers would pay a fee for time with the models to develop images for both the model and photographer’s portfolios, There I would meet other local photographers build a network of colleagues in the industry. After a weekend shoot a few photographers and myself collaborated and decided to open our own studio where we would hold shoots similar to the other studios as well as education and rental programs. We started our studio in an old warehouse building in downtown St. Louis and over a period of about 10 months it grew into a very popular studio. So we decided to upgrade and move …. In hindsight this was not a good option as we moved into a studio that we could barely afford. In 2012 our studio landed the contract with the St. Louis Rams Cheerleader squad. Our duties for the team included Promo pictures, Game day pictures and the annual swimsuit calendar. This was a major deal that was extremely successful for the squad and us, however after that football season the studio shut down. The silver lining was that I had reacquainted myself with Scott who was also working for the St. Louis Rams at the time.

New Journeys

In 2013 I continued working for the St. Louis Rams Cheerleading squad, but this time under my own Name and not the now defunct studio. I was also working with Scott and leaning the side of editorial sports photography. The lessons I learned where very valuable and all of which I still apply today. ALLWAYS BE LEARNING! I started working as a contract photographer for USA Today Sports Images; I would cover a few NHL, MLB, NFL and NCAA Basketball games. For the next 3 years I would continue working with the Rams until the team moved to Los Angeles and in the summer of 2016 I moved from St. Louis to Miami Florida. I have been very fortunate to work in a full time capacity for USA Today Sports images and to cover marquis events that include MLB Playoffs and ALL Star Game, NHL Playoffs and All Star Game, NCAA Football National Championship Game, INDY 500, NASCAR Daytona 500 and Championship Weekend, NCAA Basketball Tournament weekends, MLS Cup championship game. And countless pre and regular season NHL, NFL, MLB, NCAA, NASCAR, MLS, PGA, INDYCAR events. I love what I do and don’t think of it as work at all! Oh and in that time since 2010 I made the switch to NIKON equipment and am now considering a switch to SONY.

Steemit Community

I plan to be very active in the Steemit community paying it forward and educating the photo community with reviews and how to articles as well as reviews and general information post. I have also been into the Crypto Currency space since about 2013. I am currently in Daytona for my 5thNASCAR Daytona 500 and will be posting a Steemit Blog on my experience soon.