Snapshots of Success: How Ron Louis Turned a Passion into a Profession
Business as UNusual Ep 18 - Season 3 Transcript
Aicila [00:00:00]:
Welcome to the show, Ron. Will you tell folks a little bit about what your business is?
Ron Louis [00:00:06]:
Sure. I am a photographer here in New York City, published photographer. I've had been fortunate and lucky. I I say lucky, and know, sometimes my friends get upset when they say, oh, it's not luck, it's skill. But it is luck and skill. I think they work together to have, photo in National Geographic, one in the New Yorker, Interior Design Magazine, and a couple of other periodicals. And, I'm a photographer here based in New York City, and I build I'm building and creating a photographer's community, as in my online presence, either through my Instagram and through my YouTube channel. So I am now I've my role as a as a photographer has evolved Mhmm.
Ron Louis [00:00:55]:
To now I am online every every morning, same time every day, being broadcasting around the the globe. Nice. In the audience from India, from the West Indies, from South Africa, from across the country, and which which is a community I built to, you know, kinda like people that love creatives, people that love photography, and people that want to learn how to be a creative and want to be a photographer. So and this community has kinda, like, built this place of unity in where people come to hang out. And I interview photographers each week to share their wisdom. On our Wisdom Wednesdays or Mondays, I do motivation Mondays and motivate folks to their careers and creativity. And Tuesdays, I do tip Tuesdays, which is a tip on biography. And then Thursdays we get hardcore with my cohost Chris Edwards.
Ron Louis [00:02:00]:
We do we do with the first with 2 days, usually, but for that Thursday, it's all about politics and trending news. And then on Fridays, we celebrate Instagram accounts and YouTube accounts that bless, inspire, and encourage. And so that has been really cool too. And so that's what I do. I guess, like, say folks say you are a pod you're a podcaster. So so I guess I'm my role as I'm not only a photographer, but I do podcast, and then I speak once in a while. I just spoke at a high school a couple of months ago in Mount Vernon, New York, and just sharing on their career day. I was supposed to be at another school last week, but I had a guest on my show, so I couldn't do it.
Ron Louis [00:02:54]:
And when I'm not doing my work, I am on a bike cycling around New York City. Mhmm. If I get a chance to, I like to go hiking. I like to go for the walks every morning. I try to put in 4 mile walks every other day. I used to do 8, but I need to get back to there. But I'm at 4 right now. And, yeah, so and I and I and I am also an ambassador to the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce here in New York City, which I I represent the chamber, and I represent small businesses.
Ron Louis [00:03:29]:
So my my as when I finish this, you know, time together, I will be rushing to the city to an event this evening to shake hands and and show people that I do care, and I represent the Manhattan Chamber, the small businesses here in New York City. So that's what I that's my life pretty much. And, and just meeting people in the neighborhood. And I have all kinds of different clients here that I photograph for for their businesses and their not for profits and for profits.
Aicila [00:04:04]:
Yeah. That sounds like a great life. I mean, honestly, super full and delightful. And so the I the question I have here, so thinking about it from the space of your photography or from your larger sort of ambassador role or both, What is it that sparked your desire to to take this on as you part of what you do for your life's work. Like and I'm I don't mean like, I don't know if I can quite like, sometimes people will say, oh, you know, I had this bad experience or I saw this thing, and I'm like, yeah. But lots of people have had experiences and seen things and then not gone forward to take, like, an action to commit their life to something or their or their career. So do you know where that moment was when you were like, I'm here to take pictures, or I I feel this moment of being part of community. I wanna build community either or both, whatever feels more relevant to you.
Ron Louis [00:05:08]:
That's a good question. It's a long answer, but I'll I'll make it short.
Aicila [00:05:13]:
Please no. But just tell the story. It's great.
Ron Louis [00:05:15]:
I was working for a retail company here in New York City, and I decided to go on vacation. I was in Nigeria. And, and one of my friends I met at an art gallery, she says, hey, come visit my husband and I in South Africa. And and so a couple of years a year had gone by then. I was able to go, and then the 2nd year, I was able to go. So I'm in Nigeria. I say, hey. Are you guys home? I get on the plane, and they say they say yes.
Ron Louis [00:05:43]:
I go on the plane. I fly down from Nigeria into South Africa, and then I spend time with them. And while I'm there, I'm photographing everything. I'm running around South Africa, you know, Cape Town, just photographing, meeting people, just talking, sharing, laughing, just doing everything I can. I was there for a couple several days, and and it was so much fun. But then a gentleman, one of my friends said, hey. I've been looking at your photos. They're amazing.
Ron Louis [00:06:15]:
I love what you're doing. You're posting this, and you're posting that. It's so cool. And and I have always been a photographer. I started probably when I was 16 years old as a church photographer. My adopted dad said, hey. You would you like to take pictures of the church? And I said, absolutely. He was a pastor.
Ron Louis [00:06:39]:
And I said, sure. I'll you know, he he bought me a camera, and I got the camera and started photographing. And it was really good at it and really enjoyed doing it. And just kinda like I love taking photos of people, having fun, and connecting with each other. And so as time goes on, I kinda, like, put the the my, you know, my photography on a shelf and got into work and business and going to college. I was in school at the time studying aero aerospace engineering. And, out in a bit, what's called the academy of aeronautics, is now called Vaughan College here in in in New York City. And and then ended up working on Wall Street and work at the stock exchange, and life had passed by.
Ron Louis [00:07:30]:
And before I knew my photography was, like, hit and miss, I would do it and then not do it and do it and not do it. Mhmm. And then all my friends that would see my work would say, you need to do this. You know, you really need to really do this thing. And I was like, yeah. You're pretty much saying it because you know me. You're my family. You're my friends.
Ron Louis [00:07:49]:
Obviously, you're gonna say you like this stuff. But long story short, I was in South Africa, back to South Africa, and my buddy, he's, like, looking, he says, Hey, I love your work. I love what you're posting. And he says, You know what? I'm going to put together a tour for you to photograph Africa, the low the southern region. Wow. I thought he was I thought he was kidding. I was like, yeah. Right.
Ron Louis [00:08:20]:
Yeah. Right. And then next thing, you know, he comes back to me when I got back to the States. I have this great proposal to go to 5 countries, and we're gonna get in a jeep, and we're gonna ride around. However, you need to take 3 weeks off from work. Is that possible? I said, I think I can. And, I had 5 weeks vacation. I went in.
Ron Louis [00:08:44]:
I went to my boss and said, hey. I have a opportunity of a lifetime as a you know, I'm a photographer. I'm starting to do this thing. I'm just I really love what I'm doing. I like that. Maybe I should do this and, you know, just play around with it. But I think this is a great opportunity to go to Africa with 3 Africans and 2 other Americans. So it would be 6 of us.
Ron Louis [00:09:08]:
And we were going to be driving around in the jeep and photographing and having a good time in the southern region. So we ended up going. This trip was to go to South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and then the Middle East into Doha and to Dubai. So this was a big job, and my buddy put this whole thing together. Impressive. But my boss in the company said, no. You cannot go. You cannot take time off.
Ron Louis [00:09:39]:
And they they I was like, wait a minute. I got 5 weeks vacation. 5 weeks vacation, and you won't allow me to take 3. I've been working for this company 12 years. I've trained everyone. I've been with you know, I've done everything possible for this company. Wow. And you won't allow me to take the the trip of a lifetime.
Ron Louis [00:10:04]:
This doesn't happen every day. No. And I would not ask this question if it wasn't important. But they said no. So guess what? I said yes. I went and told my buddy, let's do it. Book the trip. And then he says, oh, they gave it to you.
Ron Louis [00:10:23]:
I said, no. He said, what are you gonna do? I said, well, in December, I'll be handing in my resignation. But until then, we are working towards that resignation. Nice. I took the whole year, had no money, didn't know how I was gonna start this thing. But how this all happens, it was 2 things happening at one time. I had just got back from South Africa the first time, and I'm sitting at my table having breakfast. There's this minister that comes on TV talking about your gifts and your gifts and using your gifts and that the old scripture of, you know, the master comes and one big one person takes the guess, you know, that he gave to him, and he uses it.
Ron Louis [00:11:09]:
Then the other one uses it, and the third one hides it.
Aicila [00:11:13]:
Yeah.
Ron Louis [00:11:13]:
It's safe. He plays it safe. And then then the master comes back, and he's so excited. Master, master, I saved it. I saved it. Here it is. And then he says, I'm with you. I'm not pleased because you did not take what I gave in you and make an increase of it.
Ron Louis [00:11:36]:
And so I'm sitting at my breakfast table, I'm having breakfast, and it this parable rings loud into my head. And I say, wait a minute. I go into work. And this is even before I asked them the question of this trip. This was not even on the they kinda like merged at the same time. And I said, I need to do more with my life. There's got to be more than me punching in and punching out.
Aicila [00:12:10]:
Yeah.
Ron Louis [00:12:10]:
There's got to be more. And so I'm not happy with I got all of these gifts that I'm blessed with. I can photograph. I can I I know how to travel? I know how to create things. I there's so many things. I can speak. I know how to interact with people. I know how to lead, you know, situations and and people and help people and encourage people.
Ron Louis [00:12:38]:
And there's a lot of things that I am blessed to be able to do, and I felt like I was not doing it. And I was like, I'm that 3rd person. I'm that 3rd servant. I am playing it safe, Just going to work, make sure I get my paycheck, and come back home, get my paycheck, come back home, live my little simple life. Anyways, like I said, I started to they these roads just kind of merged. And once I made a decision though to say yes to myself, that's when the windows I was I'd like to say the windows of heaven opened up. And I said once it was so funny because as soon as I did that, I told my buddy to book the trip. I went back to the retail floor, was getting ready to work on a project, and this customer walks over to me.
Ron Louis [00:13:33]:
She says I mean, he says, hey. We need some help over here because we're new back in we're new to New York, and we we move from this big place, and we're trying to figure out the small how to fit and I worked at, you know, organization retail store. And I said so I talked to them, and I'm walking them around. And then I say, so where are you from? They say he said, we just came from Botswana. I said, you won't believe this. I just booked a trip to Botswana. Oh, brother. Brother.
Ron Louis [00:14:08]:
My wife, she's the ambassador. She just got a position at the United Nations. And you and your friends, if you need anything, here's my number. I went into the bathroom and cried. Yeah. I said, I am on the right track. Thank you, God, heavens, universe, whatever. I'm on the right track.
Ron Louis [00:14:37]:
This does not happen by chance.
Aicila [00:14:40]:
Yeah.
Ron Louis [00:14:40]:
And the next day, it happens again. I'm in I'm doing a project. I was a visual merchandiser. Mhmm. I'm working on a project. And then next thing you know, this woman walks in and she says, I need help, with my daughter just moved. We just moved. She's moving here, and she's going to the School of Parsons here to study interior design.
Ron Louis [00:15:02]:
I said, oh, I do interior design also. You know, I I do interior design as well. And I said, so what is she gonna be doing? And we talked about the school. I said, so where are you from? She goes, we're from South Africa.
Aicila [00:15:15]:
Oh my goodness.
Ron Louis [00:15:16]:
I said, you won't believe this. Yesterday, I booked a trip for South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and and and, you know, and Namibia. And she was like, oh my gosh. If you come down to South Africa, let me know. And we started exchanging information and everything. Long story made short is that we we we talked every day. We talked. I said that we talked every day.
Ron Louis [00:15:49]:
We talked. She came in the store again a couple of times, and we talked. But I ended up I ended up saying, I'm I'm on my way. This is gonna work out. And so what was supposed to be 3 weeks ended up being me living in Africa for 3 months. Wow. That evolved over the year going. So when I made that decision, I didn't have a dollar.
Ron Louis [00:16:16]:
I didn't have a dollar in the bank to do it. I was like, oh, I'm leaving my job. I don't know what I want to do. And, literally, the doors start opening up. 1 of my clients calls me from my interior design business and says, hey. We just got approval to build our youth center next door to our church. Will you be will you do the interior designs for it? That project paid for my trip to South Africa and to do the whole trip. It paid for everything.
Ron Louis [00:16:54]:
And then out of nowhere, I'm, I'm in, you know, sleeping, just kind of, this is in April. I'm kinda hanging out. I I don't have a dime to do so. I said, let me refinance my home. I was going to refinance the home. Then somebody said, don't do it. And it turned out that it was Wells Fargo, and they were they were having some problems with the government. And so I was glad that I said no to this one because they weren't giving me any benefits.
Ron Louis [00:17:25]:
I was they were already my mortgage person. Right. You know, I'm in the park. And I'm in the park photographing. Can I take this class? So once I decided to become a photographer, I went to every free class that was offered in New York City. Everything at Adorama, B and H, all these these are camera stores, the main camera stores here in New York or Sony. I went to every single class I could go for free because I couldn't afford to do it any other way. And then I have an assignment.
Ron Louis [00:18:00]:
Nike Nikon has a class, and I say, oh, let me take this Nikon class for the weekend. And my homework assignment was to go out and photograph. So I go to the park. I meet I'm sitting here photographing, and then this woman starts saying, hey. You're taking pictures. Are you a photographer? I say, yeah. I'm a photographer. And I'm getting ready for my trip to Africa, yada yada yada.
Ron Louis [00:18:20]:
And then I said, I'm gonna refinance my home. And she goes, who are you gonna refinance with? I said, well, it was gonna be with Fargo. Well, she go, no. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. And then I said, okay. Next thing you know, it turns out she ends up telling me she says, I have a person for you.
Aicila [00:18:40]:
Okay.
Ron Louis [00:18:41]:
She's a stranger, and she has a person for me. So I'm a a life coach, and one of my clients, she's a VP of a bank. And I'm gonna connect the 2 of you, And I tell you no lie. That's awesome. That she connected me with made this refi. She walked me by through with with kit with white gloves. Nice.
Aicila [00:19:08]:
And literally
Ron Louis [00:19:09]:
took care of it because she knows working, and it was a lot of moving pieces, but it happened. Mhmm. And it turns out that the woman in the park ended up being a next door she she lived right across the street from me, and I never knew who she was. He was my neighbor.
Aicila [00:19:27]:
That's awesome.
Ron Louis [00:19:28]:
So all these things are happening. I'm also going to my family members, to my close friends and say, hey. What do you guys think? Because you know you don't make a decision, like, leaving your job at 52. Right. Without consultation. Right. So I, you know, I I have, like, a you know, I call my board members in life, and I pull things off of them. And they all were like, Ron, this is an opportunity of a lifetime.
Ron Louis [00:19:53]:
It seems like everything is moving in your direction. You need to do this and go for it. By the time I got to December, my 12th year anniversary, I handed in my resignation on December 4th. December 10th, I was on a plane heading to South Africa to start my life as a professional photographer. And that was the whole change because, again, it started with that little that that little program that said, look. You are more than what you're doing, and it's time not to play safe. You've got to get out and do it. And then now, my friend who her father used to work for National Geographic in Canada, she said to me, she says, Ron, you have my father's eyes.
Ron Louis [00:20:51]:
No. And I was like, what do you mean? What are you talking about, you know, Ashley? What are you talking about? She goes, no. You have my father's eyes. You you photo you photograph like my father. And she said, if you don't take this serious, I'm coming to New York to beat you up. I was like, my hiking buddy. We we used to call ourselves the tree huggers. It's
Aicila [00:21:14]:
a great name.
Ron Louis [00:21:15]:
We were the tree huggers. And so I did. And then 1 year and a half after coming back home, one of my photos made to National Geographic. And I was like, I can't believe I'm this is what I'm supposed to be doing. Yeah. And then one door after another just happened. And then my last big magazine was The New Yorker, and that was right out of out of COVID when they had the big, Icelandic eruption on the peninsula, and something said, you must go. And I just got up, quote my tour guide.
Ron Louis [00:21:52]:
I had been to Iceland before. I had talked to my friends, and I said, what are you guys doing? Are you guys safe? Is it okay? And then he let me know when this country was open. I went. Then I meet I'm on the trail. I'm taking my team. You know, I created the team to go, and we get ready to go hiking, taking them hiking. And we run into someone that they knew in the airport. Oh, wait.
Ron Louis [00:22:16]:
What's going on? Hey, Heidi. How you doing? And next thing you know, they have a conversation. Then she sees me with my cameras, and she says, oh my gosh. You are a real professional photographer. I say, yeah. She goes, I need a photographer, like, yesterday. I say, oh, really? She goes and I tells her I told her, I need a what do you do? She go, I'm a writer. I said, oh, well, well, I need a writer like yesterday.
Ron Louis [00:22:41]:
And so we have this conversation. She says, she what are you here for? I said, I'm gonna photograph the eruption. She goes, I'm here to write about the eruption. I said, wow. She says, is it possible that I can use your photos in my story? I said, sure. Let's connect. I said, who do I say, who do you write for? She says, the New Yorker. I go, I like I mean, so I always tell people, you know, people say, you know, you are so skillful to now I am a believer that skill must meet the moment.
Ron Louis [00:23:19]:
You cannot like when the moment presents itself, you must be ready Yeah. With your skill set. But it is part luck as well. Success is luck and skill come together. And I would be a fool to say, oh, you know what? Look at that. It just so happened for even with the National Geographic, my mentor says, Ron, I think you should submit work. I was like, you're right. I'm not submitting anything.
Ron Louis [00:23:50]:
And then National Geographic had this submission. It was on that what they call National Geographic National it's called Your Shot National Geographic. And so they had the submission for this article called Pops of Color. Now 2 weeks before that, I ended up photographing at the Easter Bonnet Parade in New York City, a cat on a woman's shoulder. It was perfect. The light came down into the eyes. The woman was wearing a white blazer, so it act as a reflector. The light went into the cat's eyes.
Ron Louis [00:24:25]:
She would the cat eyes were green. It was a fink's cat. It had no hair. No it had no fur. It was it was. And then on top of that, the eyes were green to match the sweater it was wearing. Wow. Everything came together.
Ron Louis [00:24:43]:
And I submitted that photo 2 weeks later. And out of 15 1,000 submissions out of 15,000 submissions, I was one of 30. Wow. 1 of 30 for the article. And I was like, this is I ran around the house like a schoolgirl. Mhmm.
Aicila [00:25:13]:
I bet. That sounds I should. That's amazing.
Ron Louis [00:25:17]:
The the editor from National Geographic sent me a email and saying, you know, we you know, you're in the last, you know, the last of the selections, and we're just waiting to hear back from all the other look at other other photos. But we'll get back to you on Friday. And on that Friday, when they got back to me, I was like, wow. But, again, it's luck and you meeting the moment when luck presents itself. Yeah. Because my mentor never said to me, you need to submit your work. And I didn't happen to come across this article in National Geographic that said they were looking for this photo for this article. And I was lucky that 2 weeks before that, I took the photo.
Aicila [00:26:13]:
You see?
Ron Louis [00:26:13]:
So that's why I always say we photographer there's there's so many amazing photographers in the world. There's millions of great photographers. Or maybe I should say wonderful and good photographers. There's probably a thousand or so great photographers. But in all of the success of photographers that I've seen so far in my life in interacting with photographers and interviewing them and talking to them in short, it's really it keeps us humble. At least at least it keeps me humble. Yeah. That it is truly when success is the success equals, you know, put on the chalkboard, success equals skill set plus luck.
Ron Louis [00:27:05]:
Mhmm. And so it keeps you humble. It keeps you at least it keeps me humble because I realize that 50% of my career has nothing to do with I'm so great. It's just I'm at the place at the right time with the right skill set at the right moment for the opportunity that came across my path. Mhmm. And that just humbles you, Keeps you. It keeps you your mindset and you just keep waiting and you say, well, you just keep preparing and you know, you build your skill set up. You keep learning.
Ron Louis [00:27:44]:
You still keep, you know, building your craft, building adding more tools to your tool bag. Mhmm. Because the next opportunity comes, you will be ready. But, you know, so, I mean, that's to to go to the the the just to the question is that the transformation came from when I was at South Africa on the first trip. Never understood I would be there for the second time. And then I would end up living there for 3 months and photographing the people, the culture. I literally, for 3 months, did nothing but photograph day and night for 3 months every day. And who, like, how did you become skilled effort to as being a photographer? Like, I tell my students I teach my students, you know, the students some of the students I've had.
Ron Louis [00:28:41]:
They say, you have to just keep doing it. Mhmm. That's what it is about life. Right? When we are on like, for instance, I'm I'm just starting this podcast world I'm living in. And people are like, how did you get so you know, because I my learning curve is pretty good. I must myself some credit. But they're like, how do you do it? But because I do it every day, which allows me to make many mistakes along the way to keep improving every day. So if if I was doing this, like, once a month or once a week, then the success level wouldn't be as as fast.
Ron Louis [00:29:20]:
But I'm literally online every freaking day. So every mistake happens every day, and you learn every day of the the mistake you made yesterday. And you just get better every day. So, I'm a believer of that's I mean, in that's what life changed for me, and it's been such an amazing ride. Has it been perfection? Has it been glorious at all moments? No. However, it has been absolutely an amazing journey. I've met so many people like yourself, people like, you know, Peggy, and and and the list goes on and on. I would have never been an ambassador to a Chamber of Commerce.
Ron Louis [00:30:07]:
I would have never had a photos in National a photo in National Geographic, New Yorker, or any of the other periodicals, or being able to be in exhibitions and stuff like that. It would have never happened if I would have just stayed and said, yes. You know what? You know what? You said I can't go. Okay. No problem. I'm gonna go back to work.
Aicila [00:30:28]:
Yeah.
Ron Louis [00:30:28]:
But no. I didn't go back. I didn't just go back to work. I made a decision to now take control of my life, and it was worth the gamble.
Aicila [00:30:40]:
That's fantastic. Thank you so much for sharing your story with me today.
Ron Louis [00:30:46]:
You're welcome. You got me talking.
Aicila [00:30:51]:
Oh, it was great. I did. That's the whole point. Before we sign off for folks that are listening and they wanna learn more, follow you, get in touch, what's the best way for them to do that?
Ron Louis [00:31:02]:
The best way is to go to my Linktree, and you can put in Ron Foster. I I sent the link over for you. But if you go to any of my social media, it's the same, at Ronlewisphotos. So it's just r o n l o u I s photos. And so it's at Ron Lewis photos on Instagram, at Ron Lewis photos on YouTube, at Ron Lewis photos on Pinterest, and so on, Twitter, everything else. So you will find me in all these platforms, but the main ones is Instagram. And if you if you log on to Instagram, it will give you the links to everywhere I am and and also my website. So if you go to my LinkedIn, I'm sorry, my it's the same thing on LinkedIn.
Ron Louis [00:31:46]:
But if you go to my Instagram, it will link you to everything. Mhmm. Yeah.
Aicila [00:31:52]:
And it's great. I I love following you and the chats you guys have, so I definitely recommend tuning in. And thanks everybody for listening. I really appreciate you.
Ron Louis [00:32:02]:
Thank you. Thank you so much. It was wonderful.
Aicila [00:32:06]:
I really enjoyed it.
