The best advice i have ever recived was
"Give yourself permission to fail, then and only then will you be able to succeed"
Meet the Photographer
Hey, I'm Nik Thomas
I am a freelance photographer based in the South Bend, Indiana region! Primarily I am an action sports and event photographer but I do often dip my toes into many other forms of photography!
Photography is much more of a passion for me than anything else! I founded South Bend Photography / Nik Pics not for the money but mostly as a way to connect with people and find new opportunities to get out and shoot!
My Story
Around 12 years ago in my hometown of Centerville, Ohio is when I took my first step into the photography world. It all started with borrowing my mom's Nikon DSLR camera she had bought. I remember bringing it into High School and taking photos in my Mass Communications class. From there, I would bring it with me when my friends and I would go out exploring Dayton, Ohio and surrounding cities, capturing as many cool moments as I could. Throughout high school I took photos for the local city government, large car shows, and a Columbus Crew MLS soccer game as an on field photographer.
Around my senior year with my dad's help, I bought a Nikon D500 with a Tamron 15-30mm lens. With that camera, I was able to get the opportunity to taken team portraits for my brother's local soccer club. I had no idea what I was getting myself into and unfortunately many mistakes were made. While I ended up having to refund everyone and deal with the consequences, I learned so many invaluable lessons that has forever changed my approach to photography as a whole.
After high school was over, I ended up selling that camera before moving away to college and didn't touch photography for many years. Eventually I ended up moving to South Bend, Indiana and working for my family's company Microscreen. I started their as an Engineering intern, then sales, and just recently was moved to the role as Director of Microscreen. About 6-9 months before I became the director, I got heavily involved with Microscreen's marketing and I ended buying a Sony A7iv from my local camera store. The intention was originally to take some marketing/product photography for Microscreen.
Well it only took a few weeks to rediscover my passion for photography and I quickly started to fall in love with it again. Just like I did in high school, I started to carry that camera with me everywhere, taking photos wherever I could. Almost every weekend I spent looking for new sporting or other events to go out and shoot. It didn't take long for me to remember all of the elements of photography that I had learned back in school and even find and learn about new techniques and style that I wanted to try to learn and hopefully one day master. That brings us to where I am today, I have spent that past year refreshing myself on the basic and actively working on refining my style and photography skills.
Remembering the lessons learned back in high school, I decided that I was going to take the time to refine my abilities before marketing myself as a freelance photographer again. In May of 2026, I finally felt confident enough in my abilities and I started to start to take on new clients as a professional photographer. By design, it has been a slow start but I am extremely proud of all of the projects that I have delivered to date! Recently I formally established South Bend Photographer LLC in which the NikPics name is registered with. My primary goal as I grow is not to have this become a full time job (wanted to avoid ruining the passion) but instead use NikPics as a tool for networking and meeting new people that hopefully lead to cool unique photography opportunities.
My Gear
Cameras:
Sony A7iv w/ Vertical Battery Grip (Primary Full Frame)
Lens:
Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS
Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS II
Tamron 17-28mm f/2.8 Di III RXD
Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 Di III RXD
Cannon EF 35mm f/2 IS USM (with Sony FE to EF Adapter)
Lighting
Godox V1
Godox AD200 Pro ii (2x)
Gear saving to buy!
Viltrox 85mm f/1.4
Sigma Art 135mm f/1.4 DG
Sigma Art 28-105 f/2.8 DG DN
Sigma Art 14-24mm f/2.8 DG DN
Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM II
Sony A1 (Realistically a renewed A1 i but end goal is a A1 ii)
- Fallback plan would be a Sony A7R VI
Godox 400 Pro Outdoor (2x)
- Debating Godox 600 Pro ii instead
Let's talk