Meet Kevin Harrington of Downtown Three Oaks

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kevin Harrington.

Hi Kevin, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I was always an artist as a young student. In middle school I started learning about photography including processing and printing photographs (this was back in the film days). In high school I worked on the yearbook to hone my skills while learning everything I could about portrait lighting and posing people. I would take my work to Siegfried Herrmann, a local professional photographer, for critiquing on a regular basis. Mr Herrmann was ruthless, but I took his advice to heart and worked hard to improve. After high school I studied art and business at Lake Michigan College and continued to work on my craft. This is when I met Cathy and shared my dream of doing portraits as a career. Cathy is great with people and is the perfect compliment to our little team!

We soon realized that our passion was photographing high school seniors and families. Kevin was a high school athlete, and Cathy competed in the Miss Stevensville pageant, so they understood what an important and fleeting time it is for seniors to celebrate everything they have become up to this point. This is what continues to drive us almost 40 years later! Telling the story of these fantastic young people for their families to have forever.

After joining the Professional Photographers of Michigan we continued our education and began to enter our work in competition. Through this process we became known throughout the industry and were asked to teach at conventions throughout the country. In 1995 Kevin was named one of the top 10 Young (high school) Senior photographer in the world by Senior Photographers International.

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?
Hey, life can be messy! but we feel very blessed in so many ways. Cathy didn’t come from the best of family situations, and my Dad passed away suddenly when I was 18, so we pretty much grew up together. My extended family is amazing and was so helpful to us when we were getting started. It’s one of the reasons that we stayed in Three Oaks rather than move to a larger city. Our customers are amazing, too!

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Our specialty is high school seniors, teams, families and we do all the official portraits for Blossomtime. Do you know about Blossomtime? It’s the oldest multi community festival in Michigan.

For our seniors, we try and showcase the kids personality and help them tell their story so far. Kids put a lot of work into their interests and it deserves to be showcased and preserved. I also like to create dramatic, commercial quality imagery by using different lighting techniques, backgrounds and props, and posing to bring out peoples best features and create mood.

What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
Having artistic vision, being technically skilled, and having the personality to put clients at ease while bringing out their personality.

Pricing:

• Price determines everything. When you don’t pay much for something, it has no perceived value. Along with that can come a lack of respect and the relationship becomes a challenge. Our clients know they are probably going to pay a little more, but there are so many photographers out there who just sell the files and wash their hands of it. We can show our clients how the images will look on their wall with the special software we use. We also do framing and create albums so people will have something for their future generations. Files are for sharing. Prints are forever.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.harringtonpix.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kevinharrington/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/harringtonpix/