Rising Stars: Meet Grant Beachy

Today we’d like to introduce you to Grant Beachy.

Hi Grant, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today. 
I got started in photography around 2012, but my journey in the creative scene started closer to 2000. I was a touring drummer in a band, and in 2006, I started my own recording studio. Those experiences helped me make the transition to photography and taught me a lot of valuable lessons about being a creative entrepreneur. 

In 2012, I was a full-time recording engineer and was running into requests for album artwork. I’ve always been a little interested in photography, so I decided to make a big jump and buy a camera and learn how it worked. I’ll be honest and say I didn’t even know what an aperture did at the time, but experience and the internet are fast teachers. 

Getting started with photography for me was like getting pulled along rather than pushing in a lot of ways. When people found out I was trying to learn, they gave me opportunities, sometimes even before I felt ready. I learned to say yes and then spend the time and practice to show up prepared. There are a number of jobs I can point to around that time where I said yes, and they ended up being building blocks in very important ways, so I’m thankful for people giving me a chance. 

Alright, 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?
It’s a little anticlimactic to say it’s been a smooth road, but in many ways, it feels like it has been. I will say the bumpiest part was probably getting shut down in Covid era. I lost 6 months of work in 2 weeks. It opened up opportunities to sit down and plan out the next stages of my life, though, which led to my wife and I selling our home in Goshen, IN, where we had lived, and moving to Toledo, OH, where we were closer to family. Since then, my biggest challenge has been to re-establish my business in Toledo, but we have been welcomed and given some wonderful chances again. I started back over in many ways and also reconfigured my ideas of what kind of jobs I would take. I broke it down to the basics and started second shooting and helping on projects I might not have made time for before, but it’s been really great to start over in a way and find new ways to fix problems. 

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m a photographer first, but I’ve spent my life learning how to create and help others realize their creative visions. Currently, I specialize in headshots, portraits, and commercial photography. I’m known for bringing a sense of connection and humanity to portraits and also for a dedicated approach to shaping light to fit the mood of what we are trying to accomplish. I’m proud of my ability to be flexible in nearly any situation and making photos that can work with the elements we have while also making them better than they would have been. 

A thing that sets me apart from others is my ability to roll gracefully with creative challenges and my curiosity. I really want to learn new things and find new ways to fix problems. I love working with people who are more interested with discovering things than being right at the beginning, and I try to embody the same ethos in my life. 

Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
Probably how late in life I started. I never went to school for this and only picked up a camera at the age of 32. When I say I started from zero with photography, it’s pretty much true. I didn’t understand the mechanics of a camera or understand color theory, and I didn’t think I had a visual gift at all but was curious to see if I could learn. Since then, I’ve spent a lot of time reading and trying things, and that’s been what’s allowed me to grow. 

Contact Info:

• Website: www.grantbeachy.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/grantbeachy

Image Credits
Marquis Martinez
Grant Beachy