ABOUT ME

Mike Wewerka.

An award-winning, published photographer and Adobe Photoshop/Lightroom instructor with 16 years of experience.

My Story

BEGINNING IN PHOTOGRAPHY

I’ve been practicing photography since I can remember. It’s always been something I enjoyed, from my first camera which was a gift from an extended family member, it was one of those old Fisher~Price (made by Kodak) cameras with the detachable flashes. I also had a few fun Polaroids and a bunch of cheap cameras growing up. But it was my love of drawing that drove me into the field of art and eventually the Ringling College of Art and Design. While photography wasn’t my major in college, it’s always been an important part of my life. I remember as a child, my father was an amateur photographer, using his Minolta X-700 SLR (which I currently have) and developing his own pictures in the dark room. His love of photography has always been a huge influence on me and a great motivator.

So during college, I had some friends who were photography majors and after posing for them for their projects, I got the itch and got back into photography and never looked back. Year after year, I feel like I’m doing and achieving more, all the while, making my father proud.

PHOTOGRAPHY GROWTH

Since about 2002, with each passing day, I’ve been growing as a photographer. Using what I learned in college and through years of experience as a graphic designer and art director, I’ve been able to really hone my skills to what I feel has become a unique style of photography. I’ve been fortunate to have my work printed in books and magazines, like Mastering the Nikon D7100 (available on Amazon, see page 16) and in “Digital Foto,” the largest print magazine dedicated to photography in western Europe. Both of those pieces that were printed were part of a black and white collection that I was doing in homage to the master, and another influence in my career, Ansel Adams. Since then, however, I’ve really dug into portraiture, but not your typical corporate headshot or “Sears” portraits. I do portraits that have a strong sense of style and a touch of fine art and/or composite work. I want my portraits to be more just a smiling face in front of a bright white light, I want people to stop, stare and find a story in my photos. Aside from my portrait work, I’ve also continued to do landscape photography as well as some commercial work.

TEACHING

I feel lucky to have been able to make a career out of my artistic talents, both in photography and graphic design. Over the years, I’ve been an Adobe Certified Expert or A.C.E. in Photoshop and have used my knowledge to train co-workers and other clients who’ve wanted to learn photography and/or Photoshop and then it hit me, why don’t I add workshops to the list of services I offer on my website?

So that is what I’ve done. I now offer one-on-one and group workshops in Photoshop, Lightroom and even photography in general, for all skill levels. Visit my services page to learn more!

AWARDS

At the 2018 Photoshop World Conference, I was nominated for a Guru Award in the category of “Commercial Photography.”
I was honored just to have been nominated, but to win the award in the presence of thousands of attendees and a few of my photography mentors, was truly an amazing experience and a reminder that I’m doing something right.
I look forward to working with you, either as a client in need of photography work or as a prospective student searching for knowledge in the field of photography.

Mike Wewerka
Owner

THE NEXT STEP

Get in touch.