Meet Connor Scalbom of Connography in Crested Butte

Today we’d like to introduce you to Connor Scalbom.

Connor, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Photography has always been a light interest of mine, one of my oldest memories is playing and messing around with my father’s old Polaroid camera. This evolved to when I got my first camera phone, all I wanted to do was take pictures of every single thing I could and making videos for YouTube, it was all about the fun. The summer of 2017, I was going on a road trip in late July and had some money saved up from my summer job. Initially, my plan with the money was to put a lift on my car, but then I started thinking about how awesome it would be to have a ‘real camera’ for this road trip I had planned.

So I made my decision to purchase my first real camera, a Nikon D5300. I fell in love with it, I probably took 3,000+ photos on that trip. Coming to my first year in college at Western State Colorado University in Gunnison, I was very happy with the decision I made to go with buying a camera. The area here is absolutely gorgeous, and I took advantage of that. Learning new photo techniques, skills, and just going out to shoot multiple times a week, I knew I had found my passion. I had my camera with me just about 24/7. Over the next summer, I worked hard to launch a portrait photography business for side income, while I saved up to upgrade to a full-frame camera. Finally, I got my Nikon D750 and felt I had the world in my hands. Coming to my second year of school, I had landed a job as a photographer for my school, but then shortly after received an internship at ‘Travel Crested Butte’. I balanced both jobs for as long as I could, though, Travel Crested Butte quickly became my priority. I was able to grow my skills so fast while learning from very talented creators in this valley. I’ve found Gunnison and Crested Butte are my home, with endless photography opportunities to create and connect with people.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It’s never a smooth road, especially in this line of work. I would say I’ve been quite lucky with the opportunities that have come to me. Within two years of photography, it’s my career and living. The biggest struggles I’ve had is the hours I’ve spent wondering how I can be better, or how can I gain clients, etc. The worst struggle I feel creators come across and is definitely a hill to get over is not worrying about the numbers game on social media. It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking you’re not good enough because someone else has more likes or followers. This couldn’t be further from the truth, and the numbers are not even close to a representation of your talent. I realized I must stay true to myself and just keep putting good content out regardless of the attention it gets.

We’d love to hear more about your work.
My business is very small, as creating for Travel Crested Butte is my main priority. However, I started my business as a portrait photography business and did fairly well with senior and family portraits. I did find that this isn’t where my passions lie, whereas nature and landscape is. My main discipline is definitely nature and landscape. I don’t know what I’m known for, but if I were to guess, it would likely be for photographing Crested Butte. It’s hard to say what sets me apart from others, as I would say really nothing. I’m just a kid with a passion and a camera. But what will set you apart from others is getting out there as much as possible, grinding, living, and breathing your passion. What I’m most proud of, is creating something beautiful enough that strangers have bought prints from me to put in their homes. The thought of a stranger loving one of my photos so much they wanted to put it in their home really hits my heart.

Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
To be honest, luck has played a role in quite a lot of aspects in my life and my business. I believe we all have a path to go down and everything that happens for a reason. Me getting offered an internship at Travel CB was entirely luck to me, maybe not but I’ll never be able to see it as anything else.

Contact Info:

• Website: connorscalbom.com
• Phone: 7205793359
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: connography_
• Facebook: connography_

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