Ryan Hiller, junior marketing major and communications minor, first picked up a camera his senior year of high school. Since then, he has taken his skills and started his own company, Hiller’s Photos.
When Hiller first started his photography journey, he borrowed his dad’s Nikon D3100 and began taking pictures of his close friends. He used the free software GIMP to edit his photographs, he said.
When Hiller started school at WSU, he decided to buy a Sony A6500 and a 50 mm lens, he said. For the most part, he still shot for fun.
During his freshman year, he started charging $25 for portrait sessions for friends and friends of friends. By the end of his freshman year, Hiller increased prices to $50 for one-hour graduation photo sessions, he said. He advertised his services on Instagram and Facebook, in groups like the Parent Chat Cafe and Die Hard Cougs, and through word of mouth via his friends.