The story of an IT engineer who gave up everything and became a photographer

No matter how much scientists talk about the dangers of boring and unloved work, not everyone can decide to quit everything after many years of working in one field and start something new from scratch. But Elko Rus belongs to those few brave souls who were not afraid to radically change their lifestyle and find something to their liking. After working for the last 10 years as an IT specialist at the IBM branch in Amsterdam, Elko left his profession and completely devoted himself to his favorite business — photography.

He was inspired to take the decisive step by the number of subscribers of his Instagram page, which exceeded 400,000. Rus does not doubt for a second the choice he made, and these photos and the story of their author only confirm that turning his hobby into a profession was the right decision.

Rus has worked at IBM for over 10 years.

According to Rus himself, he never considered working in the IT field to be his dream job, while photographing has always been his biggest passion.

When he first downloaded the Instagram app, he didn't attach much importance to it. Rus couldn't even imagine that a mobile device could take good pictures.

One day, while waiting for a train, Rus took several photos on Instagram — a new hobby engulfed him with his head.

He wanted to show others how cool it is when you can take beautiful pictures on your smartphone with only a few basic photography skills.

So he began to share his pictures taken during the trip to work and back.

Since many of the first Instagram users were Americans, most of their pictures were from New York or San Francisco.

Rus lived in Amsterdam, so his photos stood out from the rest.

During his travels, Rus shoots mainly landscapes.

Elko Rus quickly managed to win a large number of fans.

Instagram noticed the high popularity of the page and added its Suggest User List, which is responsible for recommending certain users. The number of subscribers of Elko began to grow even faster.

After he crossed the threshold of 100,000 subscribers, various companies and brands began to offer him cooperation, wishing to create an online advertising campaign with his participation.

One of these companies was Samsung, which worked with Rus to advertise the NX1 camera.

A picture taken by a Samsung Galaxy camera.

Rus' collaboration with Ducati.

He traveled almost all of Scotland to take this picture for Johnnie Walker.

To promote events and popularize places, Rus visited other countries, such as France, Ireland, Switzerland.

As his popularity and the number of pictures grew, Rus began to realize that it was becoming increasingly difficult for him to combine his hobby and his main profession.

Soon he realized that he had to make a choice.

In the end, he decided to quit his job at IBM and take up photography entirely. So far, he does not regret his decision.

Now Rus can fully focus on photography.

In addition to shooting, he conducts seminars and consultations in his home country, the Netherlands.

He teaches everyone how to shoot with a smartphone and how brands can use Instagram for their marketing campaigns.

Rus also created several photographs at the Rijksmuseum, the largest national museum in the Netherlands.

One day, the museum's management allowed him and 19 other Instagram users to enter the museum when it was closed to the public. Thus, visitors had the opportunity to capture the works and themselves without a crowd of people around.

It turned out, for example, such pictures.

Now Rus is quite popular at home.

Instagram marketing campaigns with brands and travel agencies are its main source of income.

The photographer himself says that this is a dream come true!