Chris Carino had just finished up with a photo shoot when he agreed to sit down for an interview. He and his partner, Gabe Tam, have kept a busy schedule lately; shooting more child and family portrait photos than in past years, but still taking jobs shooting high- and low-profile events alike. Over the weekend, he would shoot the Puyallup leg of the annual Daffodil parade.

“If I were describing how I wanted our jobs to break down, it would be 60 or 70 percent weddings, 30 percent portraits and 10 percent other types of jobs, like car photography, clubs and things like that,” Carino said, while sitting in an office room of his new studio.

Carino is an events photographer from Sumner. Entirely self-taught, he started professionally almost five years ago, photographing night club patrons as a means to earn back the cost of a $1,500 camera. Within a year, he was documenting large concert performances and big name artists like Lil Wayne. His business has continued to expand and August 2010 marked the point at which he was able to make photography his primary source of income.

Carino cited his daughter as the inspiration for his first steps into photography.

“I have a million pictures of her at home,” he said.

Professionally, he started off small.

Night club photographers are hired by a club’s owners to walk around parties and take pictures of customers. The customers are in turn given a card with instructions for ordering a copy.

“It’s not super challenging work, but from there I was able to meet contacts for more work,” Carino said.

Social networking sites—first MySpace and now Facebook—helped Carino make connections, creating a de facto directory of potential business contacts, and a place to show off his portfolio.

From there, it was a matter of letting the network grow.

“Twenty-one to 35 people I know get married, or have kids they’ll want photos of someday,” Carino said. “People know somebody who’s getting married or having kids. That’s a good way to meet potential customers.”

“It grows by word of mouth,” Tam added.

Business grew quickly, but then Carino’s wife died suddenly last year, derailing his entire life. He sent his daughter to stay with family in New York and started working a full nightshift at US Food Service.

At around the same time, he had started working with Tam, a graphic designer from Renton.

“After she died, Gabe kind of took over,” Carino said. “I would have stopped taking pictures if it weren’t for him. But he would book jobs on my days off from work and that kept it going.”

Business continued onward, operated out of Carino’s Sumner home. He and Tam worked full-time on top of his night job until it was decided that he would quit the grocer’s, a choice inspired by his desire to bring his daughter back home.

Last month, Carino and Tam opened their office studio in downtown Puyallup. They estimated that they only spend a third to half of their work time in the studio, but it has allowed them to broaden their customer base.

“There’s only so many people we can bring in when we’re working from my house,” Carino said. “It can just be a bit weird photographing someone professionally inside your home. The studio allows us to bring in everyone.”

The business is also evolving to include more graphic layout services, such as flyer and poster designs. Cash-strapped customers can always choose to take their own photos, but design work is a harder do-it-yourself project to pull off, Tam said.

Information about Carino & Tam photography can be found at www.gabetam.com.