By Levi Sim, Utah State University Photographer

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The most consistent thing about my job is persuasion. I am constantly persuading people to let me make a photo, put them in a photo, or do something for a photo.

For instance, let me persuade you that being a photographer isn’t an exclusive club.

Photography is the technical art, which is marvelous. Even if you don’t have an artistic bone in your body, you can follow the rules and make a decent photograph. I hope you do, and I hope you claim the title “Photographer.” Nobody criticizes a runner for not being an Olympian, and no one criticizes an equestrian for not competing in rodeos. Being a photographer doesn’t mean you’re a pro who only makes amazing pictures, and it doesn’t mean you have to use expensive tools. Being a photographer only means you make pictures that matter to you.

I make pictures that matter to me — I just don’t have time for anything else. I make pictures that are used to persuade my fellow humans to spend their money and time to go to school at USU. And you better believe I believe in it. My degree, which is not in photography, has offered opportunities I couldn’t otherwise find. I’ve seen the impact of a degree in my life and the power of education around the world. Persuading people to pursue it is worthwhile.

That’s why I make pictures of students in foam hats at football games. I’ve been paid to photograph a lot of things in the last 15 years as a full-time photographer. From soccer jerseys and cadavers to the Ritz Carlton in Hong Kong. However, none of those pictures have had the impact of my photos for USU. As the University marketing photographer, I truly have the best job in the USU system. 

Persuasion in photography should be based in love, or, at least in genuineness. Perhaps the best lesson I’ve learned as a photographer is that I can take pictures for my benefit, or I can make pictures for your benefit. 

You’ve noticed that I say, “make” pictures and not “take” pictures. When I take a picture, it’s for me and it’s not generous and it’s one-sided. It feels like taking something. I understand why people may feel that their soul has been taken. These are the kinds of pictures I’ve made with hired models at a workshop or when doing candid street photography or when rushing someone through a photo booth. They may be cool pictures, but they were transactional, and I may have been the only one to benefit. 

Working together to make a picture, though, is cooperative. These make my best photos, my best memories, and my best friends. But they all require some degree of persuasion to make the best picture. And I’ve got all kinds of stories about them.

I’ve made roughly 2,000 headshots in the four years I’ve worked full-time for USU. These portraits represent the person, which to me is a big responsibility. I value the trust people put in me to do that work and I have a specific system that helps me show the subject’s personality. 

But I have to persuade them to stand just so with their hands holding a plate of cookies and their head stuck out like a turtle while saying “bumpin-boogie-burgers.” I believe they allow me to coax them into this because they can see that I’m taking this photo seriously. I triple check their hair, the clasp placement on a necklace, the crinkle in the collar under a tie. For me it’s never “just” a headshot, and the genuine value I put on it appears to come through in my actions, and the results are often “the best photo I’ve ever had.”

Many times, I’m the one who needs persuading. It’s easy to go make pictures of students studying, or to make a simple portrait of a researcher. But if I can persuade myself to go a little beyond the basics, seek creativity, then I can make a picture that is worth a thousand words and that might cause someone to stop and linger a little longer. That’s always my goal for this magazine, and my shoot for this issue with the Kite Sisters typifies the experience.

I was in Provo, exhausted from teaching at a photography conference all week and my appointment with the Kites was quickly approaching. I was tempted to keep it simple. Lexie offered her lovely office for the shoot (it’s at the big red university, which shall not be named), and I knew I could make a pretty picture there. But my photography idol, Joe McNally, always says that photography is writing with light, so why settle for ‘pretty’ when there’s a whole dictionary. With the right inspiration, I could overcome my exhaustion and make something worth looking at.

I thought about body image stereotypes and how to visualize that. I couldn’t find a store with thousands of Barbie Dolls on the shelf, though I found the next best thing in Salt Lake City. I would have to make a stop on my way home to suss it out, and it would be simpler to just use the spot by her office. Fortunately, the idea persuaded me to detour on my way home. 

No one was at the industrial building off 33rd South, but I called the number in the window and briefly explained my idea to my new best friend, Shelby, when she answered. She thought it would be a fun use of the building and said she’d be right there to show me around. It was better than I could have imagined. I made plans to light the room, figured out what tools I would need to shape the lights, where to place the subjects, etc. I was getting excited.

As I was leaving, I got Lexie on the phone and she happily described her office building, which sounds lovely. I said, “We could do it there. Or I just got permission to shoot in a mannequin warehouse. Wanna come?” Now take a look at Raegan’s story about the promise of outer space and try to imagine all the places my mind went while brainstorming that one.

In other magazine issues, I’ve persuaded subjects to stand in frozen ponds, pose with a giant cabbage, drip a milkshake all over their hands, reveal their secret identities, meet old classmates at their high school, cradle coyote brains, balance cookie boxes on their partner’s head, put an astronaut in their mind, twirl through a theater, and meet me before dawn on Mount St. Helens. 

If you’ve seen a brochure from USU, a viewbook, a poster, a lawn sign on campus, or a post on our social media, there’s a good chance I made the photo. Plus, I direct or make most of the pictures in this magazine. There are signs in the airport and billboards on highways around the state with my photos on them. Seeing my work in print is gratifying, and it’s all intended to persuade people to come here for school.

You’re reading this, so you’re likely affiliated with USU in some way and know what a great place it is. My job is to translate the culture of being a student into photographs, and to do it for each of our 30 campuses throughout the state. Each photograph requires a team: marketing managers for each campus, graphic designers, administrators, advisors, mentors, teachers, and students who come as models. We work to show students having fun, working hard, and becoming a person with more opportunities. Hopefully, non-students are persuaded to see themselves in these pictures as a student and a graduate. 

Each year, my team photographs every graduating student throughout the state. That’s 19 ceremonies at six campuses. I personally attended 17 ceremonies this year. At our Statewide Campuses, the results of a degree or certificate are most apparent, and I’m moved each time a mother, father, or grandparent walks across the stage. You’d be inspired by the number of mothers graduating with their daughters. Go to the Southwest region’s commencement next year for a great time and a great party.

Chelsey is one of those inspiring grads. She has been in marketing photos for the Moab campus throughout her time studying nursing. She graduated this year, and she did it while working and raising two young kiddos to appreciate the outdoors. 

Livi also graduated this year with a certificate in welding. She’s a powerhouse of endless enthusiasm and energy. Her family, including her grandchildren and her grandmother who is over 100 years old, attended graduation this year. She’s a welder now and is already planning to further her education. 

Among my favorite pictures to make are students engaged in research. USU is an R1 institution, which means we do a whole mess of research, and undergrads assist in much of it. I hope that showing undergrads engaged in meaningful, hands-on research will persuade people to come here. It shows that college doesn’t mean sitting in classrooms. Rather, it means applying learning and doing meaningful work as a student.

Waking up before dawn at the Price campus is a great way to make pictures of meaningful fieldwork in action. First, I joined a team of undergrad, graduate, and post-graduate students who followed Utah Division of Wildlife Resources scientists to capture mule deer and record all kinds of useful information from them. The deer were captured by a team of helicopter wranglers and deposited nearby where body measurements and pregnancy status were recorded. Then, they were fitted with GPS collars and birth trackers before being released. I was amazed at how efficiently the team used ultrasound, swabbed for viruses, and took all kinds of samples. They even let me join in the science, and I became intimately acquainted with those wild deer. Let me reiterate that we gathered all kinds of samples.

Another day, we woke even earlier to search out known sage grouse leks. The birds mate in the same places year after year, which makes it simple to count them and capture individuals for tagging. It’s astounding that undergrads get these opportunities. In fact, all these experiences photographing students at work has persuaded me to begin pursuing a masters degree in natural resources. I hope my example will persuade my kids that a degree is worth pursuing.

Persuasion is the art of photography, and I love it. I love that I can help people want to come to school, and that I can help people have a great photo. I have exactly one photo of myself from college, and giving the students and teachers I photograph all the pictures we make together is a joy. Pushing myself to make the best photo keeps me on my toes and keeps me loving my job — which is the best job at USU. Another time I’ll tell you more about the work of photography and what it takes to make a mannequin warehouse photographable. For now, I hope I’ve persuaded you to go out and make some photos that matter to you.