A name change has happened, and it was a tough decision to make. Deviant Optiks Photography has existed for over eleven years. Under that name and brand, I have had a lot of success. But, over eleven years, a lot can change. And so, it felt right to rebrand under Monika Deviat Photography.
When I received my first (very basic) DSLR as a gift from my parents, I had no idea I was going to end up as a concert photographer. At that time, I also never would have imagined I would be photographing anything from a mountain summit, let alone the Milky Way in the middle of the night. I took to photography very quickly, and my friends’ bands were my main photo subjects at the beginning.
As I was building up a network of clients and shooting more bands, I decided I need a name for my photography business. It didn’t take too long to come up with the name. A professor at university used to call me Ms. Deviant. I studied physics at the University of Calgary, so optics tied together my field of study and photography. I changed the ‘c’ to a ‘k’ in optics to have an Eastern European aspect (and it seemed more metal). There was Deviant Optiks Photography.
I love the name. It means so much to me and has over 200,000 photos attached to it on my hard drives. There are hundreds of bands and dozens of festivals shot under that name. When I started shooting portraits and weddings, I would get wonderful clients who loved the unique name.
I started thinking about a name change two years ago. My business has evolved significantly since 2015, and my focus has shifted heavily to landscape and night photography as well as teaching and workshops. Part of me didn’t want to let go of what I built, and another part of me was daunted by all the work required to make such a change.
What finally tipped me in favour of the name change was Evolution – a business photography workshop by Dave Brosha. I got so much out of this workshop, including the final push and reasoning to rebrand to Monika Deviat Photography (thank you, Dave for all your advice and everything you were willing to share with us).
I have changed so much since this business started. Every experience and opportunity photography brought me kept the business and myself evolving. I also know I couldn’t have done this without my family, friends, and heavy metal. Thank you for supporting Deviant Optiks Photography – it means the world to me. I’m very excited for all my new ventures and to be working under a new name.
Cheers,
Monika Deviat
of Monika Deviat Photography 😉
