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90 seconds develop photographer's career |
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The large portraits of former U.S. Speaker of the House
Newt Gingrich, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and Senior Federal
Judge Douglas Hillman are evidence of David DeJonge’s impressive
client list. Photos of families, children and brides balance the more
formal portraits. They are strikingly innovative and artistic. In one,
a family holding hands is silhouetted against a sunset; no faces are seen,
but the family’s energy and joy are captured. The Society of Northern Ohio Professional Photographers
ranked DeJonge in the top one percent of photographers in the nation.
Just how he got to this prominent position is a story of talent, timing,
and initiative. DeJonge was already earning money from photography in
high school. He officially began his photography business right after
graduation in 1987, working out of his home doing the standard weddings,
babies and senior pictures—what DeJonge calls a “Main Street
photography studio.” In 1997 DeJonge recalls speaking at length with a photographer
who had built a much larger “Main Street” business. “I came away realizing that if I continued down the
path I was on, I would be working long hours without much opportunity
for craftsmanship or artistic freedom. I began to strategize regarding
a new direction,” DeJonge says. DeJonge also worked as a photojournalist, and in early
1998 while on a freelance assignment for Grand Rapids Magazine,
he found the niche that would determine the direction of his career. The
assignment was to cover a speaking engagement of then-U.S. Speaker of
the House Newt Gingrich. “After doing the assignment, I asked Mr. Gingrich’s
director of public relations, Mike Shields, for just five minutes of the
Speaker’s time. Shields allowed me 90 seconds. “I got a small conference room at Amway Grand Plaza
and quickly set up for the shoot. When Gingrich arrived, I told him, ‘Speaker
Gingrich, I’m going to take the best portrait you’ve ever had—in
90 seconds.’ “The Speaker chuckled and remarked, ‘Well, the
best photo so far was for my book cover, and that session took four hours
and 300 shots.’ In that 90 seconds I took six shots.” DeJonge
then spent a month producing his 24" by 30" portrait, sent it
off to Gingrich and waited. “Mr. Gingrich loved the portrait,” DeJonge says.
It became the Speaker’s official picture for the next 18 months,
featured on the newt.org website and various “Friends of Newt Gingrich”
print pieces. Gingrich came back to DeJonge for his next official portrait
as well. The experience with Gingrich helped crystalize for DeJonge
the direction his business should take. He shifted away from high-volume
photography to low-volume, hand-crafted portraiture, “catering to
local and world leaders and their families.”
DeJonge also does portraits of prominent philanthropists,
business people and other VIPs, including artist Maya Lin, designer of
the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. He was the photographer for Maine Street:
A Tribute to 27 West Michigan Entrepreneurs, a book by Donald W. Maine,
chancellor emeritus of Davenport University. DeJonge sees the biggest challenge facing today’s
retailers as “deciphering the direction and mindset of the consumer.”
“Don’t live in fear,” he advises retailers
as he considers the shaky economy. “If you look for reasons to fear,
you’ll find them. If you look for opportunities to meet consumers’
needs no matter what the outlook, you’ll find those as well. Never
look at the current situation through the eyes of permanence.” DeJonge tries to avoid what he calls “the ‘full
cup syndrome’—the attitude that my cup of knowledge is full
and I have no more to learn. I take every opportunity to talk with other
photographers. I follow trends in new photographic technologies and I
attend seminars and conventions. “Recently I have also begun entering competitions.
I have found this is a great way of seeing what the best in my field are
up to.” DeJonge recently received eight international awards for
his work at the annual conference of Wedding and Portrait Photographers
International held in Las Vegas, Nevada, a competition that attracted
over 1,000 entries from around the world. DeJonge won six awards of excellence,
first place for Journalism and third place for senior portraiture. Asked about whether his success derives more from his
talent or his business acumen, DeJonge replies, “I owe my success
to my strong Christian faith, and to the tenets that flow from that faith,
like honesty and integrity. They play a part in every business decision
I make.” In keeping with his strong faith, DeJonge is active in
and has donated his time and services to Children’s Miracle Network,
the Make a Wish Foundation, Grand Rapids Medical Hall of Fame, Alliance
for Health, God’s Kitchen, Grand Rapids Rotary, Salvation Army and
American Heart Association. His photos for the Michigan Veterans of Five Wars Project,
to which he has donated 800 hours of his time, were displayed in the state
Capitol and the Van Andel Museum in Grand Rapids. He is donating his collection
of veterans images to the Grand Rapids Home for the Veterans. His next project will be a series of portraits designed
to explore the world of cancer patients through portraiture. “I want
to share with others what the experience of having cancer does to a person,
physically, mentally and spiritually.” The biggest challenge DeJonge currently faces is growth.
His office space and state-of-the-art studio in the hotel, which he designed
from the ground up in 2001, is already proving crowded. He will soon need
a corporate office and would like to open two other locations. Finding
more excellent staff and making decisions about space and location will
present new challenges in the next few years. David DeJonge’s talent and energy are not easily
conveyed in words. But DeJonge is more than a successful artist; he is
a devoted family man, a committed community member and a businessman with
initiative and insight. This article was written by Michigan Retailer staff writer Amy Buttery. |
Those
who enter the lobby of DeJonge Studio, in the Amway Grand Plaza hotel
in Grand Rapids, can see immediately that this is no ordinary photography
studio. 
It
also became a stepping stone, leading to work with other national and
world leaders such as Justice Scalia and former South African President
F.W. de Klerk.