Luke Pline, owner of Dimondale-based Luke Anthony Photography, moved from Chicago back to the Capital region because he thought he would have a better chance at starting a photography business here than in the Windy City.
Pline worked, in part, as a freelance photo assistant while he was in Chicago where he lived for three years.
“I kept running into assistants who had been doing the same thing for 15 years,” he says. “I kept hearing of studios that were closing down, and with all of these people out of work, I knew that if I wanted to go out on my own I was in a pretty saturated market.”
In August, Pline took the plunge and moved back to Michigan. Now, he’s on the cusp of opening a 760 square foot studio and office at 110 S. Bridge St. in Dimondale.
“I’m moving forward on the studio,” he says. “I need to get it furnished, set up and move in. I need to take a trip to IKEA.”
Pline considers himself a lifestyle photographer and specializes in wedding photography and portraits.
Pline says the entrepreneurial energy in the Capital region has been extremely inspiring.
“The environment of younger people who want to accomplish things, it’s like they want to make their own destiny,” he says. “It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen.”
Pline plans to open his studio doors within the next week.
Ivy Hughes is the managing editor of Capital Gains and can be reached here.
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