When Pat Brown was in the seventh grade, he was given a darkroom set up as a gift.

Together with his father in their basement, Brown learned everything he could about photography and it eventually took him to places like Spain, Denmark and Hong Kong, China.

“My parents always made sure I understood that I could do anything I wanted,” Brown said. “And that a career choice should be something you love as opposed to just for financial reasons.”

Brown said he loved to travel and thought for a while he would be a photojournalist for National Geographic magazine. He attended Ohio University for one year and then went to the Rochester (N.Y.) Institute of Technology where he his passion for the commercial side of the business grew.

He once was offered a position with Kodak, but opted to come back to Hamilton where he has owned his own commercial studio at 228 Village Street in Hamilton’s German Village since 1977.

Brown said he was driving down Third Street with his sister one day looking for a building to invest in when he saw a building overflowing with people, so he asked his realtor to look into anything that was available in the area.

“We’ve been very happy to be part of the German Village experience,” said Brown, who celebrated 35 years in business this year.

The biggest shock Brown said he had after graduating college had to do with the ins and outs of running a small business.

“It was great to be an artist, but I did not know much about running a business,” Brown said. “Fortunately, I learned enough to survive.”

Brown also has survived a number of changes in the field of photography, including going from black-and-white prints to color and then eventually from film to digital.

“When I first started, you couldn’t do your own color processing, and a lot of studios began to close then,” Brown said. “Then there was the huge transition to digital and a lot of others did not embrace the transition from the darkroom to the computer, but I think loving what you do makes it easier to tolerate the challenges.

“To be able to move people with photos has always been exciting for me,” he continued. “I’ve met a lot of wonderful people in this business and just seeing the joy on someone’s face has been the biggest reward for me.”