Today we’d like to introduce you to Darren White.
Hi Darren, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My love for photography started back in 87 when my mom gave me a small 35mm p&s that she had gotten from subscribing to magazines. I was in 6th grade at the time and enjoyed taking photos of my friends while we were skateboarding. I quickly fell in love the idea of capturing special moments. We lived close to the beach so when I had the chance I’d also photograph the landscapes around our town. I took photography classes in high school where I learned to develop and print images for our newspaper and yearbooks. After High School I went to work at a 1hr photo lab as well as our local newspaper. Through those 2 jobs I was able to make contacts around town get the word out that I was doing photography. Soon I was shooting weddings, sports, portraits and pets as well as landscapes. Between 1999-2005 I took a break from photography even though I still loved it. I was working a full time job and digital was just becoming more mainstream. I didn’t have a computer or digital camera at that time. When my wife went back to nursing school she needed a computer to do her work. It was shortly after that when I got my first digital camera, a Nikon Coolpix 5700. That re-ignited the flame again and I really began doing more exploring, hiking and photography of our natural landscape. At the time I was living in the Portland, Oregon area which is close to the Columbia River Gorge. I spent my weekends hiking all around the Gorge and Mount Hood. Once I was able to put my images online and have more people see my work, I was being contacted by companies who wanted to license my work. Small contracts here and there, still working my full time job. I spent more time learning the art of post processing a digital file in Photoshop and how that related to the capture process. I was posting my work on several photography related social media sites like Flickr, Fred Miranda and Nature Photographers Network. Those were the 3 big ones back in the day. I continued to build my business over the years taking on more work. Working with bigger companies, Art consultants, interior designers ect. as well as selling prints of my landscape work.
In 2013 we moved to the Denver, Colorado area, I left my full time job behind and became self employed doing photography full time. Colorado was a whole new adventure which I quickly embraced with open arms. Exploring the entire front range, San Juans, eastern plains and pretty much just doing a lot of road tripping and seeing what was out there. I started working with Mike Berenson in 2014 doing night photography workshops in Arches & Canyonlands, Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park. We did our last workshop together in Yellowstone NP in 2023. We had such an amazing time under the night skies with the most incredible students who were passionate about learning how to capture the night sky. During this time I kept up with my own business, continuing to build the print sales & licensing agreements as well as doing some of my own Oregon Coast workshops. In 2024 I decided to stop doing the large group workshops for several reasons. I now only offer 1:1 workshops or small groups of 3 or less. Today I’m still self employed, selling prints & licensing images as well and helping other photographers who want to learn.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I don’t think success is ever a smooth road for most people. There are a lot of ups and downs along the way. In the beginning, I didn’t have a drivers license so I couldn’t just go where I wanted at a moments notice. I always had to ask my mom to take me places. Once I got my license it was a bit easier. As I got older and my passion for photography grew, so did my adult responsibilities. I needed to work full time 60-70hrs a week to help support our family. At that time I was limited to weekends when I could actually get out and do some photography. When my daughter was born that took up a lot of time but I quickly realized that I could take her with me on some of my shorter adventures. I’d put her in a back pack carrier and we’d go hiking. Then there is always burnout. This comes with anything someone is truly passionate about.. You lose your creative focus, you don’t “feel it” anymore and. you need to step back and take some time away. Let things settle and when the time is right you can jump back in. This still happens to me now. I’ll go through phases where I just don’t feel like i’m into it, maybe i’m not happy at what my subject is or how the light is on a particular day. Lots of reasons to take some time away…
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
I’m Darren of Darren White Photography.
I specialize in fine art prints of landscapes, nature, night sky and abandoned places. My images are sold as prints, licensed to all kinds of companies for various uses around the globe.
I sell Fine Art Photographic Paper Prints, Fine Art Canvas Gallery Wraps, Fine Art ChromaLuxe Metal Prints, Fine Art Face-Mount Acrylic Prints, Framed Metal Prints as well as Plaque mounted images in various formats… Most of my work prints up to 96″ on the long side and can be printed at any size in between for any space.
My parents raised me to be hones, hardworking and the value of a dollar. My goal has always been to offer my customers and clients the same level of expectations that I’d want from a business. I keep my prices fair, I continually contact my clients and customers to let them know what is going on and when they can expect their art to arrive. I reply as fast as I can because I know the people who are wanting to license images are often dealing with timelines as well. I simply treat others how I’d want to be treated if the roles were reversed.
On the photography side, I spend a lot of my time traveling and photographing whatever catches my eye. I do a lot of planning for my night shoots to make sure what is up in the sky is where I want it based on the location and direction of where i’m shooting my foreground subjects. At the peak a few years ago I was driving roughly 50k miles a year. I’ve backed off of that a bit now but it’s sure allowed me to go a lot of places.
Editing and keeping a website up are another aspect of the business. It often takes more time to review and edit the images than it does to actually go out and shoot them. That’s ok because my backlog is deep and it gives me something to do once I’m all caught up on other things.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
Success is different for different people.
I believe I’ve been successful in that I’ve reached my goals, even though I continue to strive for more and I’m always wanting to learn new things. While I never had a list of things I wanted to accomplish, I’ve achieved pretty much what I was looking for in photography. When I quit my day job in 2013 and left work for the last time, I pulled out of the parking lot not knowing where exactly my next paycheck was coming from. In times like that, it makes you laser focused to make sure you have a place to live and food to eat and that you can survive. Through a lot of hard work, sacrifices and late nights, everything has quietly come together over the years to where I am today. I’m very thankful that my work is admired by all kinds of people and their support allows me to do what I want.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.darrenwhitephotography.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/darren_white_photography
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DarrenWhitePhotography
