Meet Nelson Sanders, photography & advertising studio owner and current resident of Winder, GA.
Nelson takes great pride in working hard and giving back to the community. We’d like to thank Nelson very much for sitting down with us to discuss his experience living and working in Barrow County.
Barrow Transplant: From New York to Winder
I’m Hard working guy from Syracuse, New York. Syracuse is much like Winder, GA — it’s a really small town. There are only around 200,000 people in Onondaga County.
I was blessed to have grown up there. I relocated to Georgia when I was 27. I was done with the snow, the weather and the bad attitudes!
My Dad and Mom worked together for decades, building up their photography business. My Dad was a photographer for 60 years and taught me how to use a camera. We had a Studio and a Full-Color Lab (Darkroom) in our house for about 15 years, and my Dad’s clients would come to our house for sittings.
I was always by his side with the light meter/lights/props/stools etc. Helping & learning. I had a camera in my hand when I was five, six, seven years old. He brought me to weddings every weekend for years. Those were Great days!
I remember photographing my first wedding, I believe it was 1981 in Skaneateles, New York. It was like four days after I had turned 16 years old. I drove my first car, a Baby Blue VW Bug to the wedding, and I remember the mother of the Bride complaining that I was too young to be the photographer, but they ended up loving the pictures.
So it worked out. Little did she know I had been assisting at weddings since I was 12 or 13.
I graduated from the SUNY College of Buffalo. My parents originally moved down here in ’84 or ’85. I was a freshman in College in ’84. They dropped me off in Buffalo at my dorm, drove away and a month later they promptly moved to Lilburn, GA.
I lived with my grandparents every summer when I was in college, working for photographers around Syracuse, Albany & Rochester photographing Weddings, Bar/Bat mitzvah’s, and many other events. Photography put me through college, financially.
I Graduated from college in May of ’88 and opened my first studio the Monday after Graduation. I was 23, and I thought I knew it all.
In reality, I knew nothing. I Just knew how to work hard and smart. I started calling on schools and sports teams trying to get contracts to build up my business. I was also photographing lots of families & babies & weddings. Within 4 or 5 years I had 30-35 school contracts and was booked consistently with families & weddings. Especially weddings. 50-75 per year.
It was crazy. I got lucky and was able to sell the business to a competing photographer across town. I moved down to Atlanta and opened Nelson Sanders Photography & Advertising.
We moved to Winder, GA in 2011. My girlfriend happens to work for Chicos and that’s what brought us here.
I kept searching for locations here in Winder, and finally got the name of the owners of the space I’m currently in…Ray Stanjevich and Suzanne Cartwright (owners of Friends American Grill). I met with them and we came to an agreement and here we are 6-7 years later. Ray & Suzanne are great people. Extremely hard workers and they love their customers as well.
People thought I was a little crazy opening a photography studio in Winder, GA. What they didn’t know was I had 25 years experience and there wasn’t a question whether I was going to be successful or not. I knew what I had to do. Although we got very lucky coming to Barrow County.
It’s just an amazing place. The people here are simply Terrific!
So many community-minded people. That’s what I love about it.
Community Minded Man
The civic organizations I’m currently involved with include, The Barrow County Chamber of Commerce, The Winder Rotary Club, and I’m also involved in the Barrow County Boys and Girls Club, they’re all just great. There are so many people in this county that have been so easy to work with and so willing to give back!
I was on the Board of Directors for the Barrow County Chamber of Commerce for three years. In addition, Our company was Recently Named The Barrow County Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year, which was huge for us.
It was great being recognized by other business leaders who recognized our company for being civic minded and working hard, and they voted for us. It was really great for our company and employees.
I think we’ve got a great group of people in this community who give back. How can you not give back to this great community of Winder, GA? I really live by The Rotary’s tag line, “Service above Self”.
I’ve recently been selected to be the Winder Rotary Club President in 2020-2021 following the amazing Lynn Stevens who starts this July. I’ve got a lot to learn from Lynn!
“Don’t get me wrong, it’s been a lot of hard work.”
We have many Large and small contracts. School, corporate, sports, etc. But the one thing we do is treat every customer equally well!
Our Team has great customer service which the bigger companies can’t do because they have so many contracts. The parents love us. The kids love us. We give back thousands of dollars back to the community. The whole thing really works great.
I love what I do and I’ve got the drive so I’m really lucky. I was raised to do this.
What are some things you would recommend to people wanting to start a business in Barrow County?
First thing is hard work. All day every day, it’s as simple as that. Sit down at your computer, go out and shake hands, go to your civic organizations like The Chamber of Commerce and Network, Network, Network.
All you’ve got to do is work hard and give back. It’s that simple. If you want to live your best life and be successful, there is no excuse. All you’ve got to do is work.
There’s a lot of exciting things happening in Barrow County at the moment.
Yes, they’re opening restaurants, parks, more parking, maybe an amphitheater down at Jug Tavern, I’ve heard. There’s just so many things going on in Winder. There’s a lot happening in this community. I just love this community and we’re so lucky and blessed that we moved out here. It’s just been amazing how well the business is going.
There’s a lot of positivity here. in addition, It’s a lot less expensive than in neighboring counties.
There’s less traffic congestion. And The schools are excellent here. Students are given great opportunities here. A small community but big enough to have all the opportunities.
The nice thing is you don’t get lost here like you could in Gwinnett or Fulton.
Who would you nominate as the next face of Barrow County?
I would nominate Steffanie Sorrells. She really should be Woman of the Year this year. She is president of Rotary right now and she has given back to this community for decades. I mean all she does is give back. She’s also on the Board of Directors for the board of Boys and Girls Club. She’s on the Chamber of commerce as well. Everybody knows Stephanie, she’s Winder famous!
We hope you enjoyed learning about Nelson and his story.
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