We celebrated the 10th anniversary of our company Guillen Photo LLC

Ten years is an important milestone for a company. Indeed, in the United States, 50% of companies disappear before reaching their fifth year of existence. 50% of those that remain will disappear before reaching their 10th year. In the end, only 25% of all companies survive for 10 years. Since May, we have had the good luck and the pleasure to be part of this 25%. Our success has not been easy. It was full of difficulties. We have sometimes been discouraged. But we have never doubted our choices: we have always maintained our course by focusing on our objectives. Our values are still the same.

Sunrise and blue hour on Bosque Del Apache in New Mexico.

The record of the last 10 years in figures

We can summarize the results of these ten years of hard work in a list of numbers, which are understandable and easy to remember:

• 2850 images sold, either through agencies or directly.
• 185 articles published.
• 5 books published.
• 5 exhibitions.
• 225 fine art photographs sold.
• 51 photography trips and workshops organized.

Over these 10 years, we have consistently followed our passion

But for us, the true balance is solely measured by the passion for photography we have for these years and that has remained intact. We have always done our projects in accordance with our values. The creation of photos, reports, exhibitions, art photo collections always have the same goal: to show and share our passion for the wonders of nature.

This is also why we organize and animate photo trips and workshops: to share and to teach to respect the nature that surrounds us, whether on land or underwater.

The beginning of our company

The adventure began in June 2003, when we were in the US, in the state of Texas. As professional photographers, we were able to have professional visas that enabled us to live in this country where we came to fulfill our dreams of travel.

Our status as professional photographers quickly showed its limitations in the management of our revenues. Then we created our first company, Guillen Photography. It was a partnership company. In May 2005, as our business was growing, we decided to separate our commercial assets from our personal property. We then created Guillen Photo LLC (a Limited Liability Company). That was the beginning of a wonderful adventure that continues today.

A company is a joint adventure

Running a business is not just making a living. It is also a journey that we share every day. With the inception of Guillen Photo LLC, we started both. We had a clear vision of what we were looking for in our life and of what our passions were. We decided to combine them to live each moment fully. We quickly realized that we were responsible for our lives and for our actions. We understood that the creation of a future that would conform to our values would be possible only if we were masters of our destiny.

We quickly set a clear vision for our company and we have defined a number of goals for our clients.

When we created our company, we founded it on moral values which we firmly believe. During these ten years, we have built up our business and revenue, but we have always stayed true to our initial choices. We have never deviated from the rules that we set in May 2005, when we signed the documents that created our company.

In addition to a real business contract, we established a moral contract that we always respect.

Changes in direction were necessary

The first contracts we signed were with magazines which wanted photos for advertising campaigns. Naturally, we started selling our pictures through photography agencies. It was a very interesting time because there were not many online agencies. We were able to generate comfortable income through just 2 agencies.

In 2007 we had the idea of sharing our passion for the beauty of nature, especially underwater scenes and animals. We organized our first photography workshop. Today, nearly 300 photographers have accompanied us on these trips. The contacts and exchanges from these trips have become indispensable to our personal balance.

In 2010, we found that the income from stock photography and magazines had begun to decline rapidly. The number of photos sold remained the same but the prices of the photos fell.

At the end of 2011, we noticed another fact: magazines were not paying adequately for freelancing anymore. We had to pay all the expenses involved in creating stories without being certain that they would be published.

That's when we decided to change our business to something new: selling art photographs. It was not a new area for us, because we had had the opportunity to sell some art photographs, but now, all our attention and all our efforts would be focused on this business.

Two years of work to develop the art photography business

Two years of work and strenuous efforts were needed to develop collections of art photographs. We followed up hundreds of leads. We spent weeks on the road to market our products.

It has not been easy, but we have managed to build strong relationships with our customers. Trust has been established between us. They adhere to our values. We always listen to their preferences about framings and subjects. But the final choice is always true to our value of respecting the wonders of nature. We are intransigent on this essential point.

We will keep our vision and our goals for the next 10 years

For the next 10 years, we have built a solid roadmap with a clear vision of the goals we want to achieve. We will certainly have to make changes as we have done in the past. But the ultimate goal is always clear. Our mission will always be to offer beautiful artistic photographs for customers who demand quality. We will also continue to lead workshops and photography trips devoted to discovering the wonders of nature because we have had great satisfaction from these trips during the past eight years. We look forward to these photography trips, because we get to share our passion and our values.