Barbara DuMetz has combined a bundle of energy with a creative eye to become one of the nation's finest photographers. This lofty status has allowed her to taste some of the glamorous fruits of her more than 40-year professional career, which began in Los Angeles in the early 1970’
DuMetz's camera has taken her from the beaches of California to the top
advertising agencies in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and other major
cities around the country.
She has shot photo layouts of celebrities and noted personalities such as Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Betty Saar, Bernie Casey, Richard Roundtree, Pam Greer, Nancy Wilson, Della Reese, Ed McMahan and Lou Rawls Among others. This dynamic photographer commands top day rate fees for shooting magazine ads for Coca Cola, Toyota, Miller Brewing Company, Nestles Inc., MacDonald’s and Delta Airlines to name a few.
A typical day for Barbara might start at 7:30 in the morning shooting a product ad in the studio and end on location shooting a portrait of the literary author Bebe Moore Campbell in Her home for a book Jacket cover.
Born in Charleston, West Virginia and reared in Detroit, Michigan, DuMetz inherited her attraction to photography from her grandfather Eustace T. DuMetz- a professional photographer in Charleston W.Va. Still it wasn't until she graduated from Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee and was employed as a buyer trainee for a New York department store that she began to think seriously about a career in photography.
"I went out on a location shoot for the advertising department, DuMetz says "and fell in love with all the lights and cameras. Since my grandfather was a photographer, my family was very supportive of my choice to become a Photographer." With the help of a friend and a borrowed camera, DuMetz put together a portfolio and searched out an Art School. Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California is the Harvard of commercial art schools on the west coast so that’s where I went. DuMetz says.
After finishing Art Center in 1973 the hard work began. " I had to teach and work at a department store to make ends meet. My first big brake came as a photo illustrator for Essence Magazine.
"Following that were jobs for Black Enterprise Magazine, A&M Records, MCA Records, Capital Records and for the Promotion divisions of numerous other public relations firms and production companies. She also shot fashion and product advertisements for the Robinsons-May, Broadway and Emporium Capwell Department Stores.
Over the years Barbara has exhibited her work in a number of group shows in New York, Chicago, Atlanta and Los Angeles as well as having been featured in published books on Black Women Photographers and the arts as well as in Magazine articles on the subject of commercial photographer’s. She has also been awarded with three CEBA awards and a LULU award sponsored by the Los Angeles Advertising Women Association.
Presently Barbara owns and operates her photography business from her home office/Studio in Atlanta, Ga. where she has lived since 2010.
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