MUSKEGON, Mich. — Doug Sims has many different titles. To most people in West Michigan, he’s a photographer. Some recognize his voice from his radio show. Still, others know him as the owner and operator of Grander Media. And that’s only the beginning of his creative endeavors.
The Muskegon native is also producing a feature film, creating different forms of visual artwork, and he’s toying with the idea of coordinating a jazz festival. It all started with a love for art.
“I think it began as a child,” Sims said. “I used to be the only kid with a coloring book where all the lines stayed within the format. Nothing was just scribbled all over the place. I used to make my own borders and things of that nature, and bring different colors together, but everything blended really well. It was really well organized on the page.”
Everything changed for Sims when he was 16 years old, he said. It was then that his love for photography began.
“I thought I wanted to be an artist,” he said. “I was into painting and things of that nature, and I was pretty decent. But once I picked up the camera, my brain just totally switched, and I had a new outlook on that format.”
Fast-forward nearly 40 years, and Sims is still snapping photos.
“I still do photography if not every day, every week,” he said. “I kind of do everything except babies, but I do weddings, I specialize in seniors and headshots, I do corporate events and things of that nature as well.”
Sims currently lives in his hometown of Muskegon but said he’s always been fond of Grand Rapids. That’s one of the reasons he launched Grander Media, which includes an internet radio broadcast and a magazine publication.
“Grander actually derived from my first magazine which was called Liquid, and it was a worldwide magazine online only,” Sims said. “I decided to create a magazine for the city of Grand Rapids to highlight entrepreneurs, business owners, arts culture, entertainment, things of that nature.”
His radio show highlights many of the same things, offering locals a chance to come on and promote their business. As for the feature film “Leo,” written by Grand Rapids own Marcel Gamble and starring Omar Gooding and Marc John Jefferies, Sims said it was filmed in Grand Rapids and has already had two local screenings.
When asked about his goals, Sims said he might like to do a documentary someday. Past that, he’s just concentrated on giving back to the community.
“One thing I would really like to do is create a program for kids to show them how to do photography and media, have them do all the photography, show them how to do the editing, and then have a gallery showing of their works to where their images are that size,” Sims said referencing a large poster on the wall. “They can come and dress up, black tie. That's one thing that's on my list to do.”
For more information about Doug Dims Photography, CLICK HERE. And to learn more about Grander Media, CLICK HERE.
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