Over the past 50 years, Tom Tussey has developed and embraced a lifelong passion for photography.
Following his dream to become a professional photographer after high school, he studied at Napa Junior College in California, SIU in Carbondale, Illinois and Webster College in St. Louis focusing on art and photography. In his mid 20s, Tom was offered a job as an assistant to a working professional in his Chase Park-Plaza studio. Then, after gaining some studio experience, in 1978 he opened his first commercial, portrait studio in West Port Plaza. Since then, he has photographed a wide range of photography assignments, such as portraiture, weddings, studio products, industrial, commercial, and architectural subjects for thousands of clients. For personal satisfaction, travel and landscape photography have always sparked his creative drive and helped him define his love for photography.
In 1997, the photography industry was at the crossroads of a huge change, and Tom then decided to fully embrace the new digital format to capture his images. After shooting black and white and color film with 35mm, medium format and large format cameras for 30 years, he went back to school to learn how to use the new digital cameras and Adobe Photoshop software to control the quality of his images with what many photographers have since called the “Digital Darkroom”.
Tom finds it fascinating and gratifying that with photography he can “freeze” a precise moment in time, creating a unique slice of history for him and others to enjoy. He has found the process of visually dissecting a scene, before taking the photo, crucial to the creation of a balanced, cohesive, dynamic, thought-provoking image. Preparation, timing, luck, composition, proper camera techniques and digital editing are some of the components needed to create a successful, visually unique image. He always hopes that he is creating a photograph that will engage and inspire viewers to help them appreciate the beauty that surrounds us everywhere. We just have to look for it.
“Whether in a studio/classroom or on photographic excursions locally, nationally and abroad, I love sharing my professional and personal photography experiences and imaging techniques with novice and advanced photographers in the community. I have taught photography techniques to hundreds of photographers who have discovered that there is always more to learn with photography. I truly thrive on the interactions I have with those who love photography as much as I do."
"If your photography is currently more "frustrating" than "fun", or you would like to learn how to jump start your inner creativity, why don't you join us in a class or a personal training session and let me guide you? As you practice and apply your photographic skills of composition, exposure, timing, portrait posing and much more, you can become the creative, accomplished photographer that you have always wanted to be." Tom Tussey