Chuck Vosburgh

Getting to know your fellow members Chuck Vosburgh

By Chuck Vosburgh

This month we’re starting a new feature to help us all get better acquainted. We have a lot of talented photographers in our group, but we may not know the story behind the person. So, I’m going to get it started. I’ll be calling on you soon to write about you!

I’ll tell you all about me and my career, but the short story is I’m a Bible believer, husband to my wonderful wife Pat and vintage Volkswagen fanatic. I’m fortunate beyond what I ever imaged and sincerely grateful for every person I have the good fortune to meet.

It all started at a garage sale

I found an old Polaroid at a garage sale when I was in my early teens and bought it using money earned mowing yards. A few other used cameras followed and my first new camera was a Pentax ME. In school I learned how to develop black and white film, make prints and built a darkroom in the shed in my parent’s back yard.

An internship set my course

In 1983, my last year of high school, I was fortunate enough to have a two-semester internship at a local advertising agency. I got exposed to some of the most talented designers, illustrators and photographers in the Tampa Bay area and all were willing to teach and mentor. The ad agency hired me part-time with the agreement that I would attend commercial art school, which I eagerly did. A few years later, I worked my way up to Art Director and was working mostly on advertising and marketing materials for builders and developers. In addition to doing the design and photo: Steven Le illustration work, I would sometimes get to do the photography as well.

When the advertising agency I was working for closed in 1986 I rented an office and started my own business as a solo freelancer. Over time, my business grew into a small design studio and we started working on larger national-level accounts. I continued to do a lot of the photography for our clients and eventually photography eclipsed design work.

During that time, I was also involved in off-road motorcycle racing and even though I was usually in the middle of the pack, I managed a couple of second places. I also continued another love developed early on - drawing and painting.

I filled in for a colleague teaching Photoshop at the local college and soon became an Adjunct Professor of Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and Quark XPress and wrote the book Learning Quark XPress which was used as a textbook by many schools. I still teach Photoshop and photography at the Morean Arts Center in St Petersburg and have an on-line Photoshop class for photographers who are getting started with Photoshop.

Pat changed everything

Pat convinced me to make the leap of faith and do only photography and my career took off. An accomplished photographer herself, Pat and I flew to many interesting places and did the best work of my career. Most of our work consisted of flying to a location, working very long days outside and returning home to do the post-processing work. The high point of my photographic career was doing the covers and inside images for AirTran Airlines’ GO Magazine.

The desert in August made me think

A job for AirTran included three days in the desert photographing a mountain bike champion in various settings. Scouting locations the first day I got heat exhaustion. I recovered enough overnight to finish the job but it made me think. On the flight home, I told Pat I needed a plan. There’s no way I could do that kind of work when I got older. I went to school secretly to become a real estate agent and on my 50th birthday I announced my new career and shocked everyone. I believe that the only way to be the best at anything is to put your full attention to it so I referred every photo job that came my way to other TAPPA members and put my full attention to being the best Realtor I could be.

I found out that the same things that made me a great photographer make me a great Realtor. They say the way you do one thing is the way you do everything and it’s true. Now Pat and I are both in the top one percent of Realtors in the nation in terms of education and certifications, putting together million dollar deals and really helping people. That’s not the best part though.

It’s great working full time with my Wife – seriously.

Pat and I do everything together. We work together all day every day and it’s been wonderful. We have honestly never had a fight. Annoying each other is to be expected, but you can live and work together and have it be the best experience of your life.

I wish everyone could have what we have, and you can. Just ask and we’ll tell you anything you want to know. If you’ve read this far, I want to know you better. Call or email me and Pat and I will buy you lunch. Do it right now.

Chuck Vosburgh 727-743-1740 Chuck@ChuckVosburgh.com Photography website: ChuckVosburgh.com Chuck and Pat’s website: VosburghandVosburgh.com FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/chuck.vosburgh Instagram: chuckvosburgh