By Michael O’Hearn

michael.ohearn@tryondailybulletin.com

 

Four years ago, Minnesota native Chad Blotner started to dabble in photography as a hobby and wanted to make a change last year to pursue it as a side career.

 

Blotner moved to Spartanburg from Minnesota in 1989 with his parents and now resides in Saluda in a space behind his studio.

 

While he still is a union electrician full time, currently working a project in Forest City, Blotner also works as a photographer and opened his own studio in downtown Saluda next to Entegra Bank at the beginning of June.

 

“I started this pretty much as a hobby and decided last year I wanted to make some changes because I never really had a set plan,” Blotner explained. “I started to go down to the Green River and take action photos there and began to meet so many people who wanted to buy my stuff.”

 

He started a website to sell his collection of shots and said his business took off from there. The commute from Spartanburg County, where he used to live outside of Chesnee, became tiresome and so Blotner now lives in the back half of his Saluda studio.

 

“It’s a big change from a three bedroom and two bath house to a 350 square foot studio,” Blotner said. “But, I just decided to display some photos along with nine other different photographers and I have a variety of different things to show.”

 

The photographers exhibiting in his studio are local and others who hail from Asheville, Charlotte, Spartanburg and Greenville.

 

Blotner said he hopes to make a full-time job out being a photographer within the next three years, depending on where he is financially at the end of his lease.

 

“If I’m doing well, I’ll stay and if I’m not then I’ll go back to doing what I’ve been doing,” Blotner said. “It’s hard to walk away from something that is steady, being an electrician, to walking into something where you don’t know if you will be paid that week.”

 

Seeing a photo of a photographer’s workshop sparked Blotner’s interest in the field because he said it looked really fun.

 

Landscapes and kayaking sport shots are his favorite subjects, and some of his photos have been featured in the Asheville-based Astral Footwear catalogues for footwear and hiking gear.

 

He also added that his favorite aspect of being a photographer is the interesting people he has met along the way.

 

“Everyone in this community has been tremendously friendly and it’s nice,” Blotner said. “Even the kayakers I’ve encountered on the Green River. It’s quiet and, although you have a lot of tourist traffic during the day, it’s peaceful at night except for those who come through to have a beer at the pub or ice cream next door.”

 

Blotner’s collection of shots featured in the studio range from nighttime shots to lifestyle pieces in addition to the kayaking pieces. He has two walls dedicated to the Green River shots leading into his living space at the back of the studio.

 

“I had someone give me a kayak a few months ago, but haven’t really had the chance to take it out yet,” Blotner said. “I want to be able to go down the river with some of the people from the kayaking community here and document their trips, even if I have to get out and walk some of the harder sections.”

 

He held an official grand opening of his studio on June 11 to what he said was a pretty good reception where he had a few people buy some of his works. Although this decision was a “spur of the moment” situation, Blotner said it has been a good experience so far.

 

“This really was a spur of the moment kind of thing, seeing as I didn’t start seriously thinking about it until September of last year,” Blotner explained. “It was only six weeks of ‘Yeah, I think this is what I want to do.’ I can really see what it means to have a few years to start a business.”