Alumni Profile: Mindy Gootblatt Stricke '95

Professional portraits for online personals

Lots of people want to start their own businesses. But how do you find that perfect niche that: 1) fills a heretofore-undefined void that's just overflowing with pent-up demand, and 2) matches your talents and interests?

Sometimes you don't have to look any further than your own friends.

"I had a lot of friends doing the personals, and I was constantly enlisted to take photos because their own pictures weren't up to par," said Mindy Gootblatt Stricke, a professional photographer. "I thought, 'If my friends need this, surely there are others.'"

She was right. As the founder and owner of SingleShots, Stricke takes photographs for online personals. And she is busy! Her company became an overnight success right after making its debut in June.

On June 29 The New York Times published an article about her, "Through Her Lens, the Lovelorn Go Courting" by Erika Kinetz. The New York Daily News followed suit and since then, Stricke, a former producer for NBC, has been interviewed by CBS and CNN.

"There's been an amazing response to this," she said. "I've had dozens and dozens of e-mails and calls from people."

"By starting SingleShots . . . I have returned to how I experienced my passions and interests while in college," said Stricke. "Trying different things, having more than one project going on at one time, not knowing where everything will lead me, taking creative and professional risks; these are all things I learned and experienced while at Binghamton."

Stricke offers half-hour sessions at her home studio or outdoors. Afterward, clients can view proofs of their digital photos on the SingleShots website. They choose their favorites, and Stricke does some minor retouching. ("I don't like to retouch photos too much," said Mindy. "The photo should show the real you on a great day.") Then the photos are ready to be uploaded into Match.com, Jdate, Nerve or any of the other online dating sites.

"The photo on a personal site is the entryway to getting to know a whole person, and I try to capture that in the photo as much as possible," she said. To that end, she spends time with each person, and continues to talk with him or her during the shoot. "I shoot a lot, and I pause and chat a lot during shooting, to take the pressure off," she said. "It feels more like hanging out with a friend. People walk out of a SingleShots shoot telling me how they usually hate to have their picture taken, but that this was really fun and painless.ÊThat comes across in the photographs.

"I bring a casual vibe to the work," she said. "After all, nothing is sexier than being confident and relaxed."

However she does it, it's working. A lot of her clients report a huge difference in response to their profiles after replacing their old photo with the new one taken by Stricke. "Amazingly, one client put the new photo up on Match.com and received over 1,200 hits and dozens of responses!" Stricke said.

As the first photography business focused exclusively on the online personals market, SingleShots has wide open marketing possibilities. "I'm connecting with dating sites, people who help people spiff up their profiles and other singles event organizers," Stricke said. Although business is booming, she's handling all of it herself. "I'm booking weeks in advance now, and I hate making people wait, but I want to grow slowly," she said. "Everything happened so quickly, and I want to make sure that I expand intelligently."

To learn more about SingleShots, visit the website at www.singleshots.com. To see another, entirely different, genre of Stricke's photography -- one that focuses the lens on mysterious, sometimes haunting views of playgrounds, attics and basements -- go to www.mindy stricke.com.