About Us
About
About Us
Hi there!
Where it all began... 1988
In 1988 was when I started getting serious about being a photographer. It was right after I was married when I realized that I was really good at photography. All my family kept telling me that I should become a photographer because I took really great images. The only thing was since I came from an engineering background I could not just wing it like most others in the industry. So I research the top wedding and portrait photographers in the U.S. and studied with them for weeks at a time for almost 10 years. My philosophy was I needed to know the rules on how things were done and why they were done. This gave me a solid foundation to start with. A year later I open my first store-front studio.
1992 (Certified Professional Photographer)
My first milestone in my career was when I became a Certified Professional Photographer. "CPP" I studied for months straight to prepare for the 4 hour comprehensive written exam measuring your technical expertise given by the professional photographers of America. Most people have to take it more than once to pass. I aced the first time. I also had to submit 10 images that were reviewed by a panel of judges to be a professional caliber. That was easy with my education and background. I have had to keep on my toes ever since, because being a CPP you must renew your credentials every five years with continuing education, submitting your work for critical evaluation, for retaking the certification exam.
1999 (We open out 2nd Studio and Tobias Morgan Studios was Born)
In 1999 was when I open my second studio, Tobias Morgan studios. It was located in Verona New Jersey. This is where I kicked my skills into high gear I was recently remarried, I just left BNH photo and video after I worked for them for almost 4 years. I was one of three people that started their digital department. The world was looking great! I built my dream studio right on the corner of a busy intersection within two years my sales were over a quarter of $1 million! This is when I started my first website www.tmsphoto.com around this time is also when I started to hone my graphic design skills I bought QuarkXPress and started to create all the companies literature. Everything from flyers to trifold brochures to business cards to booklet handouts for clients. I even created forms for the back end of the studio. Over the years I used to show my designs to my peers and they all used to say if they could use designs for their studios. lol
2002 (Tobias Becomes a Photographic Craftsman)
.In 2002 I became a photographic craftsman. This degree was for speaking to other photographers around the country on photographic principles I was short after because of my background and digital imaging. Along with my desire to have the latest and greatest of technology. Yes I am a techno geek… but with digital in its infancy, everyone was looking to me for advice on what to do and what not to do. I started to give seminars on Digital weddings. The word caught on and I was lecturing all over the country. Now I was even adding to my repertoire color management and printer profiling. Add this stage in the game I was feeling super special. In December 2002 I purchased the canon EOS 1DS. This was an 11.7 megapixel 35 mm camera. That was the end of my film days. I never shot another piece of film sense. I know friends that shot film until 2010. OMG the money that they waste it. At this time I was even being approach to write articles in professional trade magazines on the subjects that I spoke about.
2005 (Tobias Morgan Studios Moves to a larger location)
In 2005 I move the studio to a new larger location, where the shooting room was over 600 ft.². With higher ceilings and windows along one entire side, this studio was a photographers dream.
2006 (Tobias earns the coveted "Master of Photography" degree)
In 2006 only a few years after I earned my Photographic Craftsman degree, I finally attained the prestigious Master of Photography degree from the PPA. It was not an easy feat to accomplish. I needed to obtain 25 Merits and the max that you could get is only 4 per year. I had to enter every yearly competition and win blue ribbons every time! The funny thing about this was the majority of other photographers entered the competitions with images that they knew the judges would like i.e. landscape photography or product photography. Myself on the other hand entered all my competitions with actual clients imagery. This is one of the reasons I was known in the photographic circles as one of the best photographers in New Jersey.
2010 (Tobias Morgan Studios moves to our home based studio)
In 2010 I decided to close the studio. The world of photography was changing, new technology made it so easy for everyone to become a photographer. I seen the writing on the wall back in 2005 when the digital cameras were finally good enough and the portrait your clientele were dropping dramatically. So I decided to move the studio to my house to cut the overhead. The benefit was I only needed to shoot weddings and outdoor portraits, so the storefront really wasn't necessary anymore. The economy was another factor after the crash of 2008. Then there is the digital imaging factor, in 2000 there were 60,000 photographers in the US in 2007 they were 130,000. That is over double the amount in just seven years. Kodak called it in the year 2000 that half of the photographers in the US will be in a different career by 2005. Digital made it so easy for anyone to become a photographer. It wasn't just the photo industry that was changing, it was every technology industry that was changing. Music, printers, photo labs, they were all victims of technology. :-(
2012 (Tobias Morgan Creatives was born!!)
In 2012 I wanted to diversify, so I purchased the newest canon DSLR camera. This camera also did HD video. The moment I saw the quality that came from it I was completely hooked and never looked back! Since then I have studied intensely about making movies, commercials, and finally found my calling in creating cinematic wedding films. OMG I could not describe the joy that I get from creating a tearjerking short cinematic film for a couple. Since the word got out about me filming weddings I have been booked almost every weekend from spring through late fall. Since I was no longer only doing photography I wanted to change the name of the business to something more creative… Lol hence Tobias Morgan Creatives was born.
2022 (Tobias Morgan Creatives opens new store front studio)
My daughter Nicole kept hounding me that she wanted me to re-open another store front studio since 2018, I told her that if we find the right place, location, location, location. It also had to be at an affordable price for we needed to purchase a building. We found one place in Verona that was for sale and I was in the middle of negotiating when the pandemic hit, thank God we did not take any action at that time. Fast forward to February 2022 and we were driving home from the movies when Nicole said look at that store dad! It was in a perfect spot right on a busy corner with lots of passing traffic. Three days later we signed the lease. I spent six months renovating the place to make it our dream studio. Hello world!!