Picture Perfect

“We help you appreciate, celebrate, and remember life” is the tag line of Michael Adams’ Moorpark photography business.

Adams moved to the city with his wife if 1987, and set up shop at his current studio location in 1989. The former college athlete was working in publishing full time while trying to grow his photography business into the success that it is today. By the end of 1989, he was able to leave publishing to pursue his passion full time.

Randy Tennant, last week’s Six Degrees subject, described Adams as incredibly nice and passionate about his work. Adams has a supremely buoyant personality and an undeniable love of photography, specifically, a love of recording other people’s memories.

“One reason why I became a family and wedding photographer more so than a commercial photographer is that I didn’t really want to take photographs of forks or something,” he said. “Photographing memories of people was important to me. You know how much it means to them, and that’s one thing I really enjoy.”

Adams didn’t discover his love of photography until midway through his college career at California Lutheran University.

“Really, the only time I’d taken photographs was between my sophomore and junior year of college. My dad had a Honda Gold Wing, which was kind of a touring motorcycle, and I found myself with six free weeks. So I took the motorcycle, borrowed his camera, and took PCH all the way up to Oregon and Washington and back down inland and took photographs,” Adams said.

However, it wasn’t until he had graduated that he seriously considered pursuing photography as a career.

“I was thinking about what I wanted to do, and thought, ‘well that was fun,’ “ he said.  “I discovered that I really enjoyed taking photographs.”

He soon found himself working as an assistant in photography studios. Within a few years, Adams had his own studio.

As much as Adams loves taking photographs of people, he has another passion when it comes to photography.

“I like travel photography, and I also really enjoy street photography; taking photographs that normally people wouldn’t look at and say ‘that’s pretty’ because the composition or the light isn’t what they’re expecting,” he said. “I like photographing something that makes someone pay attention and recognize that it’s art.”

Photography isn’t the only art form Adams pursues. He is also a painter, and plans to get a master’s degree in writing, although, so far, his writing has been limited to his website and blog.

“For me, life is about finding something I’m passionate about and having the guts to go after it, through the good times and bad,” said Adams. “It’s also about being a dad, a husband, and trying to balance it.”

Adams believes it’s an interesting time for photography with lots of changes and a lot of opportunities.

“In my field, it’s no longer just about photography, but audio and video as well,” he said. “We have to ask ourselves, ‘how do we make our way?’ and go from there. As long as you follow you’re passion, you’ll be okay.”