Above Topsail and JW Portrait Studio

Join me for an inspiring conversation with Jeff Wenzel, the Mayor of Holly Ridge, North Carolina,  and owner of Above Topsail and JW Portrait Studio.

Jeff's journey began with a simple hobby of flying model planes, which evolved into a passion for drone photography, ultimately culminating in the establishment of Above Topsail. As he leaned more into photography, his commitment grew, eventually leading to the launch of his portrait studio, canvas printing, and custom framing business.

In this conversation, Jeff shares his unique approach to creating cherished memories for his customers. You'll feel his dedication to his craft, family, town, and team throughout. We discuss his landscape style, his love for senior and athletic portraits, fashion photography, and so much more. And I would be remiss if I didn’t also ask him about his Mayorship. Enjoy!

Location: 301 US Hwy 17 South, Ste 2
                      Holly Ridge, NC 28445

Phone: (910) 803-1759
Websites: AboveTopsail.com
                       JWPortraitStudio.com

Find and Follow on the Above Topsail Facebook Page and also on Instagram.

Jim is my incredible, rockstar editor who works his magic to make Topsail Insider sound great! Learn more about Jim's services here: http://bit.ly/PodcastsByJim.
Jim Mendes-Pouget  |  jimpouget@gmail.com

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Or if you wish to Sponsor or Advertise with Topsail Insider, please email christa@topsailinsider.com or call/text 910-800-0111. 

Thanks - I’ll see you around Topsail!

Transcript

Topsail Insider Intro, Coming Up, and Saltwater Suites

Speaker 1 0:01

Welcome to the Topsoil Insider Podcast where you can hear all about the businesses and events in the beautiful coastal towns of the greater Topsoil area of North Carolina. Coming up, you know, when you're driving down Highway 17 through Holly Ridge and you see all the flags and the signs about custom framing and photography and have you always wondered about what was back down that road in that industrial area? Well, you're about to find out. Topsoil is a place above Topsoil and JW Portrait Studio owned by none other than the mayor of Holly Ridge, jeff Wenzel. Such a great conversation with him You're going to want to stick around for it. Let's get to it. Welcome to Topsoil Insider Podcast. My name is Krista and I am your host. Today I have the honor of interviewing mayor Wenzel of Holly Ridge, north Carolina. Aside from governing the town of Holly Ridge, jeff Wenzel is the owner of Above Topsoil. He provides custom photo and video services to the folks and businesses in the greater Topsoil area. Welcome, jeff, and thank you so much for joining me today.

Speaker 2 1:11

Yay, I'm so glad to be here. Thank you for inviting me, Krista.

Intro to Jeff Wenzel and Above Topsail

Speaker 1 1:14

My pleasure. So before we go into all about Above Topsoil, which we're going to go over thoroughly, I just want to ask you a few questions. So in the pre-interview you mentioned that the mayor of Holly Ridge resigned and then you were appointed mayor and then, at the end of that term you were reelected mayor and I just found that that was a very interesting journey and I wanted to know did you have political aspirations before being appointed?

Speaker 2 1:41

None at all, never saw myself being in politics.

Speaker 1 1:44

How did you get to a place where you could be appointed?

Mayor of Holly Ridge

Speaker 2 1:47

Coincidentally, four years ago, as I was just driving around Holly Ridge, I was seeing the yard signs for elect so-and-so for town council and I was just convicted that I didn't really know most of the people who had the signs out in the yards. And so the Topsoil area chamber of commerce put on a meet the candidate forum. So I decided to go to that and so they asked one question and then each candidate answers it and then they start the next question with another person. But the question was what is one of the current issues that Holly Ridge is facing that you think you could help with? All the incumbents had great answers and every single one of the person who was running who was not part of the town council all had basically the same answer was I really don't know what Holly Ridge is dealing with, but, whatever it is, I'm just going to throw my hat in there and just help out. And I said that's a terrible answer. And I said you know, if I was ever to run for town council or mayor, then I think I'd go to a few meetings beforehand and, just you know, learn to see what was going on. And I just convicted, so I started going to some meetings.

Speaker 1 2:48

So this was four years ago. How long have you lived in Holly Ridge? I've been there 15 years 15 years, so you know what's going on in Holly Ridge. You know what Holly Ridge needs, so that's when you got involved in just start attending meetings. So on the day that you were appointed, did you, did you know that that was coming?

Speaker 2 3:06

Yeah, so the the the mayor, uh, miss Anita Dingler. She moved out of Holly Ridge into just a different house, but she moved out of the corporate limits and so she resigned. And then in North Carolina, any town less than 50,000 residents, rather than call a special election, which was a lot of cost, the town council will appoint someone to fill any vacant spots on the town council, and so they they just put outside anyone who's interested. Give us your name, give us a letter while you think you'd be good.

Speaker 1 3:33

And then they did an interview process and and they picked me during the time that you were appointed and you were finishing out that term, what experiences or challenges led you to run for reelection?

Speaker 2 3:45

So when I was appointed, I really unlike candidates now who, like they, have a platform, like I want to work on this and the parks or infrastructure, or whatever, the case be. I really had no agenda and so within the you know, the first year or two, I found what I thought I was a good at and found a passion, and really a lot of that has to do with economic development. And so that's how can we bring in jobs that will bring in good paying jobs so that the people who live in Howley Ridge because it's a bedroom community still is people live here but they go to Hampstead, they go to top, so they go to Jacksonville when we send to work. So how can we get good, high quality paying jobs right here in Howley Ridge so that people can not only live here but work and play as well too? And that's one reason why I think I was appointed, because I am a local business owner, as we're here talking about. I've done a pretty good job of marketing myself as a photographer, and so you know I had a couple of council members saying we think you can market the town and talk to other business owners and developers from your perspective.

Speaker 1 4:45

The fish market that was in Hampstead has now relocated into a new facility? Yeah, and now they're in Howley Ridge. Was that a boost to your local economy?

Speaker 2 4:54

Absolutely so. It's kind of funny that you mentioned Atlantic Seafood. So I was literally sworn in, took a couple of pictures with my wife in front of the town hall and then the town manager says I need to talk to you in my office. And I was like, oh boy, I've already messed up. So I get in there and she's like I need you to sign this non-disclosure agreement because I'm talking to you about a future project and we have to. You know, everything needs to be shielded until it's official. And sure enough, it was like we have Atlantic Seafood who's possibly looking to move here to Howley Ridge or another place. I said, oh the smiths. I played softball with Jeffrey and Joseph and I was the third baseman at Scotts Hill Baptist Church softball team and Joseph was the shortstop and Jeffrey was in the outfield. She's like. You know them. I said I do. I said tell you what? Let's all get together for lunch and so you know, that's one, exactly one of the things like do I have the relationships with the local businesses and companies and stuff like that? So, yeah, that turned out working out well.

Speaker 1 5:51

You also have the new RV.

Speaker 2 5:53

Potions RV parking yeah.

Speaker 1 5:54

So that's, that's a whole new feeling. It's like you're really bringing it in.

Speaker 2 5:57

Yeah, that's, that's 224 lots that they have available, and then they just up and running 10 little mini homes that people can rent on the very short term basis. I call them.

Speaker 1 6:06

They're so cute.

Speaker 2 6:07

Super cute and they have a pickleball courts, they have dog park, putting greens swimming pool longer facilities, dog fitness, all this stuff right here. So it's right behind Holland Shelter Creek restaurant, right there on highway 50.

Speaker 1 6:20

And so, yeah, just there's a lot going on. Howley Ridge is taking off.

Speaker 2 6:24

It's moving.

Speaker 1 6:24

All right. Well, good, I would say. What achievement up to this point are you most proud of? But it it sounds like that's it bringing in these new businesses. Am I right?

Speaker 2 6:33

It is. One of the biggest things that has happened is UPS is going to be building a major distribution center in the industrial part. Yeah, ups, next summer they're going to be open, if everything goes as planned. That's huge. Yeah, it's larger than the Wilmington facility, larger than the Jacksonville. It's huge. They flew in their marketing director. It's a huge announcement last year and so, yeah, it's really big.

Speaker 1 6:57

That must feel amazing.

Speaker 2 6:58

It is Just the amount of jobs 95 jobs and the average pay is 64,000 with full benefits and they're going to need full-time drivers, they're going to need part-time people working in the warehouse, but it's going to be a big distribution center right there in the Camp Davis Industrial Park, Literally three lots over from Atlantic Seafood. I mean we're exactly halfway between Wilmington and Jacksonville, right on Highway 17. So if they're getting stuff from the port of Wilmington, if they're going to Albert Ellis Airport or Wilmington Airport however they need their goods coming in or out, we're just in a prime location.

Speaker 1 7:29

Right, and you've got all that space there for the big industrial sector. That's great. That's such good news. I'm so glad to hear that. So these are successes that you're having, but what's been the biggest challenge?

Speaker 2 7:40

You know, one of the best questions was ever asked was I was speaking as the mayor to a local Boy Scout troop. The toughest question I've had was what's the hardest thing you've had to do as a mayor? And I sat there and thought about it and I think the biggest thing is when there are multiple good options on the table but you can only pick one. So you have to tell someone, no, even though it's a good option, it's just you can only pick one. And so you have to tell people that our friends, we're just not going to go that way. So that's the toughest part is when you have to make a decision when you know it's easy. If there's, we have a good choice and a bad choice. Okay, that's an easy decision.

Speaker 1 8:15

But what if?

Speaker 2 8:16

there's multiple good ones.

Speaker 1 8:17

I can understand that. So I mean, why wouldn't you run again?

Speaker 2 8:24

So I'm up for reelection in two years. But there's so many things that go into it. It's not only just the job itself, but I have two young kids, nine year old and he's going to be 13 in two days. No wife business that I run. And so, who knows, in two years from now, my wife, my kids will need for me at that time. How's the strength of my marriage in two years from now? What does my wife need for me? What does my business need for me? So I want to say there's just a lot of factors that go into it. It's simply more than just I want to do it again, but what is people that are close to me need for me at that time?

Speaker 1 8:54

So let's talk about how you do balance that, because that's a lot. You have your family man, you've got a booming business, is doing it appears to be doing quite well, and now you're also governing Holly Ridge. So how do you find that balance? And then what about just time for yourself?

Speaker 2 9:09

Well, I don't think I'm unique in any position. Those three positions may be different for me, but you, you're a mom, you have two boys, you're a wife, you are balancing this podcast endeavor that you have here. Kids are in sports, church, all these things right here. So I'm no different from anyone else. I have the same 24 hours as everyone else and we just all have to figure that balance out.

Speaker 1 9:33

I get it. I'm saying that mayor thing just as a whole.

Speaker 2 9:37

another element that I can't relate to at all I rely on good people good people in my business to run the business when I need to be out. We have a great town manager who runs the day to day activities and overseas all the employees. You have to have good people that that you empower to do what you need them to do, and try not to undercut them. So, delegation, although that's hard, but she's an artist.

Speaker 1 10:01

So let's get to above top. So tell me, I've got this right. It started out just a hobby and then, above top, so was just drawn photography, and then that turned into a whole lot more, of which we're going to get into. Tell me about how it started as a hobby.

Above Topsail - How it Started

Speaker 2 10:16

So I was in the army for three years, grew up Northern Illinois, went into the army straight out of high school and ended up at Fort Bragg. And when I got out of the army I was dating this girl and I knew if I moved back to Illinois I'd probably mess up a long distance relationship. So I was like, well, if I'm going to stay here, I'm going to need a hobby, because all I've ever done is lived at home or lived in the barracks. And so now I'm out of my own and what am I going to do in my evening time? So, I've always enjoyed airplanes, general aviation. So I was like you know, I can go down to Hayes Hobby House in Fayetteville and find me a model airplane. And so I said what's the best model airplane to learn and learn how to build and learn how to fly? And so model airplanes have been my hobby on and off for the past 26, 27 years. By the way, I married that girl. We married 25 years, so it was a good decision, oh good. So model airplanes and you know, living on Topsoil area, it's beautiful.

Speaker 1 11:05

It is, it's gorgeous.

Speaker 2 11:07

Sun rises, sun sets, beautiful color water, everything. So I always just thought it'd be fun to mount a GoPro camera up on my model airplane and just take pictures or video of Topsoil. I never got around to it, and so I just bought a drone that had a DJI drone that had a camera built into it. It eliminated figuring out how to mount the camera on and off and turn it on and off, and so I could fly the drone really easy. It's the model control type of stuff, so the flying part was easy. But I didn't really know anything about photography, didn't own a camera, and so I was taking pictures, and a lot of them were pretty bad, but every once in a while I'd get a really good picture and I was like, well, why is this picture better than all the other ones? And so I figured, well, there must be some type of formula, and so I just started watching YouTube videos on photography and the best camera settings for my drone, and, sure enough, I learned the basics of photography, such as lighting and composition and stuff like that, and I'm one of those people where I'm all in or all out.

Speaker 1 12:07

And so I was like I get that about you, yeah, so.

Speaker 2 12:10

I was like you know what? I'm going to be the best photographer that I can be and post these pictures on Facebook. And so friends started saying, oh, that's a really good picture. Do you mind if I like, printed it off or, you know, hang it on my wall. I was like, sure, go ahead. So I don't know if people do that. I was like, hmm, I wonder if there's a market or drone photography on. Topso Island. Now there have been photographers who had rented airplanes and for decades taken aerial pictures and sold those, but there was no one who was. And there's people who had had drones before me on Topso Island, but there was no one who had marketed drone photos to the Topso area. And so, being the entrepreneur I am, I went and started talking to frame shops and boutiques and stuff. I said, hey, I take these photos and love to sell them, and so I was first to market for drone photography in Topso Island.

Speaker 1 12:59

Okay.

Speaker 2 13:00

And that was eight years ago. And then people were like, hey, I want to sell this house, can you take some drone pictures or drone video? And that's anyone who buys a drone that's the first place that they go to is like how can I make money off this drone purchase I bought? and immediately run to the real estate market, and now realtors have their own drones now as well too. So, yeah, that's that's how I started off with selling the artwork and, rather than trying to sell it out of one location, that was actually counseled by a couple of people like, just selling one or two places make people come here. It's kind of exclusive, but it was the two brick and mortar places that were encouraging me to do that, and so I decided actually, I'm going to do a different marketing philosophy. I actually want my artwork to be seen everywhere, or even, rather than open up my own brick and mortar on the island on top. So I'm going to try to pay a high rent and attract people to that. Like I wonder if, if I could put it out in enough places that tourists who come for the week stay at top, so I could put it enough places that they organically see it throughout the week, then that'll be my marketing strategy. And so my goal is, as someone goes about their week and they go to the coffee shops and they go to dinner at restaurants and all the stuff that my goal is that they will see my artwork 10 times throughout the week. So more like Coca-Cola, like everyone sells Coca-Cola instead of being, you know, a place that attracts them to. So that's that's my marketing strategy. Very smart, it's out there now.

Speaker 1 14:31

Now, how would you describe your style of landscape photography?

Speaker 2 14:36

So I love the colors of sunrise and sunset. You know the oranges, the purples the yellows and all sunsets and sunrises are pretty, but I really love it when there's clouds. I kind of use this analogy All sunsets are like popcorn it's good, but man, if you put some clouds in there, that's like the, that's like the butter and salt because the light will reflect up off of them and it'll change their colors and the texture of the clouds, and so you'll see a lot of my images also have clouds teamed with sunsets, sunrises, and also landmarks Topsoil Island and so that's actually how I got my name above Topsoil. I take pictures from above Topsoil. That's the story behind my my name.

Speaker 1 15:17

How long did it take you to come up with the name? Did it just come to you one day, or because people really search for that perfect name? And you got one.

Landscape and Landmark Photography

Speaker 2 15:25

Well, actually I got 10 because I also registered above surf city, above Hampstead, above Wilmington. I registered all on GoDaddy. I bought all those domain names.

Speaker 1 15:36

So don't even think about copying them and then I just settled.

Speaker 2 15:39

You know what's a generic one that would work for me. But yeah, my landscape photography. If you were like someone from California who's never been to Topsoil, if they come across my website they'd go. That's nice, but not like that's an awesome shot of that random peer with these clouds. I'm not that good of a photographer where if you don't know the landmark, you're not going to buy it.

Speaker 1 16:02

It's just realistic.

Capturing Memories and Stories

Speaker 2 16:03

So my photography is good for the average person, but when I team with a landmark of Topsoil Island with a beautiful sunrise sunset, all of a sudden that image is great. Because what I've discovered is I'm not selling a canvas wrapped around wooden stretcher bars to hang on a wall, I'm selling someone's memory of that peer that their husband. Now husband got down on his knee and proposed Remember that one sunset I just got chills. Yes, Fishing on the pier, one of my most popular images. There's a gentleman who's in this. It's not a wheelchair, but it's one of those motorized scooters and he's wearing this pink hat, and that's one thing. That's really neat about drones is you can put a camera in a unique position that you normally can't, and so this image that my drone is just right off the edge of the pier, but not but on the ocean side, but it's looking back on the pier. There's no way you can get that angle or shot. Even if you were to have a boat, you would have to be so high up on the deck and so close to the pier that it wouldn't work. So the drone is a tool, it's a flying camera for my purposes, and so I took this picture and I always wondered about that gentleman and there's lots of people in there. But photography my job is to find and tell stories and I always wondered what is the story with that gentleman? Never knew. It's just a fun image. So it just happens that I received a through my website, my abovetopsoulcom website, where I sell my artwork. I received this message through my contact form and says hey, my dad is in this picture on the end of the pier. He's wearing this pink hat. Oh my gosh, and I just want to know when you took this, because he's passed away, no, so.

Speaker 1 17:51

Oh my gosh.

Speaker 2 17:53

So I that's one of the things instead of just emailing back contact form, I get the information. So I called her and I said well, I actually took it. It was Thanksgiving weekend of this particular year and just silence. Then I heard sniffing she said that's the last time my dad fished. And so, oh my gosh, I said well, here's the funny thing about that. Not funny. But I said this is very blue. There's like there was no sunset that night, but I had just gotten a drone that day, and so I went out to go catch the sunset. But there was no sunset. So normally I'd just pack up and go back home and spend time with the family. But because I'd gotten drone that day, so I'm going to fly and just see how it flies. So I went out there and took this picture. But I said you know what? I also took a video.

Speaker 1 18:38

Oh my gosh, you sent that to her.

Speaker 2 18:40

So I got a video of him casting.

Speaker 1 18:43

Wow.

Speaker 2 18:44

So the lady who had reached out to me, she said she had breast cancer five years before and so her dad always wore the pink hat. That was the identity.

Speaker 1 18:53

I don't even know what to say.

Speaker 2 18:55

Yeah, I still get emotional.

Speaker 1 18:57

I know, wow, I can't even believe this story. Like that is amazing.

Speaker 2 19:02

I started crying too. On the phone I said it's ironic. Three weeks ago to this day that I was having this conversation my dad had passed away. Here's two complete strangers just.

Speaker 1 19:13

Just connecting.

Speaker 2 19:14

Connecting over the phone so.

Speaker 1 19:17

I'm sorry for your loss. I'm speechless, but I'm so happy that you captured that moment.

Speaker 2 19:26

Exactly.

Speaker 1 19:27

At just the right time and you two were able to connect that way. I'm assuming you gave her the video as well.

Speaker 2 19:38

Well, I knew I had a hot commodity, so I tripled the price and sold it. I laugh only so I don't cry, Krista.

Speaker 1 19:46

I got you.

Speaker 2 19:48

Oh yeah, I sent them a few and then when I said next time you're in Topsoil, because they still had to come and clean out the fishing shed and all that stuff, that they had, and so they came and see me. We gave each other big hugs and cried a little bit more Of course.

Speaker 1 20:00

Thanks for sharing that with me.

Speaker 2 20:02

Well, that's what photography is. We capture stories.

Speaker 1 20:04

You do.

Speaker 2 20:05

And that's why I team my artwork with people's memories of Topsoil and most of my sales. I get a lot of local sales, but most of my sales are people from Pennsylvania and New York and West Virginia, ohio, all the Midwest and Northeast, because that's who comes down to Topsoil the vacation, and so they're buying the artwork and either taking it back or we ship it to them and they're saving up throughout the year to afford their vacation. And so that's kind of like we're going to go see that period where we had that great time with the family. Last time the whole family got together.

Speaker 1 20:39

Yeah, I just feel really just acknowledging you're capturing these memories for people who know it's incredible. That's an incredible story.

Speaker 2 20:48

That's just great. I do the same thing with portraits too, like family portraits and high school senior portraits, and I just have story after story. Of you know, I, literally three months ago, just took family photos of a family whose father has stage four brain cancer and knowing that, and knowing that this is probably the last family photo, Right, that's a lot. I brought an extra battery, just to make sure I didn't run out of batteries.

Speaker 1 21:10

That's incredible. You're not just helping them, they're actually affecting you. You're helping them. They're helping you.

Speaker 2 21:17

I get to be invited into people's stories and you know it's special that people either share the story or entrust me with capturing their story and I get to get paid and support my family with that. So I mean, that's why I have passion for photography.

Speaker 1 21:34

I'm going through your portfolio in my head right now. It's just like cycling through the senior portraits and the family photos, of course, and just to how important those will be to these people for decades. I feel very grateful to have that knowledge with me now, and when I look at your work and now I actually can't wait to go back through your photography on your pages. And will I find the pink hat?

Speaker 2 21:58

Yep. Drone photography now in the evolution of my business is secondary. It's just an accessory. It's part of a package but it's typically not the full package.

Speaker 1 22:11

It's where you started. Before we move away from the drone photography anyone that's new to the area. We had a swing bridge in place going from surf city over to the island, and that was replaced by a huge, gigantic bridge which. I love, but that was such a beautiful landmark for surf city for so long and they tore that down. But you found a way to use parts of that bridge to create artwork using your drone footage of that bridge. Can you tell the listeners a little bit about how you did that?

The Surf City Swing Bridge

Speaker 2 22:49

So the swing bridge opened up in 1955. I remember 55. It lived there and served the community well until December 2018. And that's when the new high rise bridge in surf city opened. So I was just taking pictures of the new bridge as it was just starting to be built. Honestly, not even the bridge, but just the structure, support structures that they'd bring in the big yellow cranes on. They were building those and, sure enough, the contractor reached out to me on Facebook and said hey, like your pictures, would you be interested in taking monthly progress photos for us? Nice, yes, I would. I would be interested in that. So I was taking monthly progress photos, if I must. I mean I was going to do it anyway, right, so that's what's neat. I mean, find, if you're an entrepreneur, find something that you love, as you said earlier, if you find something that you loved and you never have to work another day in your life. So I was going to take pictures anyway. But yeah, and so you know, 12 pictures a month, blah, blah, blah. Send it up to a Google Dropbox. Boom, they got their pictures. You know, I got my little bit of cash each month for that, but anyway. So I was taking the picture developed. This relationship with the construction company that won the contract Got towards the end of the new bridge being built and the contractor were trying to figure out what to do with this swing bridge because, the NCDOT had written as part of the contract of building the new bridge was they had to completely remove and dispose of the old bridge. Oh, part of the contract?

Speaker 1 24:12

Okay, Yep, that makes sense, so they were looking for anyone to take it.

Speaker 2 24:15

They were going to offer it for free as long as just pay to move it. So they offered a town of surf city, offered individuals, and they just had no takers. But they had a lot of people from the public coming to them saying, hey, I'd like a piece or a nut or a bolt of the bridge. And so they came to me and said Jeff, we build bridges, we build highways, we're a $11 billion a year company. We don't sell parts or memorabilia, we're not staffed for it, we don't have like e-commerce website, but you do. So. Since I built this relationship with them, they knew I did quality work. They said let's, let's figure out a price and then we'll provide you with, you know, a set amount of pieces and then you can make them available to the public, do what you want with them, just make them available to the public and we can direct them to you. And so that little public public win for them.

Speaker 1 25:01

Oh, I see, yeah, and an opportunity for me.

Speaker 2 25:04

Okay, so we settled 700 pieces. So we just finished Autumn with Topso, a couple of days ago it's the annual festival in October down in Topso Beach. I literally just sold the last two pieces Sunday.

Speaker 1 25:16

Yeah, you told me that you had two pieces left.

Speaker 2 25:20

I'm like I wonder how long they're going to last. One went Saturday, one went Sunday.

Speaker 1 25:24

Oh, someone's very lucky to get those pieces. Yeah, and I learned I took.

Speaker 2 25:27

I took a picture of me with the family that bought it.

Speaker 1 25:30

Nice.

Speaker 2 25:31

And so I, you know, like this. Actually I got a little emotional then too, because I know I bet. This was a big, big piece of.

Speaker 1 25:37

I did it. Did anyone else take a part of that?

Speaker 2 25:39

So I was able to get a six foot section and donate it to the historical society of Topso Islands down in the Missles and Moore Museum there is a six piece, six foot piece, that that's there for people to look, touch, remember the green of it.

Speaker 1 25:56

How many pieces you started?

Speaker 2 25:57

off with 700.

Speaker 1 25:59

700. And you just sold the last two. Okay, so tell the listeners what you did with those pieces, because it was very, it's very cool.

Speaker 2 26:05

So 400 of them I put onto a maple wooden piece of wood. It's actually technically a cutting board. The local cutting board company made and laser engraved surf city swing bridge in 1955 to 2018. Yeah, and then we mounted an X looking piece with the rivet in the middle to it. I think it was like 12 by 16 was the size, and so 400 and that was. I mean, it still wasn't cheap, that was the economical option, and those actually sold out five weeks, 400 of those pieces. And then the other ones, the remaining ones, I put onto a 24 by 36 canvas of an image that I had taken the morning that the new bridge opened, and so I entitled that image the last sunrise, because it was the last working sunrise of the swing bridge and if you look closely you'll actually see people standing on the bridge just kind of taken in the last few minutes.

Speaker 1 26:57

The canvas with the attached piece of the bridge. You also donated that to an auction that was auctioned off at the real house wise of Topsoil Island's annual bike ride. How much did it go for?

Speaker 2 27:08

I think each one went for a few thousand dollars.

Speaker 1 27:10

A few. Yeah, I think I have this right because, ms Inna Ernie, I interviewed her and I think she told me about this. You auctioned off one.

Speaker 2 27:17

I donated one for the auction.

Speaker 1 27:19

Donated one and it went so well and people were battling it out over this piece and you're like, okay, I'll donate a second one if you, for the same price that it just auctioned off for.

Speaker 2 27:32

Yeah, I literally interrupted the auction here and say there's a second one now available.

Speaker 1 27:35

That's awesome. Let's talk about your portrait studio. Tell me about JW Portrait Studio. When did you switch over or when did you add in portraits?

The Portrait Studio

Speaker 2 27:45

So eight years ago, started above Topsoil with the drone photography. That was going good. But you know, I was thinking you know what, I wonder if I could make enough money in photography to support my family full time. I didn't think I could just sell in Topsoil aerial artwork and so I was like, well, what are my options? And so, thinking through, I said, well, I could go down to Wilmington or maybe down to South Ford and, you know, take pictures down there and then try to build relationships with the local shops and coffee shops. But, like I said, most of my pictures are sunrise and sunset. And so you go back five years ago. My kids were three and seven and of course sunrises and sunsets are when they're bed times and awake times, and then I'm working during the day and so I had to decide do I want to take myself away from my family to get more images at different locations? Plus, I'm driving, but you can't guarantee a good sunrise, sunset, and so some trips were wasted. And so well, if I don't want to do that right now, then what else can I do with photography? I said, well, what are some other types of photography that I could do? And so I was like, what if I did portrait photography but just stayed in the same topsoil area? And so I decided to do that.

Speaker 1 28:58

Tell me about your studio. It's quite large. The whole facility is large back there actually.

Speaker 2 29:04

Yeah, so we're well hidden and that's a curse. But right on Highway 17 in Holly Ridge we're in the Gulf Stream Steel Complex, so we're off the road and so we got all these little A-frame signs out front that says like topsoil artwork and picture framing and business headshots and all that stuff.

Speaker 1 29:21

You're off the road, but you get my attention when I drive by. We just got a billboard too, so now yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 29:26

So right now the billboard up there has a little kid with a camera and it says let's do shots. That's awesome I am going to get people's attention one way or another with this billboard, so and I'm going to change it pretty frequently, so, but anyway, so, yeah, so we're in this industrial complex literally in the 1960s era, metal storage building, but we've invested a lot to like when you walk in that front door. My vision to my employees is we need to change people's perception. Like they walk in and they're like whoa nasty looking metal building, gravel going over speed bump. All of a sudden they walk through the front door and it's nice.

Speaker 1 30:06

It's well lit the floor is nice.

Speaker 2 30:08

I wasn't expecting this and it's very intentional. Of course, everything's an investment to do something like that, but I mean we literally plan and we have like all these scents that are plugged in. So when people walk in, I want to engage as many senses as the possible. Visually, we have music playing. I want them just to be in an environment like they're walking into, like a gallery, even though two seconds earlier.

Speaker 1 30:28

It feels like a gallery yes, that's the plan.

Speaker 2 30:31

So we're off the beaten path, we're not on the island and, quite honestly, when I got it, it was more for manufacturing and production rather than people coming in for artwork. But once I put it on Google, people started Googling and they're showing up. So I was like, oh man, I guess I need to have, like, open hours. It's staffed. Now that we have hours six days a week, we now expect people to come in and shop and of course, now with the picture frame shop, people come in all times throughout the day to drop off their artwork and get quotes and all that stuff, and so, yeah, so the studio is there. So what? We are blessed that we have low rent because we are off the beaten path and we're in this metal building. But the challenge is we are off the beaten path, but yeah, but we've invested quite a bit of money to make it nice so we can change that perception when they walk in.

Speaker 1 31:22

Okay, so you do have, the framing part of your business is back there, you've got your printing part of your business and then you've got the studio which is in a separated space a little further back, which came first. It didn't all happen at once, I'm assuming, or did it?

Adding Canvas Printing

Speaker 2 31:37

So I had a small 20 by 20 portrait studio in Surf City that I had rented the year before I moved in here, and I moved in four years ago, right when COVID was starting actually and so I had a little 20 by 20 space. It was actually in the same building as Salty Turtle. So Salty Turtle owns or has half the business, and then Providence Physical Therapy has another one, the other half of the building. So I was sub-leasing a small room from Providence Physical Therapy where I just I wasn't making any money at it but it just gave me a dedicated space, not in my living room which my wife thought was a great idea to set up my lights and learn portrait photography, and so I did that, and so I wanted to expand that a little bit. But I also wanted to take printing of my canvas artwork in-house, and so when I decided I'm a larger studio but at the same time I need to find production area for the printers and then all the woodworking equipment, all that stuff and so Did you know at the time that would be another whole business in itself, or were you just doing it to create your own artwork? Just do my own. I wasn't selling any portrait work printed at the time, just digitals. It literally was just to print my artwork and do my own. But turns out these big printers. They like to be printed each and every day so that the ink continues to be pushed through. But I sat there and thought, well, if I have this great resource of this printer and then all this equipment to build the frames for the stretcher bars, I might as well print for other local artists and painters at the same quality of my stuff, and I'm really proud of the quality of the materials that I use. And so I offer that to other local artists and photographers and most of my clients are artists and just a few photographers we print for. So I have a graphic artist and so they'll bring in their originals. We digitize them by taking a high quality image of it, well-lit, everything like that. And then what makes us unique in the area is I have a graphic artist who is phenomenal at matching the colors of the originals. So here's the thing Every camera has a little bit of different, like a Sony camera has a different color temperature compared to a Canon camera. And then the lights how you light it, they have a different temperature and then different mediums that you paint on will also reflect different colors. And then you throw in the brand of printer that you have and the type of ink that you have. All those are variables. It literally takes someone who is very well trained and AJ, my graphic designer, is a four year degree in graphic arts and so he literally uses all of his skillset, and what we do really especially well is match the original colors of the artist's painting as best as we can to our reproductions, and that's kind of what sets us apart from anyone else who would do it. Or if you just took your own picture then uploaded it to a budget place you just don't know what you're gonna get because, you took it with your phone, you take it with a real camera? They don't know, and so that's one thing that sets us apart.

Speaker 1 34:37

I never thought about that. As far as a printing business is concerned, if you're an artist and you're selling these and it's your work that you're displaying, you absolutely want those colors to match. That's a great thing that you can offer.

Speaker 2 34:48

And, speaking as a fellow photographer, I get to manipulate the colors as I see fit, but the artist has intentionally used certain colors and they want their reproductions matched as best as possible. For me as a photographer. It can be a little bit bluer, it can be a little bit more yellower, I don't care too much, but the artist are very. I mean, they spent hours and hours and hours picking those colors, and so that's why we print a lot for artists, because we nail, and we're not cheap because of the quality that we do. And so a lot of photographers are like I can get it cheaper here. I was like you, sure can, but if you-.

Speaker 1 35:18

But the colors won't match Well they may. They might.

Speaker 2 35:22

But the artists really, the painters, really, most of them appreciate the level of effort and detail and what we do for them.

Speaker 1 35:30

You also shoot family portraits? I? Did see some outdoor portraits as well. So are you still doing the outdoor work?

Speaker 2 35:35

Absolutely Okay.

Speaker 1 35:37

You do business headshots and you do have some really cool athletic shots. I wanna talk about that just a little bit. Is most of that done in the studio?

Portraits and Athletic, High Impact Sport Photography

Speaker 2 35:48

50-50. So I shoot families, a lot of family portraits I would say 95% of those we do outside why not when we're at the beach or the woods or their grandma's dock or whatever's a special place for them. And senior high school seniors in particular, college seniors too. But high school seniors, I grew up playing baseball and I even played football my last year and I just remember my pictures like my senior picture on the football team was kneeling in the middle of the field in bright daylight. So I'm squinting a little bit on one knee holding this football and I mean the picture's great, it's good and I'm glad I have it. But when I was getting into portrait photography I was like I wanna take pictures where, like, the people get excited about it, especially athletes. I want them. I wanna take pictures that could be on like ESPN the magazine or the cover sports illustrated.

Speaker 1 36:38

So cool.

Speaker 2 36:38

Yes, so that's my style. I call it high dynamic or high impact sports photos, and so I shoot a lot of flash photography for that to get really cool. Lighting yes. Fog machines yes. Colored lights, all these things, and then, of course, the things you can do in Photoshop as well too. It's literally just yesterday. We're out on the golf course and it's a golfer for top so high school, it's a high school senior. We're out on the golf course and I had bought these three pack of exploding golf balls. Yeah, so you hit it and just all this powder just explodes.

Speaker 1 37:12

And she loved it, I bet.

Get It On the Wall!

Speaker 2 37:15

And I feel it's gonna be the cover shot of his album, the senior album, and so it's. You know, that's that epic shot that I love getting, and I'll show the back of the camera and say, yeah, yeah, I mean just, I want to see that passion. Yeah, because these athletes, they spend in all their waking hours balancing the multiple things that they have and to get that killer shot, that epic shot, is just so exhilarating for me knowing that I got that for them. And one thing that makes us different from other photographers in areas everything in our business, whether we're framing something for someone's wall, or whether they're buying a topsoil artwork piece for someone's wall, or whether we're printing for another photographer or an artist that are putting something on the wall. Everything has to deal with putting artwork on walls and so, even with our portrait studio, we are full service portrait studio that's print based, so we help people get the artwork on walls and the artwork is their family. A lot of people just will take pictures and give digital, and I've had so many people and that's how I started and so many people come back to me and say I lost the link and I was like that was a year and a half ago. Yeah well, we never did anything with that. I mean, we loved them, but we just got busy. And so a couple of years ago I switched over to a product based photographer for families and seniors and so we helped them through the whole process. Not only do we meet before them to plan the shoot, but then we do the shoot. Then a couple of days later they come to the studio and we have this in person reveal session. Now we got the 75 inch TV in the small room and we get to show them their pictures and we get I get to watch their face.

Speaker 1 38:48

Oh, that's awesome, yes.

Speaker 2 38:51

And then, after we identify the pictures that they love, then we was like, okay, well, how are we gonna make sure that these get printed? And so we have these album and we have the canvas and metal and acrylic for the wall. And we have these beautiful announcements for the high school seniors and we have all these little gift items for families, that for grandma or special aunts and uncles where they can get these little small mini albums. It costs a lot more than just a lot of other photographers but, you get so much more as far as the value and the quality of printing is just phenomenal. The labs that we partner with for these albums and everything. So, and then they come in and it's literally in a gift bag and with tissue paper and it's like Christmas morning. They get to open up and they get to see their family pictures as artwork.

Speaker 1 39:33

I think it's so important and I do know that you promote that Like. This is not to live in your device. It's needs to be up on your wall, and I think we have so much storage space in our devices Now. We just go around snapping everything and there's not many that we print. I think it's so important that you take and capture those moments but then you get it up on the wall.

Speaker 2 39:53

Most pictures live on the internet. The best pictures live on walls.

Speaker 1 39:56

The best ones live on the walls. I mean I walked into your house.

Speaker 2 39:58

And what did I see going up your stairway?

Speaker 1 40:00

My two boys. My two boys.

Speaker 2 40:02

I mean, yes, we can look at our phones and if we get great pictures taken by photographers and after a couple of days we've scrolled past them, now in the year we'll get reminded by Facebook about those pictures, that's right. And two years after that, and three years after that, but why not have them printed on the wall? And then we also do professional hanging. So if someone is going to drive to my studio to get their pictures taken and come and do the in-person viewing session and ordering session, and then if they want me to come hang the wall, I come and come hang the campuses on their walls for them. I mean, if they traveled to me, why wouldn't I travel?

Speaker 1 40:34

to them. Yeah, that's nice.

Speaker 2 40:35

Of course, all that's built into our price point as well too, but we are a full service photographer.

Speaker 1 40:39

And it's not for everyone.

Speaker 2 40:40

I get it, but by being at a higher price point it enables us to not be overworked as well, too, and give that extra special attention throughout the whole process to our clients.

Speaker 1 40:52

Let's talk about those high school senior portraits, because you mentioned that you really enjoy shooting those and I just wanted to find out. Maybe you could share the reasons why you have such a passion for this specific type of photography.

High School Senior Portraits

Speaker 2 41:05

Yeah well, growing up as an athlete myself, I mean I've literally had, like we've shot pictures of teams, of younger teams eight year olds, ten year olds and I've had the coach come up to me after we delivered the pictures a couple months later and he goes. They actually played better the week after because they just had more confidence like they saw them Self. I was like how cool is that? And we do a lot of these senior banners that hang in gyms or on the chain link fences going into the stadiums. We do the awesome photography and we do the printing of the banners right in-house, so we can do a fast turnaround and all that stuff Not the cheapest again, but man, they're super cool and and the kids love them. And then they travel the banners, travel with the kids to their dorm rooms. They literally just live forever. Yeah, senior banners. I don't know when this podcast will come out, but our next billboard is going to be a picture of a high school senior football player Really top so high school, and so that should be going up in the next week or the senior girls.

Speaker 1 42:05

I know that they are also doing the athletic photography, but you mentioned a fashion flare for their senior portraits. Can you talk to me a little bit about that?

Speaker 2 42:13

I just love fashion photography. I love, you know, the edgy Outfits. The edgy lighting Photography is a lot with lighting and how you can light someone in a flattering manner and angles and pose and all that stuff and so a lot of that has to deal with fashion photography, and so I really study that, and so I have this great space, dedicated space, that I actually have a huge client closet of Clothes and props above. My wife is jealous of all the women's clothes, and so, yeah, fashion photography. I certainly if, if the high school senior girl is into that, or the boys as well too, I certainly will integrate that into their senior session as well too. And and get some, some really cool Fashiony type of shots in the studio or outside as well too.

Fashion Photography

Speaker 1 42:57

Okay, let's talk about your custom picture framing shop. Tell me a little bit about that so never planned on that.

Custom Picture Framing

Speaker 2 43:04

But when I got out of the army back in 96, I actually worked at a picture frame shop. Oh, that was my job out of the army, on Fort Bragg and. And so not only did I work there but I taught classes to the military and the spouses twice a week on just entry, to Picture framing that you do it shop there in Fort Bragg. And so I did that for five years while I was going through school, you know, continued dating my wife and got married and all that stuff. There was just a season of my life, but it was very helpful when I was looking to buy the equipment, the woodworking equipment to use to Build the stretcher bars for our canvases. And so I knew exactly what equipment to get to not only cut but join those those stretcher bars. And so I just had a friend come and we said, hey, man, I let this frame broke. Is there anywhere that you could fix it? Yeah, I bring it by. I got all the equipment, I'll fix it. And then, like a couple weeks later, so I was like, hey, I got broken glasses, or anyway. Yeah yeah, I got the all the equipment to be able to cut the glass and all that stuff and I was like, huh, what do I need to be a full picture frame shot? And literally it was one piece of equipment is a piece of equipment that mounts artwork to the backing material and so bought a used piece, drove down to Georgia and got that and then hooked up and that literally was the last thing that I needed to Be a complete custom picture frame shop. And so then I was just getting the samples of the picture frame molding and the matte boards and yeah. Decating some space to it. And so, yeah, that's the. That's the fourth entity of above top, so it was really just all makes sense, but it follows our philosophy or our mission of putting artwork on walls.

Speaker 1 44:36

Mm-hmm. So I would like to move on to your personal life, if you don't mind. You mentioned earlier that you were from northern Illinois and Army and. Fort Bragg brought you to North Carolina. Do you miss northern Illinois? Do you ever think about you? Do you visit a lot? Do you think about going back or you're? You're permanent here, mr Mayer, right? No, yeah, I'm permanent here.

Speaker 2 44:57

No, it's way too cold up there. I'll be honest with you. I hear you so I grew up in Freeport Illinois, which is just the west of Rockford, which is two hours west of Chicago, so right about 10, 15 miles away from the Wisconsin border. In fact, my high school is a Freeport pretzels the Freeport pretzels, really. You can eat us, but you can't beat us. That's our little tagline.

Speaker 1 45:19

T-shirts and everything.

From Illinois to North Carolina

Speaker 2 45:23

No, no, no, Google it Freeport pretzels. So so I went into the army straight out of high school and Actually I was still 17 when I went into the army and in fact I was an airborne school down at Fort Bragg when I turned 18 and Eventually it quickly, I got because I was airborne. I got to Fort Bragg. I really enjoyed my time in the army. I'm also really glad I got out. Just wasn't for me the structure or whatever the case may be. I'm very glad to be able to serve my country. It allowed me time to grow up, gave me Army College fund and GI bill to be able to pay for schooling. And that's ultimately what brought us to Wilmington was transferring the UNCW for computer science, and so graduated in 2022, moved to Hampstead for five years and then been in Holly Ridge for the last 15. But yeah, met my wife while I was in the army. I was actually. I was in a singing group, the 82nd airborne division chorus, which no one knows about Until you watched America's Got Talent. This, literally, is from the last couple weeks. They were a finalist on America's Got Talent. Now everybody knows about the same group that I sang in at my wife's high school. She was 16. I was 19 when I just met her by chance at a high school assembly. We were, we'd sang there and then we just became pen pals and you know the rest is history. So that's what brought me to Fort Bragg and then North Carolina. And then UNCW brought me to Wilmington and in a job in Jacksonville Straight out of college, took us to the Hampstead area. So that's kind of transition for me. You've been married 25 years to Lindsay.

Speaker 1 46:55

It's a celebration of years.

Speaker 2 46:56

Congratulations a little girl who's nine and little boy who is 12 now and in Two days he turns 13.

Speaker 1 47:04

We'll have a teenager now All right, so we have come to the end of my podcast, and it's been wonderful talking to you. The last thing I like to do is something called final thoughts, and I just want to find out what is the one thing that you Really want the listeners to know about you, jeff Wenzel, or, above top soul.

Final Thoughts

Speaker 2 47:25

I guess people were to think, or just know, that I'm passionate about whatever I'm doing at the time. I have a lot of drive in me and so whatever I'm doing, I'm gonna do the best that I can, and I'm a lifelong learner and so I'm going to do formal and informal education to do the best that I can at whatever I'm doing at the time yeah. I think people can see my passion for whatever I'm doing and you know that's that's what I look for when I'm looking for team members to join the team. I want someone who has a passion for something because I mean I I don't pay my employees enough. I wish I could, wish I could pay them double what they're making. But if you can find someone who loves what they're doing and provide a Neat and we still gotta get the work done but a fun environment, then people will come work for you. And then if you invest in them and also just realize that you only have team members, employees, whatever, whatever you refer to mass, you happen for a season and so you know you have to realize that you have people for a season when they do choose to move on for whatever reason and you can't take that personally. I mean, this is my business, is my livelihood. I take everything personally, but you got to not do that, and especially when dealing with team members, do the most that you can for them for as long as you have them, and then wish them well when they make a decision to leave for Whatever reason, and help them out and then find people who are passionate. That's, that's what I would say.

Speaker 1 48:50

Thank you.

Speaker 2 48:51

Thank you for having me.

Speaker 1 48:52

Thank you for coming here and sharing with me the way that you have. I really appreciate it and I can't wait for the listeners to hear this episode. It's gonna be so fun. You want to talk about your contact information?

Speaker 2 49:02

Sure, you can find me, of course, right on highway 17 and Holly Ridge by the stoplight there's only one and directly across the street from City Cafe and Holly Ridge Tire. You'll see my signs out front and my billboard now. But to stop and NCS. We have regular business hours. I may be in or out, but I might definitely have a staff that will greet you and offer to give you a tour of our facility. You can find us online at for topsoil artwork, at above topsoil calm, and then people can find out more information about my portrait studio at JW for Jeff Wenzel, jw portrait studio calm, and, of course, we have all the socials that have the same names as well too. The address is 301 US highway 17 in Holly.

Speaker 1 49:43

Ridge. May I give out the phone number? It's 910 803 1759 and what email address do you want to put here?

Speaker 2 49:53

Jeff at above top sale calm.

Contact and Location Information

Speaker 1 49:56

All right. Well, thank you, listeners, for joining us today. I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did, and thank you again, jeff. I really appreciate it.

Speaker 2 50:03

Thank you.

Speaker 1 50:04

Bye. Hey, thank you for joining me today on Topsoil Insider. If you liked today's episode, please hit the follow or subscribe button so that you can get the Topsoil Insider Podcast Delivered automatically to whichever podcast platform you're listening on. And if you're a business owner and you wish to set up a pre interview or you want to advertise, please email me at topsoilinsider at gmailcom. Please also find and like the Topsoil Insider Facebook page. I provide links to the new podcast there each week, as well as providing photos of the businesses that I'm highlighting Along with any of their upcoming events. So, hey, let's do this again next week. I'll see you around Topsoil.