Ever since he was a child in the Ukraine, Anatoli Petrik has loved to take pictures and dreamed of being a National Geographic photographer.
“Ever since I was 7 years old, as far as I can remember, I’ve had a passion for photography,” Petrik said.
Petrik begged and begged his father for a camera, but to no avail, until one day he came across an old one in an attic.
“In my uncle’s attic I found a 35 mm point-and-shoot camera and I started taking pictures of random stuff,” he said.
Petrik joined the photography club at school and learned how to process his photos, even setting up his own lab in the attic to make prints of his photos.
One day, at a wedding, Petrik saw others taking pictures and took out his camera and was amazed when he looked through the lens.
“It was just like National Geographic,” he said. “There was so much action. That’s how I really gained a passion for photography.”
Today, Petrik and his wife Marina have turned that passion into a new photography studio on First Avenue in downtown Kent, but their real passion continues to be wedding photography, as evident by the giant prints of couples on their big day, hanging on the walls of their studio.
When Anatoli and Marina married in 2000, the couple hired a wedding photographer to document their vow-taking, but somehow, the photographer missed Anatoli onstage, singing a song for his bride.
Determined never to let another couple’s big moments go undocumented, the Petriks began doing wedding photography, beginning with some friends who needed pictures from their nuptials.
The payment: $50.
“Which did not even cover our film costs,” Anatoli said with a smile.
But the couple, as well as others, took note of Anatoli’s work and soon the phone began to ring with orders.
“Anyone who wanted, we would just go for it,” Marina Petrik said.
Along with their work at weddings, the Petriks built a small studio in their home and began doing portrait work as well, while Anatoli continued working for a local grocery store.
When the couple’s first child, Ephriam, was born in 2006, Anatoli got a call from work while they were still at the hospital. With enough clients for their home business, Anatoli went back to the store and gave his two weeks’ notice.
The couple would be professional photographers from that point forward.
“At this time, we had a lot of brides who had been married a few years and came back for maternity photos,” Anatoli said.
This summer, the couple were again looking to expand their business and stumbled across the storefront in downtown Kent. According to Marina, years ago they had driven through Kent and marveled at how beautiful a location it was and said it would be a dream to open a studio here, but time had its way with them.
“To be honest, we kind of forgot all about it,” Marina said with a shrug.
Driving by again this summer, she was drawn to the “comfort and peace” she found in Kent’s downtown corridor.
“I thought it would be the best location ever,” she said.
Petrik Photography officially opened its doors June 1.
Anatoli said the secret to his ability to capture moments at a wedding is simple: he spends time with the couple beforehand, getting to know about them and trying to determine exactly what they want.
“We just make people feel comfortable,” he said. “Everyone has a vision of their photo.”
The goal, Anatoli said, is to capture the right moment, whether it is being ready when the bride drops her bouquet and the groom dips her into a kiss when they think no one is looking, or whether it is a “Where’s Waldo”-like picture of everybody looking at the happy couple dancing.
“Photographers follow the rules; artists break the rules,” he said.
And while Anatoli lives the buzz of a wedding, Marina’s specialty is in taking maternity photos.
“I just think that pregnant ladies are the sexiest ladies in the world,” she said, adding that in portrait work, the goal is to make people “shine and sparkle.”
Back at the studio, the couple shares a small office with post-production work, be it laying out a book of photos and memories or using Photoshop to make tweaks to a picture.
Together, the pair are very happy working at a new studio and doing what they love to do.
“We love to be in the office working together,” Marina said. “We’ve got a dream come true.”
“We love it,” agreed Anatoli. “We’re living our dream.”
Petrik Photography is located at 231 First Ave. S. The studio shoots senior portraits, family photos, maternity, newborn, passport, business and commercial photos, as well as weddings and other events. For more information call 253-277-1094 or visit www.petrikphoto.com
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