Paul Wellman is a truly gifted photographer. As Exhibit A, just take a look at The Santa Barbara Independent’s Year in Pictures currently on newsstands around town, featuring dozens of his best shots from the past year.
One of the most amazing things about Paul is that he basically learned all of his skills while on the job. He started in the newspaper’s editorial design department back in 2001, with essentially no experience behind a camera. “I had an interest in photography, but I’d never thought anything would come of it,” he confides. “When people would tell me I took a good photo, I thought they were just being nice.”
Eight months into his new job, The Indy’s then-photographer Matt Straka left the paper and Marianne Partridge, our editor-in-chief, eventually offered Paul the position. “Don’t you want a real photographer?” replied Paul, to which Marianne quipped, “There were great photographers long before there was photography school!”