Dave Krugman captures light and builds communities. In this week’s Spotlight, Dave shows us how at the age of 26 he has built a career doing what interests him. Let’s explore his success to inspire your personal success…
In this post, I will share a quick background on Dave Krugman. Then we will take a look at how Dave went where the culture lives.
The purpose of this post is to give you an example of someone who focused their value and then took it where the culture lives in order to inspire you take your creativity where the culture lives.
Background on Dave Krugman
I met Dave when I first visited Boston University. A mutual friend took me to a party, where Dave and I played beer pong and freestyled. From there, I’ve had the pleasure of watching him develop his artistry and business.
Since graduating, Dave has worked doing freelance photography and retouching in New York City. However, his more recent success has come as a result of his ability to maximize the tools available to go where the culture lives.
Go Where the Culture Lives
Dave practices photography. In order to really get to the heart of the culture, Dave moved to New York City. Being surrounded by creatives helped him create amazing connections.
On top of physically going where the culture lives, Dave noticed the powers of the internet and social media. Instagram became extremely popular, and as a photographer, Dave recognized a cool, new platform to explore.
The really interesting part comes when the two meet.
Dave started connecting with other local, photographers who inspired him. They started to meet up and shoot portraits, talk shop, and have an all around stimulating experience.
If you want to truly understand the power of the internet,
go online to get offline.
His pursuit of the culture in both the digital and physical realms lead to local meetups. Instagrammers and photographers in NYC meet up and take pictures.
Dave has leveraged the internet so well that he has earned himself 76,000 instagram followers. He also earned a write up in the New York Times, one of the oldest and most established publications in the world. While this attention may be shiny and shallow ways of measuring worth, they can be leveraged to open amazing doors.
Now Dave has a portfolio of clients which include The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Esquire.
His #EmptyMet project helped The Metropolitan Museum of Art go from 4,000 instagram followers to 90,000.
Instagram even invited Dave to their headquarters to learn more about what he was doing.
You too can do what Dave did.
Explore your culture in both the physical and digital realms. Find where that life energy revolves around something that interests you. You will be surprised by the opportunities available within your own backyard.
3 Pieces of Art to Get You Started
New York City Streets
Dave has a number of amazing photos of the New York hustle and bustle. This one makes me feel like I’m on my Cam’ron Purple Haze steez.
Raekwon
Dave, like me, grew up having an obsession with Wu-Tang. One of his specialties is portrait photography. This photo of Raekwon the Chef demonstrates his will to take his dominant talent to where the the cultures that interest him are living.
New York Dance
Naturally, his curiosity for capturing people introduced him to dancers. With dancers he explores human motion in a number of spaces. This one in Central Park is an instant classic.
