Meet Harvey Branman of Photography As An Art in Burbank

Today we’d like to introduce you to Harvey Branman.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
When my brother was born, I was 8 years old. When he was old enough, I started taking photos of him and the rest of the family with a Kodak Brownie they gave me. Ten years later, I purchased my first Nikon 35mm camera and loved taking photos at any event and while traveling.

I learned that using Kodachrome and Extachrome film would give me better scenic images and started giving prints to family and friends as gifts and putting them up on my walls at home. I received enough compliments to encourage me to enter my first art fair – the Malibu Art Festival in 1977 and to my very pleasant surprise, I was awarded 1st place in the color photography category. For marketing, I came up with the name of my new business – Photography As An Art and trademarked it.

For a few years, I continued exhibiting and selling limited editions of my images in various sizes and framed professionally so they would work well as part of someone’s interior décor. But, my full-time business at that time was taking up a lot of time and I stopped pursuing the art market.

In 1988, a friend asked me to photograph her wedding as she couldn’t afford a professional photographer. While I had never wanted the responsibility of photographing an event so special to someone, I took on the role, when it was all done, I realized I enjoyed the process and started promoting myself as a “Wedding Photographer”.

A few years later, I took a lighting workshop and learned how to create studio and outdoor portraits that were fitting with my business name. I need to give credit to the instructor, Ms Bobbi Lane, who is one of the most sought after photography instructors in the world. Without the techniques I learned from her, I probably would have never gotten to the point of opening my own store front portrait studio in 1993.

I quickly realized I needed to get myself known to the Burbank community and joined the Chamber of Commerce. And, since there was another chamber close by, I joined the Universal City/No. Hollywood Chamber and built a lot of great connections there as well.

Over the years, I have been involved with several other networking organization plus donated my time and service to many non-profits which have led to many long-term relationships. I feel that my desire to help others has been the key to keeping my doors open while the photography industry has been hit so hard with digital photography devaluing the industry.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
For the first 10 years, things were going fine and I was employing as many as three people to run the studio. And, often I found myself needing to bring on an additional photographer to cover events when I was already booked. Professional photographers were well respected until digital cameras made everyone a so-called photographer.

As the phone stopped ringing and the bookings slowed to a halt, I needed to go back to being a one-man business and now handle all the work involved by myself. There are many commercial clients that have stayed with me, but the family portrait business is probably 10% of what it had been in the early years. I am seeing a trend back to people realizing there is a difference in what they can create without the skills and what someone like myself has to offer.

Photography As An Art – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
My business, Photography As An Art includes most areas of photography. My real passion is to create family portraits, especially those including grandparents and great-grandparents. I’ve even had the pleasure of photographing some five generation groups. In addition, to that specialty, I have many companies that have been using me to create professional business portraits of individuals, as well as groups of employees or board members. I believe the reason I have maintained such on-going clients is they enjoy the way I interact with the people and the consistent quality of the photographs. A few of such clients include Burbank Water and Power, BizFed – the Los Angeles County Business Federation, Logix Federal Credit Union, Providence Medical Center, and many more.

An example of why I’m proud of my company – myself, is that I have clients that use my services many times over the years. As an example, while photographing a senior prom, one of the young ladies told me that I would be her wedding photographer – which was 10 years later. Last year, I photographed her during her last month of pregnancy, and I know they’re waiting till the baby is a tad older before they come in for their next session.

Because of my being involved with non-profits, I photographed one of the wealthiest families in the area about 20 years ago and have done so three times since as the kids and grandkids grew up.

Why that happens is because I’m very attentive of details. And, I especially find it worthwhile to make sure people are showing their affection for one another in such family portraits. Sometimes a sibling is reluctant, to put a hand on the other’s shoulder or arm, but those little details make a big difference.

And, when I’m creating professional business portraits, I make sure the person has their face directly at the camera as that establishes better rapport. Plus, a smile is going to make the difference between having a good first impression when a potential client is looking to business with someone in the profession they’re shopping around to contact. Coaching my clients while making them comfortable in front of a camera is my knack.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
My proudest moment was when the readers of the local newspaper voted me #1 photographer in Burbank after only being in business for a couple of years.

Pricing:

• My family portrait session fee is $100 if in my studio or on location in Burbank. This does not include the cost of professionally made prints.
• A professional business portrait can cost as little as $150 including their favorite image retouched with full rights.

Contact Info:

• Address: 1307 N. San Fernando Blvd.
  Burbank, CA
  91504
• Website: www.PhotographyAsAnArt.net
• Phone: 818-954-9294
• Email: [email protected]
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hbranman
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/photography-as-an-art-burbank?osq=Portrait+Studio
• Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harveybranman/

Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.