Meet Travis Borkenhagen of Elevation Event Photography

Today we’d like to introduce you to Travis Borkenhagen.

Hi Travis, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My story starts with the Marine Corps. I enlisted right after high school and spent those years learning the fundamentals that still shape my work: discipline, logistics, attention to detail, and the ability to perform when the clock is ticking. After my service, I enrolled at Arizona State University, graduated with honors, and picked up photography to help pay tuition. The assignments grew from small local gigs into multi-day events because clients valued two things: I stay calm when everything is moving, and I deliver exactly what they asked for—on time, buttoned-up, and useful.

That side hustle became a career. Today I run two complementary brands in Phoenix. Elevation Event Photography serves corporations—conferences, executive summits, keynotes, breakouts, brand activations—where the goal is utility: images that fuel marketing, press, recaps, and internal communications. Lovelee Photography focuses on weddings, where the stakes are personal and the standard is timeless, elegant storytelling.

The through-line is simple: preparation and service. I map the run-of-show, learn the client’s priorities, and build coverage that balances must-have moments with candid, human storytelling. I’m proud that most of our work still comes from referrals and long-term relationships.

From the Marines to ASU to entrepreneurship, every step reinforced the same lesson: outcomes > ego. Show up ready, execute under pressure, communicate clearly, and take care of people. That’s how I started, how I got here, and why I plan to keep doing this for a long time.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Smooth? Not exactly. Valuable? Absolutely. I started while in college, which meant learning business operations on the fly: budgeting, taxes, insurance, contracts, and—most important—pricing in a way that protects the client experience. In the early years I said “yes” to everything. That taught me where problems hide: unclear scopes, vague timelines, and assumptions about “we’ll grab it if we can.”

So we built guardrails. Every event now starts with a priorities call, a concise run-of-show, and a must-have image list mapped to who/when/where. We carry full redundancy (bodies, lenses, lighting, batteries, media), and we staff with trained associates so coverage doesn’t hinge on one person. Complex venues and union houses taught us to pre-clear access, load-in, and credentialing days in advance. Gear failures led to on-site QA checks and immediate backups to dual media plus off-site cloud at night.

COVID was a major test: mass cancellations, shifting rules, and client uncertainty. We responded with written safety protocols, contactless delivery, flexible scheduling, and a focus on what clients needed most—useful assets fast. That became a permanent strength: same-day or next-morning selects for executive recaps and social, with full galleries following on deadline.

The through-line is simple: turn friction into process. Today those lessons show up as calm, predictable execution—clear communication, contingency planning, on-time delivery, and images that actually work for marketing, PR, and memory. Clients shouldn’t feel the turbulence; they should just see strong, on-brand results.

As you know, we’re big fans of Elevation Event Photography. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Elevation Event Photography grew out of a simple idea: corporate events deserve imagery that actually works. We’re based in Phoenix and travel nationwide, partnering with producers, marketing teams, and agencies to cover everything from intimate board meetings to multi-day conferences with 3,000-person keynotes. The Marine mindset that shaped how I work—prepare thoroughly, execute calmly, and take care of the team—still shows up in the way we plan shows, map priorities, and deliver on deadline.

What clients tend to notice first isn’t a flashy style; it’s the steadiness. We learn the run-of-show, understand who matters most and why, and build coverage that balances must-have moments with candid, human storytelling. On site, we’re unobtrusive but organized—stage cues are anticipated, breakouts are covered cleanly, sponsors get what they need, executives are photographed in flattering light without losing time. After the lights go down, the practical part begins: highlight selects land same-day or the next morning for decks, recaps, and social; the full gallery follows on a defined timeline with consistent color and file naming that makes assets easy to deploy.

Across a year, that approach scales—hundreds of sessions, multiple rooms at once, and a unified look across shooters because the process is the same whether it’s a keynote or a sponsor activation. Redundancy is built in: dual-slot capture, mirrored gear, on-site backups, and a vetted associate bench so delivery never hinges on one person. None of this is meant to be dramatic; it’s simply the quiet professionalism our clients rely on.

If there’s a single thing we’re proud of, it’s long-term relationships. Most of our work comes from referrals and repeat partners who value images that move their event forward—marketing, PR, internal comms, recruiting—without needing a lot of direction. That’s the brand: clear communication, dependable execution, and photographs that do a job well.

Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
I keep the toolkit simple and practical.

For day-to-day operations, Apple and Adobe programs run the business (Docs for run-of-show briefs, Sheets for shot ownership, Calendar for holds and travel). Shoflo is great when producers share a live cue sheet, just clean execution. Slack keeps show comms tight; when it’s just me and a client team, I default to email threads with clear subject lines and decisions summarized at the top.

On the imaging side, Photo Mechanic handles fast culling at scale; Lightroom Classic does 90% of the color work; Capture One comes out for tricky stage lighting. Backups are belt-and-suspenders: dual-slot capture on site, nightly offloads to SSD, mirrored RAID at the studio, and cloud redundancy via Backblaze. Delivery is straightforward: branded online galleries with organized file naming so marketing and PR can find what they need without hunting.

For thinking and planning, Obsidian holds playbooks—lighting diagrams, venue notes, credentialing checklists, and post-production SOPs. Readwise keeps highlights searchable so lessons don’t evaporate after a chapter ends.

A few books that actually improved my work:
– The Checklist Manifesto (Atul Gawande) for building calm, repeatable systems under pressure.
– Extreme Ownership
– Atomic Habits for making good process the default instead of a heroic effort.

Podcasts I return to on flights:
– Acquired for case-study thinking
– PetaPixel for industry changes and gear realities without the hype.

None of this is flashy. It’s tools that make teams calmer, images more consistent, and delivery predictable—so clients feel zero turbulence and get assets that work.

Pricing:

• Corporate Event Pricing: $250 per hour
• Event Videography Pricing: $350
• Headshot Pricing: $395

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.elevationeventphotos.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elevationeventphotos/