Tim Lefel’s Story

Jan. 42019 . Category:business, Encourage, growth, Guest Blog, How Do You HoldFast?, photography

From the get-go, HoldFast’s allegiance lies in this: steadfast dedication to professional photographers and the systems they utilize. Committed to paving the way, HoldFast gear accentuates style while also performing comfortably and efficiently. Responsible for creating a new genre within the industry, we’re changing the way photographers look and feel while doing their best work.

In this series, you’ll hear stories of HoldFast gear and the photographers–the pioneers, the adventurers, the originals–that use them. This is How You HoldFast.

HoldFast Gear is for all photographers, regardless of size, stature, and experience. The Money Maker is designed to marry the functionality of a carrying system for multiple cameras, while also infusing a sleek sort of stylish aesthetic to a part of a photographer’s setup, elevating their personal brand, not hindering it.

Several years ago Timothy Lefel, the owner of the eponymous photography studio in Yara Valley, was involved in a terrible car accident that almost cost him his life. The Australian, at the time a full-time chef, was told that he’d never be able to continue cheffing because of his injuries–a dream he’d harvested from the age of three.

“Tim got into photography as a way to combat this,” Lefel’s wife Sheryn explains. “Tim had been struggling with cheffing, and was looking for another job he would enjoy just as much. Every option we explored wasn’t for him, and we seemed to keep coming back to photography.”

While photography wasn’t always his first choice, Tim made a conscious decision to put his heart & soul into this new found venture, and give it a go.

“One of the restaurants I’d worked for asked me to take photos for them for their social media page. I made a break into the photography industry shooting food photography for an awarded hotel, Australian Chefs Hat, near where I live,” Tim explains.

Now, Tim shoots mostly weddings and portraits, rounding out almost five years of shooting professionally. “Tim took the plunge and started up his business around the time we were getting married. I noticed that our wedding photographer had a camera harness, so asked him where he got it and he put me onto HoldFast,” Sheryn says.

Tim had been shooting with strap that was pretty basic in its design prior to his experience with a HoldFast Money Maker.

After a close call, he knew the setup wouldn’t cut it for his work. “I had pretty popular canvas brand that the camera strap clips failed on. Luckily, I grabbed my camera fall before it collided with the concrete I was standing on,” Tim says.

Sheryn says that after a lot of research, and based on the recommendation of their wedding photographer and industry friend, Kyle Pasalskyj of Valley & Peak, she knew she’d strike gold with the Money Maker.

“I knew this was the harness for Tim; being 6”5, he needed something that was going to relieve as much stress from his back and body as possible,” Sheryn says. “Kyle said that for the extra money on the dual camera harness we were already looking at purchasing, the Money Maker would last a lifetime in comparison.”

“It’s an industry that you need your body to last and your camera gear as well,” Tim explains. Sheryn purchased a Money Maker for Tim as a Christmas present. The innovation and comfort immediately put Tim at ease.

“I find it difficult to find clothes that fit sometimes, let alone a camera strap. The feature that I have found most helpful with the Money Maker is the overall comfort of the strap. The Money Maker changes the way I shoot my work by making my body more ergonomic and working smarter. I haven’t even adjusted mine yet, and it came as factory default. How can you argue with that?”

While shooting his first wedding with the Money Maker, Tim knew that HoldFast Gear was going to majorly change the way he shot his work.

“I didn’t have to struggle around with two cameras with two seperate straps, one half falling off while I was shooting with the other. It was all there in the one place, and I was comfortable and in my zone doing what I love,” raves Tim. ”You have your gear more secure and closer to your body–not hitting chairs while ducking around a wedding for the perfect shot.”

HoldFast’s goal with all its products is to make the gear photographers use feel less like a hindrance and more like a natural extension of their body. Through smart, original, innovative design HoldFast is out to change the way stories are told through photography, and provide an exceptional experience for the photographers that use HoldFast Gear, which in turn, also allows photographers to provide a one-of-a-kind, seamless and hassle free experience for their clients.