photo: Ang Chen
Photographer: Daniel Snyder
Years Downtown: 17
Specialty: Commericial
Favorite Subject: people & places
Ever since he was a teenager prowling the streets of 1970s Los Angeles with a Leica, Daniel Snyder has been a photographer.
He’s often had a sideline or two – teaching martial arts and yoga, waiting tables, working in a camera store – but a photographer was who he was and how people referred to him. A photographer he still is, but his parallel identity as the owner of a sustainable energy company has been growing in prominence.
Snyder has run a photography business downtown for more than 20 years. Over the last 10, he’s also run a sustainable energy company.
“It used to be that 80 percent of my business was photography and 20 (percent) was solar, but now it’s flipped,” Snyder said. He attributed the change to the mainstreaming of solar and wind energy that’s been spurred by government incentives and to the recession, which has hit the photography business as it has most others – with a steep downward slide.
Westwind Solar Electric, however, has grown to employ 10 people. The company has installed solar panels and wind turbines across Pima County and is booked through the end of the year.
Though the economics of the photography market may not be as advantageous, Snyder is still pursuing his passion, and he says he’s at the top of his photographic craft.
“I think I’m better than I’ve ever been,” he said, citing now more than two decades of practice.
He focuses on commercial work now, though he also shoots family portraits, architectural photos, wilderness photos and even photos to be used as evidence in court cases. Westin La Paloma, Canyon Ranch and Caterpillar are among his recent clients.
It would be a mistake to take Snyder’s split interest to indicate lack of enthusiasm or commitment. He’s dedicated to careful and personalized attention in both ventures. In fact, that’s the common ground. “I’m known for my people work,” he said.
Snyder plans to keep Westwind “small, local and specializing in alternative installations” carefully tailored to the site and to the preferences of the customer. In his photography, he concentrates on portraits that are successful because he’s able to put the camera-shy at ease.
The personal touch is the thread that runs through both, and clients he works with on one side of his business often become clients on the other. That integration is related to Snyder’s commitment to the downtown scene – his friends and, not infrequently, his customers.
In addition to living, working and shopping downtown, he’s long been a booster for revitalization, especially for the addition of the modern streetcar and the Mercado District west of the Santa Cruz River. “I’m totally positive about what’s going on now,” he said. “I love downtown – how many ways can I say it?”
For more information, call 349-0622 or go to DanPhoto.com or WestWindSolar.com.
