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Tomorrow's Tycoons
Casey Reichl, an 18-year-old at Marshall High School in Falls Church, got her start baking people food but is hoping to make her fortune baking for dogs.
(Photos By Jahi Chikwendiu -- The Washington Post)
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But after a panel of judges at a local business competition saw some of his work, they encouraged the teenager, now a senior at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, to sell his original photographs rather than the work others had hired him to do.
Already, Thomas's fledgling photography business is turning a profit. Last year, he sold 10 of his photographs, netting about $1,000 in gross sales. With a Web site ( http:/
His secret? Connections.
"It's all about networking and who you know," he said, repeating an adage familiar to those in the business world. Most of his customers have been adults he has met through student competitions, at which he touts his business plan or shows his work.
"I see talent in this young man, and I see opportunity for him," said Marsha Ralls, president of the Ralls Collection, a Georgetown gallery.
Ralls was so impressed with Thomas after seeing him at a competition that she will exhibit his work in her gallery next month. The photographs will be priced between $600 and $1,000, Ralls said.
Thomas, 17, wasn't certain he'd be able to make a go of an enterprise focused exclusively on art. He had seen firsthand the pitfalls of trying to launch a business. His father, Thomas Sr., had launched several start-ups before finding success in real estate.
He wasn't even certain what to charge for his work. "I honestly didn't know how to price them," he said. "This all comes from the word of art gallery owners."
After he graduates in June, Thomas plans to attend the University of Maryland, where he expects to major in business.
Thomas's first collection of photographs includes black-and-white portraits of a Rockville firefighter, who happens to be his older sister, Amy. He calls the collection "Passion for the Planet." The 10 photographs each reflect a one-word theme, such as "strength," "sacrifice" and "innocence."
"He's still an amateur photographer who is still pretty raw in his approach," said Ralls, who gets thousands of e-mails a year from artists hoping to show their work in her 1,500-square-foot gallery. But there was something about this floppy-haired teenager that grabbed her. "He's got talent. He's got some very strong images that he's already sold."
Thomas began taking photographs when he was 8. He used an old Nikon camera an uncle had given him.
In the end, his goal is quite simple: "I want to take pictures and have people love them as much as I do."
