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Artwork Meets Work Art

Around the EM Print Group office, Chris Arnold, an account representative and 15-year veteran, is the resident creative type and Renaissance man. His artistic flair is employed on projects from graphic design to setting up trade show booths, four of which have won DMIA Best Booth Awards at the annual conference and expo. But not everyone knows that Arnold also works as a wedding photographer on weekends, using his creativity in another field.

Arnold says he always had an artistic sensibility, and won a scholarship in high school to the Columbus College of Art and Design in Ohio, a path that would have lead him to a visual arts career. “It was harder back then,” he says. “They call them ‘starving artists’ for a reason!” Set on a secure financial future, Arnold bypassed the CCAD offer and graduated with a degree in marketing. “Had I known then that it could have led to a career in graphics in the printing industry, I would have done it,” he says.

His passion for taking photos developed in Grafton, Ohio, a village of 2,300 just west of Cleveland. Family and friends knew he was good at taking pictures, and would enlist him to snap photos when they couldn’t afford a professional. Arnold eventually applied for a business license and did a few low-cost weddings to assemble a portfolio. He christened the one-man firm Affordable Wedding Photography.

“Then I did what I naturally do,” Arnold says. “I went to a bridal and wedding trade show.” He signed eight contracts at that first show in 2002, and has been going ever since. At bridal trade shows, he sells to clients on the show floor, and business is inked right away. A few times, he says, his unpretentious business name has left a bad impression on a potential customers, but normally he has so many customers that he limits how many weddings he will take on—as many as 23, but generally 10 to 15 per year.

Although the Cleveland area is Arnold’s home base, he’s gone to Hawaii and Cancun to shoot photographs. “It was more affordable for the couple to fly me there, put me up for a few nights and hire me than to pay a local!”

Although exotic travel is nice, it isn’t the best part. “You get to be part of a day that’s special to these people, and it’s a lot of fun,” he says. “Someday I’m going to write a book about weddings! There’s one bad thing that happens at every wedding: the flowers don’t show up, the caterer is late, the cake fell over, or someone is drunk.” He reassures brides that something will go wrong but eventually turn out right, hoping to keep them calm. After more than 100 weddings, it’s rained only once.

Being a wedding photographer can also mean playing the master of ceremonies, Arnold says. “It’s like being a wedding planner! I have to orchestrate where to go and what to do for many couples.”

At one ceremony, the florist never showed up, and the wedding cake lacked a flower petal garnish. The bride was in tears, Arnold says, so he and his assistant tore up the flower girl’s bouquet and saved the day. “Just like any business,” he says. “Those are the customer service things you take care of. Advertisement is word of mouth. If you get a bride who likes you, chances are her friends are of marrying age, too, and she’ll make a recommendation.”

Arnold can also be found painting and drawing in his free time. “For the longest time, when my daughter was little, I would make up stories with a drawing,” he says. Each time the story changed, he added a new element to the picture. Arnold also owns a 7-acre tree farm, has managed a group of 15 shoe stores and reportedly offers a dead-on Julia Child impression, which he perfected at a DMIA conference in 1998.

“Admittedly, there are things I cannot do,” he says, laughing. “For example, I cannot sing, not even in the car or shower.”

Although Arnold enjoys the business now, it won’t be a retirement pursuit for him. “Hopefully I can retire and do nothing at all!” He says. “It’s a lot of rushing, and brides won’t relate to me when I’m 60.”

—Rebecca Trela