by Michele Newbern Gillis
Staff Writer
The digital age has made a real estate salesman of Grady Clark.
The fashion photographer, who has aimed his lens at many of Jacksonville’s most beautiful women, has decided to make cameras his hobby and homes his vocation.
“The photography business has changed so much,” said Clark, who moved here in 1984 and opened a studio on Park Street. “Everyone who has a digital camera thinks they are a photographer. Some people will believe them and hire them to do work.
“It takes work away from legitimate professional photographers. It was getting to be a very difficult business to make a living in.”
Clark’s commercial photography has included advertising, editorial, calendars and catalog work. He has done work for Rolling Stone magazine, Venus Swimwear, No Limits and Ocean Waves Sunglasses. He’s also done the Jacksonville Jaguars cheerleader calendar.
Football led him to his new profession.
“One of the things I did a while back was that I was the photographer for the old Jacksonville Bulls,” he said. “I developed a friendship with one of the cheerleaders, Jana Bakkar, and kept in contact with her over the years.
“Somewhere along the line, she got her real estate license and about a year ago she got her broker’s license. In the meantime, I had decided to sell my studio and that made me realize that I didn’t ever want to get into commercial real estate,” he said.
“I bought a house and a couple properties along the way and I just developed an interest in residential real estate. We just kept kicking the idea around to open a company since she had her broker’s license.
He and Bakkar worked together to come up with a name and logo and Top List Realty was born and, so far, he’s doing OK.
“Before, I used to get up and go to my studio and work there. It was like a workshop,” he said. “Now, it’s like the total opposite. I go out and meet people and show houses. It’s a different ballgame totally, but so far it’s been fun. I’ve enjoyed the back and forth negotiating, although sometimes it’s a pain. It’s a learning process.”
His photography will help, he says.
“Normally, you look on the Multiple Listing Service and about a third of the listings don’t have photos, another third have a photo and others have several,” he said. “We’re trying to do it so I go in and really take photos of our listings and display them well.”