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SMPS Headquarters
625 North Washington Street
Suite 302
Alexandria, VA
22314-1936
email
info@smps.org
phone
703.549.6117
Contents
Contents
IN EVERY ISSUE
FEATURE
DOMAIN
Aligning What You Do With Who You Are
Be AI-Ready: Eight Steps to Structure Your Firm’s Tactical Plan
Rebranding: Increase Your Influence an Impact as a Marketing Leader
What Is a Digital Asset Manager and Why Do You Need One?
What does Safety Look Like for Marketing Professionals in A/E/C
Leading Through the Lens
Gabe Ford
Featured Photographer
Leading Through the Lens
Leading Through the Lens
Gabe Ford
Gabe Ford is a commercial architectural photographer based out of Nashville, TN. He specializes in shooting images for marketing and promotional purposes for architects, contractors, engineers, retail, hospitality, developers, and commercial realtors.
Like most everyone else who moves to Nashville, Gabe came to pursue a career in artist management in the music business with the help of his buddy Taylor Bray (Front of House engineer for Dan + Shay). Gabe did a few internships and decided to open a small management and label company with his buddy Brannon Desseyn. They learned very quickly that artists needed lots of photo and video content but they couldn’t afford to hire any pros.
Gabe’s wife, Sarah Beth had a DSLR and did photography in high school and college. She taught him everything she knew and youtube filled in a few gaps. He started shooting for his artists and they referred him to their other artist friends. Gabe met Rick Diamond with Getty Images while photographing a concert at the historic Ryman Auditorium and was recruited to be a photo contributor and photographed several CMA Fest and red carpet events. During that time Gabe and his wife were looking to buy a house and saw a bunch of terrible photos online. Gabe reached out to a few realtors and they referred him to an agency for real estate photography. He was trained and immediately put to work shooting approximately four houses per day five days per week. Shooting real estate was tedious but it was a great foundation for architectural photography.
After shooting residential real estate for a few years, Gabe was referred to his first commercial architectural job by his buddy Chris Raines (Bullhorn Media). The project was a multi family apartment complex. That gig changed everything and opened the door to what he does today. It was incredible to have three wonderful ladies from the marketing team helping ensure everything was perfectly ready to be photographed. This was a far departure from a grumpy real estate agent rudely making unreasonable demands. Gabe quit shooting residential real estate so he could focus on shooting commercial architectural photography.
There were a few tough years building his business in the beginning. “Joining SMPS was a huge turning point in my career.” Networking with the exceptional members from the Nashville chapter created so much opportunity. He’s experienced exponential growth over the last six years and is incredibly grateful for all the support and referrals from his many amazing clients. Gabe now travels all over the country at least one day per week to photograph so many incredible projects. He was fortunate enough to complete 137 shoots in 2023.
“Joining SMPS was a huge turning point in my career.”
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