Help this amputee operate his own portrait studio

My name is G. Patrick Colvin, but you can call me Greg and I am an essentially self-taught photographer and graphic artist born and raised in the Queen City. I grew up in Fairfax just outside of Cincinnati and graduated from Mariemont High School. except for living in Columbus while attending The Ohio State University (O-H I-O!) and working there afterward, I have always lived in Cincinnati. In the words of the great Winston Zeddemore, “I Love This Town!”

 

 

 

Tiso Reneg Photographics  is "a graphic design and photography studio making the imminently elegant and radically cool wildly affordable.' I want to use my photography to capture images of beauty, whether it is a flower in bloom, a photo of an exotic animal or your pet, or a portrait of you, your children, or you and your children, and I really do want my photography affordable by everyone. I've been shooting for a long time, getting jobs here and there through word of mouth and people that my wife and I have interacted with in our numerous temp jobs, but just last year a studio space opened up in Milford, Ohio for just $650 a month which I could cover with the part-time job I had at the time.

 

I took out a $2000 loan to pay for the security deposit and, with a co-signer, I signed the lease. It took me most of the last year to pay for the build-out in drips and drabs; painting one wall with blackboard paint for a dark background one week, and buying a wall-mounted rack that holds 3 background paper rolls and one roll of paper to hang on it there. Then there's the stuffed animals and other props, posing stools and boxes, the makeup table, my desk, etc., etc.

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, I have not had any money for any serious marketing efforts. I did run a brief Facebook ad, but my marketing has been limited to hanging ad flyers with QR codes in various locations and passing out business cards at local parades and kids sporting events. I am setting up this GoFundMe so that I can obtain funds for marketing, upgrading my computer, operating costs (help with the rent, business insurance, paying for the vendor license, paying the registered agent who set up my LLC and my tax ID, etc.), and if help arrives and, with your help and my business picks up, a better camera.

 

I'm asking for $9000 to start. I have an itemized list of expected expenditures but I am still researching marketing channels and I don't have exact numbers there yet. Send a message if you want to see the list. Also, I have a Patreon page that I have not made a ton of use of yet, but I am going to start putting my fine art photography as well as my portrait work and ideas for fashion shoots as they arise. If you can't donate a ton, you can become a sponsor of my Patreon page for as little as $1 a month which would be awesome! You can check it out at www.patreon.com/GPatrickColvin