Profile

InFOCUS

Photographer Chris Kuhlman Shoots His Way to the Top

By Marita Ensio Robinson

There’s nothing like doing what you love for a living and no one knows this better than photographer Chris Kuhlman. Chris, who lives in a beach community near Houston, TX and owns CK Productions, enjoys an international reputation in the business he loves and a waterfront lifestyle that keeps him happy. The story of his success is one of a little bit of luck, a lot of hard work, a great “eye,” and a knack for networking that’s helped him keep his business growing even through tough times.

Surfer’s Big Break

Thirteen - year-old Chris was working as a lifeguard on the beach in Galveston, TX during the summer of 1967, splitting his spare time between two great loves — surfing and photography, when a real estate developer spotted him snapping shots of a local event. Before long, he was taking pictures of sailing contests, surfing, and other activities that made the area attractive to help the company market its real estate development. He was earning good money doing it, too.

Off the Beach

By the time he was in high school, Chris had decided that photography was what he really wanted to do. So he:

• became the school newspaper and yearbook photographer;
• took journalism classes to get his hands on a camera;
• built a darkroom in a closet at home and started developing black & white film; and,
• at 16, talked the vice principal of his school into buying good enough equipment so that the school wouldn’t have to hire an outside photographer to cover the big events.

"I was pretty self-taught up through high school," he explains. "I literally carried a camera with me everywhere and all the time — as a good journalist would, I guess."

The Eye’s the Thing

While still in high school, 11 of the 12 images that Chris entered in a Kodak Scholastic Arts Competition won awards; those photographs became part of the portfolio that got him into one of the best photography schools in the country.

"I go back and look at them now and, technically, the shots weren’t great, but, artistically, the ‘eye’ was there," says Chris. "Anybody can take a picture of a beautiful sunset. God creates it for us — we just push the button. But to walk into a situation where the light is not perfect, the product is not pretty — somebody gives you a black box and says ,‘ Make this look beautiful!’ How do you do that? A photographer with a good eye can walk into almost any situation and see something that’s interesting."

Surf and Turf Come Together!

While in the 11th grade, Chris started looking into colleges. At the time, the best schools for photography we re Rochester Institute in New York, The Los Angeles Art Center, and Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara, CA. "I literally chose Brooks Institute because it’s close to the beach," he explains. "The best surfing on the California coast is within 15 minutes of the school." 

While Chris acknowledges that some successful photographers have learned their craft on the job as studio assistants, he feels that college offers a faster, better route for most people. "In school, photography is hands-on. At Brooks, we dealt with absolutely every possible technical situation that might arise on a photography shoot," Chris remembers. "As a studio assistant, most of the time you’re going to be sweeping floors and doing the day-to-day grunt work of the business. The only hands-on experience you’re likely to get is loading the camera and, maybe, processing the film."

Networking to Success

Chris’ first job after graduating from Brooks was as studio manager for a small photography firm back in Houston. He got to shoot five rolls of  film on a corporate brochure project. His pictures made the cover and an inside spread. When the art director for the project took Chris aside and told him ‘You don’t need to be working for this guy. Come see me when you go out on your own,’ he turned in his resignation, printed up his own business cards, and started shopping his portfolio to ad agencies.

"It was a good networking experience. I got referred to a lot of people," says Chris. "I did some work for well-known restaurants shooting food and locations. I had taken drafting in junior high school, and I was interested in architecture, so I started calling on architectural firms. That was really good timing because there was a lot of building going on in Houston. I started shooting real estate for architects and ended up with one of the best commercial developers in the world — Gerald Hines — as a client. Hines Interests has been my client for 20 years!" Shooting for the World Chris’ first international travel photography assignment was to follow a Crownline tour bus around Sweden and Norway for 10 days, photographing it in all sorts of beautiful, scenic locations. He approached travel agencies and started picking up other foreign assignments. These days, he gets at least one good travel assignment a year. Germany, Paris, Japan, Bali, Indonesia, and Australia are just a few of the countries where his assignments have taken him over the years.

The Challenge of a New Wave

The photography business is exciting and satisfying, but it also has its down side. There’s a three- or four-month busy season but, in the summer, the phone doesn’t ring as much. Rather than just trying to make it through those slow times, Chris decided to provide his photography clients with the graphic design services they also needed. But, first, he went back to school to learn computer graphics. With the photography and design work he now does, he stays consistently busy. Of course, this ex-surfer always has time to get back to the water, but this time it’s to practice his new love — sailing. After all, the water is right behind his house on the bay.

more careers