Pat Luke of Luke Photography has recently achieved his Certified Professional Photographer (CPP) certification from the Professional Photographers of America (PPA)! Congratulations Pat!!! The certification consists of a written exam as well as a 20 image review by the Professional Photographers of America (PPA).

Due to his crowning achievement, Pat is our newest Focus on a GRPPster interview!

Where do you get inspiration?
If you are open to it, you can be inspired by anything.  I get inspired when I watch other craftsmen work, no matter if they are a photographer, painter, or tailor.  Watching someone who is really excels at their craft can really be astounding, and makes me want to be better than I am and try just a little harder.

How did you know you were “successful”?
“Success” is whatever you define it to be.  I knew many years ago that I was personally successful because of the good will that was heaped upon me by friends and strangers at a very difficult time in my life.  I figured I was artistically successful about 10 years ago, when I started being happy with the work I was producing.  And financially successful….well…let’s just see if I can help pay the mortgage next month; that would be a good start.

Where do you want to be in 5 years?
I hope to be the first photographer that people think of when they want an important portrait created.

How did you get into photography?
I’ve always been an artist, and I knew in high school when I started noticing the beauty in little snippets of our daily life…the way light struck the most ordinary things…and I wanted to capture it.  I can paint and draw, but photography appealed to me more than any other creative outlet.

Do you have any formal education?
I have a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in biology, which, as you know, helps immensely in my photographic career  L .  In the last 5-6 years, I’ve gotten so much from attending the week-long workshops at Hobart College through PPSNYS.  Being in a small class, basically 1-on-1 with some incredible instructors is more education than you get reading any web site or book.  I felt the earth move (not in the Biblical sense) when I got to spend a week with Joseph and Louise Simone.

What has been your greatest achievement?
Getting out of bed today was a good start.  But I can’t say I have any “great” accomplishments….yet.

How do you stay fresh and creative?
I’m always looking to see what other photographers are producing, to push myself even further.  I look through the Flickr website a lot, and realize that there are a lot of amateur photographers out in this world that are lot better than you or I will ever be.

What is the best piece of gear in your camera bag?
Whatever is available.  Like my good friend MacGuyver once said, “Use what you’ve got”.  When you really know what you’re trying to do, and know how to get it, the tools you use really don’t matter.

What do you wish you knew when you began?
I really wish I knew more about business.  It’s been said that 80% of photography businesses that fail do so because they were bad business people, not bad photographers.  Especially now that I’ve finally tackled this full-time, it’s an education that I wish I didn’t have to learn on-the-job.

3 favorite non-photo hobbies?
I enjoy kayaking, woodworking, and channeling my inner MacGuyver.  People wonder why I waste my time making things when I could more easily buy them.  Not only do I enjoy “making” photographs, but I enjoy making anything.  I get huge amounts of personal satisfaction out of designing and making anything….and I mean “anything”.  I never lost that pride that you felt, as a 6-yr. old, when you said, “Mommy, look what I made!”.  I call it pride…other people just tell me to grow up.

Best piece of software?
I do really prefer to get it all correct in the camera, but I do rely on Photoshop to extend my artistic vision in ways that the camera can’t record.

What is the best business tip you have been given?
Don’t spend more than you have.  It’s simple advice, but how many people can stick to it?

Here are the images submitted for Pat’s CPP image review