Gary Glenn

Meet Gary Glenn.

Gary is known as ‘The Sedona Image Maker’.  One of the Top Portrait Photographers in the U.S.  He is a professional photographer who consistently makes Heirloom Personality Portraits of individuals and families.  His Portraits are recognized as truly bringing out the beauty, charm and character of subjects that he photographs.  He is an artist with a camera.

Gary has been engaged by Jonelle Klein to make all of the Personality Portraits for the ‘Faces Of Sedona and the Verde Valley’ Website… He is honored to be part of the project and to be able to capture the character of so many Sedona Personalities.

Questions:

Q: What inspired you or led you to your current career?

A: I’ve been a photographer forever, I started out my working career when I was a kid at 13 years old. I begged a job at a local radio station to be a radio announcer.   I worked in radio through high school and college.. During those early years, I developed an interest in photography, and chose to work with a wedding and portrait studio in Nebraska…   I then started doing workshops and seminars for professional photographers right around the country…52 seminars a year, teaching Photographic technique and business skills.   During that time I got invited to go to Australia to do seminars and a company there offered me a job. I went to work for them as a consultant and I worked for them for 3 years and I left and started forming a business doing speaking… training on motivation and sales technique and management skill teaching people in all fields not just photography and I did that for over 30 years.  I got in to film making and had a film accepted at the Sedona International Film Festival… there I met my partner Jennifer… and that connection changed my life.

Q: How long have you lived or worked in Sedona?

A: Moving to Sedona,  I came here from Australia, almost retiring from my career as a public speaker and concentrated on doing photography  I got involved with our amazing Chamber of Commerce as their official event photographer.  People started asking me to make portrait images of them and their family… it’s grown from there, and  I’m now known as Sedona Image Maker, I love working with people in this community.

Q: Who is the most interesting person you’ve met here in Sedona?

A: There are certain people that are community involved, supporting communities, supporting Sedona, enhancing Sedona.. Terri Frankel is the face that continually comes to mind, to me she’s somebody who made a contribution to our community in that way. Certainly the people from the Chamber of Commerce all immediately come to mind, they are the face of Sedona. If you look at Jennifer Wesselhoff, Michelle Conway, Terri Ruiz, they immediately comes to mind because we see them in so many functions and events and they support and enhance Sedona.  Pat Schweiss is certainly a memorable standout. In business, Jonelle Klein stands out… a real estate Professional who is amazing at what she does.

Q: What is something on your bucket list?

A: I don’t have an answer to that ‘coz anything that I really had hankering to do I’ve done. I’ve traveled, Lived in Paris for 2 years, I fly airplanes, I fly drones, I am a private Pilot, I’m a Chef, I’m a Photographer, I’m a writer, I’m a film maker, Public speaker, great lover!!! Ha!, all the things that I really wanna do I’ve done.

Q: Choosing anyone with whom would you love to have lunch? Why and where would you have lunch?

A: I am a film maker, I really appreciate good stories in films and TV and there’s a guy Vince Gilligan who cut his teeth on the X-files years and years ago and he directed many of the X-files series episodes and he also created Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul series. He is amazingly unique film maker and story teller with his writing, his production and directing capabilities. I would also say Steven Spielberg certainly I would like to sit down and chat with him. And if Steve Jobs was still alive I think I would like to sit with him.

Q: Where do you see yourself in 5 or 10 years?

A: I can’t see that far. As a public speaker, a seminar presenter on motivation and personal development, I used to teach all the time about setting 5-year goals and over the time that I did that myself it came fairly clear to me that 5-year goal is too far out, you can’t really see that far especially that the world is changing so much this days. 3 years ago if you told me that I’d be known as the Sedona Image Maker doing this project with you I would have smiled and said, I don’t think so, I don’t see that far out. So I’m very open to what might open to me as times goes on but in 3 years I see myself making more films, more movies, more corporate as well as artistic type films, and of course improving and making amazing personality portraits of individuals and families.

Q: What is your biggest challenge as a Portrait Photographer?

These days, everyone is a photographer… Each of us has a brilliant camera at our fingertips all the time… so as a Pro, the goal is to be able to provide images that No One Else Can Do… Offering unique artistic portraits using quality lighting, posing, and expressions… creating a quality and style that is unique. My goal is to provide the best photographs you have ever seen of yourself.

Q: What words or phrases come to mind when you think of the word HOME?

A: Home is Jennifer, Love, View and Peace.

From the interview with Jonelle Klein

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