Know Your Neighbor: Chad Kraus, Photographer, Pleasantville

A trip to Phoenix for a cousin’s daughter’s Bat Mitzvah about five years ago provided Chad Kraus with all the inspiration he needed to make a much-needed change in his life. He took a digital camera he had recently bought and snapped away during the party.

Afterward, Kraus gave the disk to his cousin, who marveled that his pictures were better than the professional photographer that she had paid thousands of dollars.

In October 2008, when the nation’s economy was crumbling, Kraus left his sales job at a Manhattan record label and started Chad David Kraus Photography.

“I can say, definitely not in my wildest dreams, did I think it was going to be as successful as it is,” Kraus said. “Now it’s a full-time business and knowing that I started it myself gives me some pride.”

The overwhelming portion of Kraus’ business is shooting weddings, Bar and Bat Mitzvah parties, family portraits and baby photos. He’s had one corporate job, when SUNY Purchase asked him to photograph Gov. Andrew Cuomo when he reprised his State of the State address on the college’s campus.

While some photographers might view parties as a chore just to pay the bills, Kraus said he looks for the art and the beauty in every event that he covers. In 2013 alone, Kraus, 40, has been hired to do more than 30 Bar and Bat Mitvahs, along with a stream of weddings and portrait work. Nearly all of his jobs are through word of mouth.

“I think what helps me and sets me apart from a lot of photographers, and it shines through in my work, is because I’m a people person,” he said. “I feel like a guest at all the events and I love being there. It’s not just a job, it’s truly an enjoyment and a passion. That’s why I think the clients who hire me are happy with my work.”

Since he was 12 years old, when he discovered a one-hour photo shop near his school on Manhattan’s upper West Side, Kraus has loved photography. He sold lemonade and cookies with his brother and saved up his share of the profits to buy his first camera, a 35mm Nikon EM, that sits on his desk in a portion of the Wheeler Avenue office space in Pleasantville that he rents.

“Photography has just been a lifelong passion and love and the majority of photographs that I did was for pleasure, everything from vacation photos and landscape photography, friends and family and stuff like that,” said Kraus, who moved to Pleasantville in 2000 after marrying his wife, Kimberly, a village native. The couple now has four children ranging in age from 10 years old to four months.

Photography also helps Kraus satisfy his artistic side. He is a graduate of the High School of Performing Arts in the city and Webster University in St. Louis, which had a conservatory for theater. Although he had found some jobs doing voiceover work, Kraus returned to New York after college. Instead of waiting tables to support himself while pursuing theatrical opportunities, he took a job as a receptionist at a record company.

As his relationship with Kimberly blossomed, he knew he didn’t want the struggle and uncertainty of an actor’s life. He stayed with the record label and during his time with the company, Kraus worked his way up to work in the sales department.

He continued to pursue his hobby on his own time, never considering that his passion would one day become his livelihood. He also never had any formal training–except for one continuing education class in 2001 at Westchester Community College. At the course’s first session on Sept. 10, the instructor urged students to carry their cameras wherever they go. When Kraus was in the city the next day, most of the photos he took were of peoples’ reactions to the events that unfolded on 9/11.

Some of those photographs and other shots over the years around New York were the basis for an exhibit in September 2011 at the Black Cow in Pleasantville.

Kraus said that a key to his success beyond having an artistic eye is his being able to relate well to people.

“My goal at any event shoot is to tell the story of the day and I tend to do it in a photojournalist style of photography, ” he said.

Kraus has thoroughly enjoyed the change that having his own photography business has afforded, not to mention doing what he loves and eliminating the daily commute to Manhattan.

“Being home for a family dinner every night is really special to me and my family,” he said.

You can contact Chad Kraus at 917-532-3478, email chaddavidkraus@gmail.com or visit www.chadkraus.com.