About tommynikon
I grew up with film, Polaroid, fixer stains on too many t-shirts, and shooting more B/W than color. Until I discovered Kodachrome. RIP. Like many photographers, I was bitten by the bug as a teen, training my camera on sports, girls, and music. Typical. On the very day I picked up my H.S. graduation present, a Minolta SRT101, I was a first responder to a nasty auto accident in W.Germany; after freeing the trapped driver and rendering aid, and others helping, I photographed the awful aftermath. That was my first attempt at breaking news and reportage. Another bug bite.
I attended the Univ. of Oregon/Eugene, a staffer for the student newspaper and Cultural Forum, a group responsible for bringing national music acts to the campus. Press pass= front row seat. Visions of Rolling Stone. I also covered sports....football, basketball, wrestling, gymnastics, and especially track and field. From that experience I was hired to be the first staff photographer for a little start-up shoe company, and their corporately sponsored track team, "Athletics West"....both of whom I just knew weren't going to make it. After two years, I quit for a photography program in Seattle. And that company? NIKE. Don't ask.
I finished up college with a degree in applied commercial/technical photography, giving me many of the tools, techniques, and knowledge that I still employ today. My "grad school degree" was schlepping for a variety of commercial shooters, each with a different specialty, including product illustration, conceptual, portraits, fashion, recreation/lifestyle, architectural, as well as print and TV commercials for Budweiser, Red Robin restaurants, Seafirst Bank, Lincoln Mutual, Columbia Sportswear, Jantzen, Pendleton, and Early Winters.
Lastly, I'm frequently asked, "Is your name really Tommy Nikon?". Why, of course! (j/k) The reality is that it's a longtime nickname from decades of using the same gear hanging off me, usually in triplicate. Nikon doesn't sponsor me. Yet. And if you have any brand specific questions, do what I do: read Ken Rockwell!
I attended the Univ. of Oregon/Eugene, a staffer for the student newspaper and Cultural Forum, a group responsible for bringing national music acts to the campus. Press pass= front row seat. Visions of Rolling Stone. I also covered sports....football, basketball, wrestling, gymnastics, and especially track and field. From that experience I was hired to be the first staff photographer for a little start-up shoe company, and their corporately sponsored track team, "Athletics West"....both of whom I just knew weren't going to make it. After two years, I quit for a photography program in Seattle. And that company? NIKE. Don't ask.
I finished up college with a degree in applied commercial/technical photography, giving me many of the tools, techniques, and knowledge that I still employ today. My "grad school degree" was schlepping for a variety of commercial shooters, each with a different specialty, including product illustration, conceptual, portraits, fashion, recreation/lifestyle, architectural, as well as print and TV commercials for Budweiser, Red Robin restaurants, Seafirst Bank, Lincoln Mutual, Columbia Sportswear, Jantzen, Pendleton, and Early Winters.
Lastly, I'm frequently asked, "Is your name really Tommy Nikon?". Why, of course! (j/k) The reality is that it's a longtime nickname from decades of using the same gear hanging off me, usually in triplicate. Nikon doesn't sponsor me. Yet. And if you have any brand specific questions, do what I do: read Ken Rockwell!