Viewfinder: Celin Serbo

By: What Matters?, 1 year 4 months ago

Celin Serbo's held a lot of jobs - bus driver, mountain guide, bartender - to support his photography habit. But these days, he's a full-time commercial, adventure photographer whose clients include ESPN, Outside, Nikon, Patagonia and New Balance, to name a few. Armed with a keen business sense and the technical wizardry to pull off his creative visions, Serbo's steadily made a name for himself in the photography world during the worst of economic times. And the best part is, with his humble, down-to-earth and super approachable nature, you'd never know it.

A California native, Serbo grew up in Sedona, A.Z., where he developed a love for the outdoors. In 1992, after earning a business degree from Northern Arizona University, Serbo moved to Colorado and began his photography career with a medium format film camera while working as a mountain guide for the Colorado Mountain School. Since then he's won several awards including a spot in the competitive Eddie Adams Workshop, and first place in the 2009 Advertising Photographer of America awards. Today he serves on the board of the organization - newly titled the American Photographic Artists.

Besides shooting amazing athletes in beautiful places, Serbo's dedicated to helping both new and experienced photographers integrate creativity and business ethics. Spearheading a new Denver affiliate chapter of the APA, Serbo hopes to connect local professional photographers with ad agencies in the the Denver metro area, building community and filling a much-needed niche. Serbo says: "One of my main goals is to put creatives and art buyers together, to create more of a community here. I feel like if we have a central place where we can learn about issues facing photographers - pricing structures, the value of your work, marketing, then I feel we can have a little more even playing field."