Today we’d like to introduce you to Dayne Pillow.
Hi Dayne, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
I’m a Colorado native with 15 years of experience working as a Graphic Designer and Photographer. In 2007 fresh out of college, I started my own outdoor magazine and successfully self-published it for nearly 4 years. Heavy financial debt (including student loans) and the economical downturn of 2008 ended up being too much to handle and I had to hang it up.
So I revamped my portfolio and resume and started looking for jobs. I ended up at a B2B media company that published multiple magazines and put on its own trade show. I started as a Production Designer and worked my way up to Art Director. I was the Art Director of a trade magazine but as COVID hit, the company was forced to restructure and I shifted positions and became the trade show Director.
This past year they restructured again, this time downsizing greatly. The design team was cut in half and I was let go. Although this may be scary for some, I looked at it as an opportunity. I missed the freedom and control when I was running my own magazine so I decided to dive head first back into the entrepreneurial world.
With a blessing from my wife, I used the severance package they gave me to float me through a few months of bills and mortgage payments. I started Dayne Pillow Photography & Design in July and couldn’t be happier.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It’s been a smooth transition. The severance package was key in giving me the financial opportunity to set up my business. Without that this would have been a lot more anxiety driven. Every day brings its own set of challenges. As a business owner, you have to have the mental toughness to handle that some days you earn money and others you don’t. Lots of your days are spent working on keeping the business afloat and that alone is very nerve-racking.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
My primary skillsets are photography and graphic design. On the photography side of things, I specialize in portraiture of all types, people/families, headshots, engagement photos, and even pets. In-between the paying gigs, I take a lot of street photos and textural/fine art photos which I’ve filled an online gallery with.
What sets me apart from the pack is my style and personality. There are countless photographers in the Denver area and the prices range wildly. I like taking more unique images, that reflect whom I’m working with, not what I feel like doing that day. I’m also huge on professional reliability which is underlined by one of my simple principles: under-promise and over-deliver.
At the moment I’m most proud of my online gallery. I’ve always wanted to put my images online instead of just having them waste away on my hard drives. When someone sees one of my photos and has such an emotional connection with it, they’re willing to fork out their hard-earned money for it – that’s such an exciting and motivating experience.
My graphic design skills are secondary to my photography. Graphic design is something I will always do, it’s a part of who I am. But the projects I work on are the only ones I really want to do and have a great passion for. I’m not too interested in designing for companies just to get a paycheck, I’ve done that long enough and I’d rather not keep doing that.
I’m a rad designer, I like making things that are off the cuff and push the boundaries. The designer, David Carson said something to the effect of, there’s a lot of great forgettable design out there… And admittedly I’ve been forced to create a forgettable design for years, but that time has ended.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
Oh boy, the world is such a bizarre place right now how do I even start to answer that? I think in the next few years we are going to see a trend with smaller jobs. So many people have been gut-punched by COVID, supply-chain mishaps, civil unrest, or all of the above.
People don’t have the revenue for large jobs, the company they work for probably just downsized and need to rebrand and rethink its strategies. But they do have the ability to take small steps in the bigger picture. In 5 or so years I think the economy will start to bounce back, and the infrastructure will be repaired.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.daynepillow.com
- Instagram: @dayne_pillow_photo
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/daynepillow2
- Other: https://daynepillow.darkroom.tech
Image Credits
Dayne Pillow Photography & Design
