10+ years teaching commercial photography at the university level. Runs his own product photography e-commerce business. Teaches what actually works — because he's had to prove it himself.
Photography is a skill.
Selling with it is a system.
I teach both.
— Rion Huffman, The Photo Professor
Replace this paragraph with your own words. This is your space to tell your story in your own voice — where you grew up, how you first got into photography, what drew you to the commercial side of the craft, or what it felt like the first time you saw how much a great product photo could change a sale. Write it however feels natural to you. This doesn't need to be formal — in fact, the less it reads like a resume, the better.
Replace this second paragraph with more of your story. Talk about your transition into teaching — why you decided to share what you know instead of keeping it to yourself. You might mention a student moment that stuck with you, or a realization you had about how most photography education ignores the business side entirely. This is where your genuine perspective on teaching and on business owners' real problems should live.
Optional third paragraph — keep or remove. Some instructors like to include a more personal note here: family, where they're based, what they do outside of teaching, or a belief they hold that shapes how they approach the work. It's up to you — but if something about your life outside the studio informs why you teach the way you do, this is a good place to say it.
Every stage taught something the next one required. The curriculum exists because of all of them.
Rion has spent over a decade teaching commercial photography inside a university curriculum — not online courses, not YouTube tutorials. The kind of teaching where you get your work critiqued in front of a room, and you learn fast.
That training discipline is what separates The Photo Professor curriculum from the noise. Every lesson has a learning objective. Every technique has a reason. Every module builds on the one before it.
Color doesn't behave the same way on a phone, a laptop, a TV, or in print. A product that looks warm and rich in your camera roll can look washed-out on Amazon or sickly on a customer's older monitor.
Rion's Color Reproduction background means his students learn not just how to shoot — but how to ensure their colors survive every screen they land on. This is the gap between a photo that looks "pretty good" and one that actually converts.
The same product image — the only difference is whether color was managed intentionally.
"I didn't learn this in a classroom. I learned it trying to sell something."
Most photography educators teach from a studio. Rion teaches from a store. He built and operates his own e-commerce business — shooting his own product photography, managing his own listings, and learning exactly what makes a photo sell versus what just looks impressive.
That experience is why the curriculum is structured around outcomes, not technique for its own sake. Every lesson answers the question: how does this make your product photography more effective for your business?
When Rion teaches you how to handle a difficult background or nail a color profile, it's not because he read it somewhere. It's because he had to figure it out himself with real products, real customers, and real consequences.
The free YouTube content covers the fundamentals — enough to get started. The curriculum picks up where YouTube leaves off: structured, progressive, and built around your specific business context.
10+ years teaching. A running e-commerce business. A curriculum built on what actually moves product.