Who The Hell Is Riley Will?
Chances are good that you—as a longtime performance-boating fan—know of photographers Pete Boden, Tom Leigh and Jeff Helmkamp. You probably also recall New Jersey-based shooter Tim Sharkey, Lake of the Ozarks lensman George Denny and photographer Jay Nichols, formerly of Southwest Florida.
Devoted readers of long-gone Powerboat magazine won’t ever forget the late, great photographer Tom Newby. They may even recognize the names of the late Jamie Russel and F. Pierce Williams, both of whom contributed some wonderful images to the publication during the years.
But who the hell is Riley Will? Unless you work at Performance Boat Center in Osage Beach, Mo., you likely have no idea.
Yet moving forward—pardon the verb choice—you will.
Will is Performance Boat Center’s in-house photographer and videographer. He also is tasked with the formidable job of freshening the multi-brand dealership’s social media portals.
“Never in a million years would I have thought we would have a content-creator on staff, but now Riley is an everyday asset,” said Brett Manire, the co-owner of Performance Boat Center. “He’s a young kid who is really focused on learning what’s next. We’re very happy to have him.”
Manire makes an excellent point. Before social media projectile-vomited its way into our lives, high-performance marine industry companies had no need for full-time shooters, much less warm bodies to handle their Instagram and Facebook initiatives. They hired photographers a few times a year for catalog and marketing materials work. That was it.
Now a number of companies including Cigarette Racing Team, DCB Performance Marine, Sunsation Boats and more have such content providers either on staff or retainer. For those who prefer to outsource their efforts, a number of full-service social media marketing companies—the Nautical Network being the best-known and well-established of them—are out there and do fine work.
Clearly, there is a demand for such services. Expect to see more and more Riley Wills in the high-performance marine world and you won’t be disappointed.
Soon enough, you’ll even recognize their names.—Matt Trulio
Source: https://www.powerboatnation.com/who-the-hell-is-riley-will/
