31-Year-Old Dominick Lewis Built One Of A Few Black-Owned Camera Stores In New York And Turned It Into A Million-Dollar Business – AfroTech

Dominick Lewis turned his passion for photography into a million-dollar business.

While attending Drexel University, Lewis initially pursued a career as a Navy officer,  CNBC Make It reports. He enrolled in its Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) program early on. However, he pivoted after two years and decided instead to nurture his interest in photography. He purchased a camera at 18 years old and describes having been “obsessed” since.

Lewis decided to turn his hobby into a lucrative career. He left Drexel University during his sophomore year and in 2015 opened Palm Beach Photo Studio back home in Florida. The venture lasted nine months because he was evicted from the location.

“It was a savior in itself because it allowed me to step away from it and rethink what that business structure looks like,” Lewis told  CNBC Make It. “I built that studio because I wanted to do something for my hometown in Florida but it was definitely a limited market down there.”

Lewis channeled his energy to launch Photodom.shop, a photography brand and online source that sold gear and customized merchandise to photographers, in 2017. The business was headquartered in New York, where he had lived as a child. It then scaled from “photo walks” and gathering to a studio space in Brooklyn, NY. The next natural progression for the business was a storefront with the idea conceived during a period of social unrest following George Floyd’s murder in May 2020.

“I took my spare time to go to a lot of the protests. One of the things I definitely noticed was that there was a lack of support from the businesses that were directly benefiting from the George Floyd protests,” Lewis, 31, explained, according to  CNBC Make It. “I felt that starting something at that time, especially a physical camera store, could have been very impactful for the community.”

Lewis then launched a GoFundMe to secure $25,000 to purchase inventory and hire employees, but the community surpassed his expectations, raising nearly $40,000 in a few days. Photodom officially opened as a storefront in September 2020 as one of the few Black-owned camera stores. In 2024, the store generated over $1.1 million in revenue and was supported by 10 employees. The store has also moved to a larger space with classes and workshops.

“The neighborhood loves us being here. People can feel comfortable going to and asking any type of questions that they want about cameras and photography,” Lewis mentioned, per  CNBC Make It.

His hope now is to expand to a second location in Harlem or the South Bronx.