Daily Inspiration: Meet Cody Stokes

Today we’d like to introduce you to Cody Stokes

Hi Cody, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
From a young age, photography always captivated me. Long before smartphones were in every pocket, I carried a Canon PowerShot everywhere I went, always ready to capture striking scenes or memorable moments with friends.

After moving to Raleigh, I discovered the vibrant photography community, which inspired me to invest in my first “real” camera, a Nikon D3100. I started photographing everything around me, but it wasn’t until I began capturing candid moments for my running club that others recognized my natural talent for conveying their genuine emotion. Friends began encouraging me to pursue photography professionally, kicking off the next chapter of my business.

This encouragement led me to deepen my skills: I explored advanced editing techniques, upgraded my equipment, subscribed to countless photography YouTube channels, started building a web presence, and took every opportunity to experiment with new techniques. Pushing myself out of my comfort zone became a recurring experience, allowing me to grow both creatively and professionally.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Photography is an incredibly diverse field, and one of the first major challenges I faced was deciding what kind of photographer I wanted to become. Each type of photography requires different skills and equipment in order to be successful. As a naturally energetic extrovert, I knew I wanted to work with people and I wanted the freedom to define what that meant for me.

After experimenting with various types of photography, I was able to narrow my focus to headshots, modeling, senior/graduation portraits, couples, families, engagements, and group events. For each of these, I had to find the most effective way to present my work so that potential clients could immediately see my skills and choose me over the vast array of other photographers available. This process led to several website layout redesigns until I found a style that was eye-catching, user-friendly, and easy to maintain.

To this day, I wrestle with the whims of social media algorithms, and Instagram continues to punish me for not remaining consistent with sharing new content. I concede this is a fight that I will never win.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Before starting my photography career, I spent over a decade in the IT industry, building and maintaining desktops, servers, and network infrastructure. I worked with companies like Cisco and Epic Games, and after enduring many on-call weekends and late nights, I decided it was time for a change. I transitioned into a Client Success role at a brand management startup, where I guided businesses of all sizes in implementing and enforcing pricing policies on sellers of their products.

My aptitude for identifying problems and devising solutions led to a promotion to Business Analyst on the Engineering team. In this role, I was responsible for translating business requirements into actionable deliverables for developers, which gave me valuable insights into the product management field. As learned more about what it meant to be a Product Manager, I developed a strong interest in breaking into this field.

Less than a year later, I secured my first role as a Product Analyst and have since advanced to Product Manager. Today, as a certified Product Manager, I develop solutions for sales teams, with a focus on scheduling automation.

Alongside my busy day job, I work on building my photography business and connecting with new clients.

How do you think about luck?
Luck has largely appeared in the form of timing, allowing me to find great deals on equipment that saved me a substantial amount of money.

The rest of my success has come through actively building leads and expanding my network.

Pricing:

• Modeling, Professional Headshots, Graduation starts at $90
• Couples and Engagements starts at $120
• Families, Parties and Groups starts at $310

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.codystokesphotos.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/codystokesphotos/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/codystokesphotos/