Interview w/ Chris TT (Thombs) CD MPA SPA, Photographer/ Lead Camera at One Step Beyond

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Please share a little about your journey to become a professional photographer. Looking back were there any early signs you would embrace this career.

Growing up, I was part of a family that were story tellers. My father had the unblinking eye of the family camera that captured a lot of our memories and a lot of our stories. That led to me, getting interested in photography as going through our albums and the old photo books made me want to make memories as well as create with photography. I also wanted to emulate a lot of the great photography that I came across in magazines and such.

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In my early photography days in high school in Germany, I got a job working in a warehouse while going to school to earn money to buy my first SLR. I joined the yearbook committee as a photographer to learn. I even forged press credentials to get backstage or into the press pit at rock concerts and tripped around Europe, photographing all sorts of stuff. That evolved into other opportunities which I went to explore as a photographic assistant, working for a small studio at a Toronto after I came to Canada.

How did you gain your skills with the camera? Did you learn by doing, take classes, or work under a mentor?

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I gained my skills with the camera through official and unofficial training. 
It started off with learning in school in the dark room with teachers and such. Moving from there, I learned when I was working in a small studio from my fellow photographic assistants. Moving on, I have taken some training, and I have had a few mentors that have done one on one training with me. 

I've been blessed with a lot of great creatives in my life to help me with the artistic photography like Renee Robyn, Curtis Jones, Richard Terborg and many more. As well, I had people mentor me like Craig O'Brien, who is a world-famous skydiving photographer and videographer when I was on the SkyHawks parachute team as part of the Canadian Armed Forces. With all that I went on to challenged myself to go earn my MPA (Master of Photographic Arts) from the Professional Photographers of Canada

What kinds of projects have you been involved in over the years?

Working as a Camera Flyer doing air to air skydiving photography/video work is how I got my foot in the door for commercial media work. By having something unique and different in my “look book” made me seem a little bit more interesting than the other photographers. That being said it is a double-edged sword because when people look at somebody that does extreme sports for photography and video, they sometimes think that the creator would be bored working on their terrestrial projects and not interested.


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The kinds of projects I/we have been involved with over the years vary from doing client work for "vetrepeneurs" and "solopreneurs," all the way up to big corporations, like Cineplex, The Rec Room, RBC, government Canada , and The Prince’s Trust (now the King’s Trust). 

When did you decide to launch One Step Beyond and who did you launch it with? Is there a studio philosophy that guides the type of photography you offer?

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One Step Beyond started off as a solo venture. Over the years I have built a “Coalition of Cool” who I bring in to do projects as needed. I have some awesome people that help out and there's some contract photographers, too.  I'm not a great food photographer, I have my colleague, Sandy, who I send food photography too. I have other people that do other skills. 

The cool thing is that I have a certain set of skills that others send work to me to do. All in all, I like to call it my “Coalition of Cool” of makeup artists, sound editors, photographers, videographers, models, and other talents that enables us to deliver all kinds of services.


This sort of the studio Philosophy I think - 
  • One Step Beyond is here to make you look good, by using "Old School" work ethic and "New World" vision. 
  • One Step Beyond is an award-winning company, that has been providing photography and video service since 1998. A company’s “brand” reflects its services, values, and philosophy. Branding shapes a company’s first and lasting impression in the marketplace. Therefore, it is critical that images, as a visual representation of a company’s brand, be carefully crafted to generate the right impression.
  • One Step Beyond, as an innovative and versatile photography and video company, has the right mix of experience and qualifications to create just the right images for branded materials to meet any clients’ needs.
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What is the process you go through when you book a new project? How much influence to you have in guiding a client to what you feel would be the best direction?

The process I go through when I book a new project is dependent on the client. That being said, one of the big things is that I sit down, and I do a needs analysis. I try to figure exactly what they need, how they want it delivered and what their budget is. With all that, it gives me the ability to actually make a bespoke statement of work so that they don't pay for anything they don't need, and they get the services that they want. 


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Sometimes when I am hired, it comes directly to the art director that dictates the ins and outs and the budget and I actually react to their needs and if they align and I get compensated properly. I just go with the art director which can be really interesting because sometimes there is more than one way to do things and that can be fun.

My readers love to hear stories. Can you share a favorite from your time working this career?

I have a lot of stories/memories while working as a photographer, videographer, and media content creator. One of my favourite memories was when I was on a job where I realized the sky was the limit and made me realize I had arrived as a commercial photographer. On location I looked around as we were shooting for a major client, seeing the team, which consisted of seven grips, a data input transfer technician, our two hair makeup artists, wardrobe stylist, 25 models, four art directors and a massive wardrobe. It was one of those jobs that took five days to shoot, and it was awesome challenge. Every day we were creating and working with a coalition of cool. We created images that had legs and are still being used up 2024 as it was shot cleanly and in a timeless style.

You recently participated in Unconquered: An Exhibition of the Veteran Experience at The Gallery George. How did you become involved and can you share a little about what you showcased there?

I got involved with Unconquered through the Veteran’s Artist Collective, which is ran by Chris Hennebery. He did a call to a bunch of us to see if we wanted to submit work to be showcased in the time around Remembrance Day 2024. I was helping another veteran pick their selections to go into the show and decided why not try to get my own content in there. I submitted 10 photographic art pieces. The 10 pieces from a show called “smalls." 

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The George Gallery Exhibition - “smallsx"

There were five diptychs that reflected the human component and the war fighting components from each of the major missions I participated in during my military career. It was a successful art show because I was able to sell three of the pieces. But the real success was how awesome it was to be in the room with a bunch of great artists for the opening, and the opportunity to speak about my work to art buyers.

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Another thing that came out of being part of the unconquered show is that it opened doors to become part of more shows including another two shows tied in with the Invictus Games. One of them is up in Maury Young Art Centre in Whistler that opened January 16th and runs through February 16, 2025. 

The second show is at The Gallery George in Vancouver. It will run from February 2-16, 2025. The show is sponsored by True Patriot Love. It is cool to be returning to The Gallery George with new art, and it is awesome to be once again going back into two more galleries to sell my artwork.


In closing, is there anything else you'd like to share with readers? 

One Step Beyond has always been about delivering to the client and fulfilling their needs with creative flair. It is exciting for me to be going through an evolution, or I dare say a revolution, where I am becoming more of an artist as I create art for the collectors, and for the individuals that see value in decorating their home, their workspaces, and their third places with my artwork. It is pretty awesome to become more valued as an artist and to be fairly remunerated so I can make a living wage as a creative.


Links -
Website onestepbeyond.ca
Instagram Work  - @OSBphoto
Instagram “thought vault” - @onestepbeyond_ca
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/christhombs/


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