Daily Inspiration: Meet Chris Fulcher

Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris Fulcher.

Hi Chris, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers.
As a photographer who has been working since I was 16, I’ve had a lot of varying interests in the photography world.

Of those interests, I started exploring travel and hospitality photography. It was difficult to start by myself to say the least. That’s when I met Savannah, we had met in my hometown in 2019 and both shared a passion for travel. We had decided to take a spontaneous trip to explore this newfound relationship and see how compatible we were traveling together. We had planned on going somewhere within the US, maybe California, Florida, or even Hawaii.

We ended up booking a 15-hour flight all the way to Tokyo, Japan, and stayed there for a week. I had been to Japan before on tour for a band, being escorted around by translators, tour guides, and the management company. This was my first time staying in a foreign country without those luxuries. Savannah had completely taken me out of my comfort zone, to say the least. At one point, Savannah said to me “Let’s get lost” while taking the train system. We had the honor of working with an amazing hotel while in Tokyo, called the Park Hyatt where Lost in Translation was filmed. Certainly one of the most memorable trips I had been on, and it solidified how well Savannah and I work together and reaffirmed that I wanted to continue traveling together.

Since then, we have been expanding our travel business, just recently going on a month-long trip to Europe working with some of the most luxurious hotels in Italy, Santorini, and Mykonos. We have also been working with other hotels here in the US, such as Dream Hotel in Hollywood, California, and Allegretto Hotel and Vineyard in Paso Robles, California. We have been excited to share our journey with everyone through different media as photos, videos, and Savannah’s blog savvy-travels.com.

We have been extremely fortunate and grateful for the opportunities presented to us, and excited to share our story with the world.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Definitely not a smooth road. Covid put a wrench in a lot of our plans. Right when the pandemic hit, we had been planning our trip to Europe, saving up money, and getting in touch with hotels to work with. All of that had to be put on hold and we ended up losing out on working with these hotels and have still been dealing with financial repercussions from canceled flights. However, it gave Savannah and me a chance to re-evaluate our overall plan and really flush our plans out. As for working with hotels, there have been a lot more “no’s” than “yes’s”.

The hardest part was getting our foot in the door. We didn’t exactly have an extensive portfolio for us to showcase our talent, and many hotels are not willing to take a chance on an “inexperienced” photographer. We had to really grind in the first couple of years, reaching out to hotels and asking if we could come by just to build our portfolio, Savannah working multiple jobs and using her days off to travel and work even more. We have finally just begun seeing the fruits of our labors, this past trip to Europe was a major turning point in our careers, but it was constantly a learning process along the way.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
The thing that Savannah and I really wanted to define in our work that would set us aside from the typical travel “influencer” style is our aesthetic. All the travel influencers that you see nowadays tend to look the same, very clean cut, light filter, and bright/clean clothing. Savannah and I are heavily tattooed, wear underground branded clothing, dress in mostly black, and have more of a darker / street aesthetic. However, this is what really sets us apart from the rest of travel and hospitality models/photographers.

We wanted to bring marketing to a different outreach. We are starting to see more and more tourism boards and hospitality companies, especially boutique hotels, offer more modernized approaches to their marketing efforts that will cater to everyone. When starting this business together, the most important thing for us was to make sure we don’t just join the masses and enter a lane that wasn’t who we were. We wanted to embrace what our style was and create something different.

What would you say has been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
The most important lesson we’ve learned along our journey is to never change who we are, and what we want and to never give up hope. It’s too easy, especially in a career where you are constantly surrounded by media, to just gradually change the path you have been wanting to go down and join another lane that you see work for someone else.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.chrisfulch.com
• Instagram: @chrisfulch / @savvy_travels_