Tec Petaja Unfiltered: 10 Random Questions for a Destination Wedding Photographer

Tec Petaja. All photos © Tec Petaja.

1. What’s your favorite and least favorite thing about living in Nashville?
My favorite thing about living in Nashville is the community of friends I have and how many of those friends are talented in so many different ways.

My least favorite thing is being landlocked. We have a couple lakes around but they don’t compare to the Great Lakes where I grew up.

2. If you had to choose one favorite destination wedding locale, which would it be?
The Amalfi Coast. Anywhere in Italy, really!

3. What music are you most embarrassed that you once listened to?
Taylor Swift’s 1989. At first I was a bit embarrassed, but now I’m not. Love that album!

4. Describe your editing process.
When I shoot film there’s not much of a process since I send everything to Richard Photo Lab and they develop, scan and edit my film. Once I get it back, I pull everything into Lightroom and do a quick edit, but that’s it. As for my commercial work, everything is selected in Lightroom and then I edit in Photoshop. I don’t do a ton of editing, to be honest. I try and get everything in camera if possible.

5. If your life were turned into a movie, who would you want to direct it?
Wes Anderson.

6. If you weren’t a photographer, what would you be doing instead?
I’ve always wished I could play music and sing, but I can’t, so in another world I would say a musician.

7. What’s one photo-related thing you’re hoping to improve on?
I don’t really have one thing I’m concentrating on. I’m always looking to build my portfolio to be stronger. There are a lot of great photographers out there, so I want to stick out and make a difference.

8. What’s one piece of advice you’d give a photographer just getting started?
Start with assisting and learn from photographers that have been doing it for a while. I assisted for a year and it was the best schooling I could have gotten, and I was getting paid to learn!

9. What’s one of your goals for 2016?
To pick up a commercial agent based in the States. I have one in London that presents wonderful opportunities, but it would be nice to get more work here.

10. Who’s been an invaluable mentor to you and why?
Professionally, I would say a friend here in town by the name of Jimmy Abegg. He’s a great artist and friend. He’s always been open with me and helped me when I was first getting started. Personally, my father, whom I can always go to for advice and I know he’s always there. He’s one of the greatest men I know. I feel very fortunate to have him in my life.

Tec Petaja is a destination wedding and lifestyle photographer with an affinity for travel, having first fallen in love with photography on a trip to India and Nepal. When he’s not on an airplane, he’s at his home in Nashville, TN, with his wife.

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