Abby Firisch
David Beckham has been all around the country teaching photography and lecturing to fellow photographers. But he knows he’ll never leave the place he has called home since 1994: Pickerington.
Beckham – owner of David Beckham Photography, which opened in 2009 in Olde Pickerington Village, has photographed 2,000 high schoolers for their senior portraits since 2001. Taking photos of people is his specialty and he’s a sought-out senior photographer with a high fashion style.
“The best part is letting people see themselves the way that people that love them see them,” Beckham says. “Flawless, beautiful, everything just right – and that’s what I can do for them.”
Most of his clients come from the Pickerington and Baltimore areas, though he has had visitors from as far away as Powell and Dublin, and everywhere in between.
Beckham has always loved photography, he says, beginning with participation in yearbook in junior high and high school. But he worked in two other fields before he made it his full-time job. Born in Detroit, Beckham attended Bowling Green State University and majored in Product Design. He first worked as a project engineer for Owens Corning, then embarked on a career as a full-time youth pastor for five years.
Vision Photography
“I would have probably (taught) as a high school teacher, except there just wasn’t any money in it and my selfish 20-something person wanted to make money. That’s why I went into engineering,” he says. “My more mature late 30-something person realized that being a youth pastor and teaching and giving back that way was way more valuable than all the money I was making as a project engineer.”
Beckham has worked with youth in one way or another his whole life, including coaching softball for 20 years.
“Working with young people has always been in my life, so this was an obvious next step and this is what I like doing the most,” Beckham says.
Beckham, who has been the president of the Professional Photographers of Ohio for four years, speaks at photography conventions across the country teaching photography, posing, lighting and how to run a business.
“Every time I go, I learn from the best teachers in the country, too,” he says. “So it’s a constant learning process.”
In January, he will speak at the Professional Photographers of America conference for the second year in a row. He’s the first to be a platform speaker twice, due to the response last year’s talk received.
“As a high school coach, I taught. As an engineer, I used to speak across the country, teaching different ways to do design using computers when that first came out,” he says. “Through Junior Achievement when I was in my early 20s, we were teaching kids how to build a business, so teaching has always been part of who I am.”
Beckham says he’s super competitive and likes to enter photos contests in order to get his work published. Subsequently, he’s had 150 portraits published in national photography magazines.
“I have been given some amazing gifts. One of them is to be able to see a photo before I take it,” Beckham says. “Another is to communicate well with young people. That’s an absolute gift. And then the ability to teach. I speak and teach all over the county at some of the biggest conventions and I teach photography and posing and how to run a business and lighting and all of that. I get to use all of my gifts every day. It’s a pretty cool life.”
Beckham shoots seniors year round. He estimates he works around 60 hours a week, but doesn’t mind because he loves the work.
“Honestly, every time a kid walks in the door, and they’re nervous, and (then) I see them just having a blast as we’re shooting,” Beckham says. “And then the mom and dad sometimes go to tears as they see the photos; it’s pretty easy to stay inspired. The rewards, financially, are there, obviously, but the rewards, personally, are also there all the time. And it takes both to really be happy and love what to do and I get that.”
Beckham and his wife, Shelly, have two grown daughters and four grandchildren.
The show is held at Nov. 6 at the Wigwam Event Center from 6-9 p.m. More information about the event can be found at www.mllavon.com.
Claire McLean is an editorial assistant. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
