Don Puckett, The Journey Begins
“Always enjoy the journey, we never know where the decisions we make will take us.”
My real love for Photography began July 19, 1970 when I was handed a Camera at a Yearbook Workshop held at Furman University in Greenville SC. I fell in love with photography at that workshop and the journey began. I still have the certificate to document the start of what has been a long successful career as a professional Photographer. I have had a camera in my hands since that time, photographing and adding to my collection of Prints, many I have turned into Art Prints for my Don Puckett Gallery Collection. I refined my shooting skill photographing both for the yearbook and as a free lance Photographer for the local paper. It was always a nice treat to see my work in print.
My Professional Career has taken me from my First studio in Calhoun, GA and the opening of a second in Cartersville, GA to the position of Photographic manager at CPD Corporation, a large Photography firm in Chicago, IL., managing over 50 Professional Photographers. During my time in Chicago I receive my Pilots license and later opened Camelot Portraits and C&P Photo Lab in 1982 in Alsip, IL with a partner John Clark. In 1983 I moved Camelot Portraits to Mobile AL and built it into a National Photography Company with sales over 1 million dollars per year. After the hustle and stress of corporate fast paced volume photography from Family Portraits to Glamour, it is nice to be able to photograph one family per sunrise or sunset on our Beautiful Gulf Coast Beaches or Georgia Mountainsides and indeed produce an Art Piece or Masterpiece that each Family will enjoy for year to come.
Photography has changed a lot in 44 years, the medium has changed but the basics are still the same. We photograph subjects bathe in light, whether natural or artificial, and turn the results into works of art for others to enjoy and capture moments in time. The profession is always changing, Digital Cameras have taken a lot of the skill out of photography, the cameras make even an amateur look good under idea conditions. I have a good set of Pans but that doesn’t mean I am a chef or can cook. It is the times that the elements do not cooperate, things break or something goes wrong that the true profession still gets the shot and the part time professional or amateur is left scratching their head on the shot that could have been. This is my deepest concern, that we have lost the skill of taking good Portraits without the help of Automatic cameras and Photoshop. Not that Photoshop is not great, it really makes me look good sometimes, in case things do not always go as planned.
It is the skill and training to avoid problems by being prepared that I believe sets the True Professional apart from the point and shoot photographers that are hanging out their shingles and calling themselves Professionals today. If you want a Portrait or Art Piece that you will be proud to hang in your home and show off to your friends please give me a call. I will work with you to capture the setting and create your Masterpiece, whether a Standard Portrait, Light or Heavy Oil, or Watercolor.
Camelot Photography is your Full Service Photography Specialist. We specialize in Wall Portraits. Beach, Mountain or Studio Portrait, Watercolor, Heavy or Light Oil our staff will use its professional expertise to see that you get the best, finished Portraits available. This is our guarantee to you.
Don Puckett
