At eighteen years old Louis Lesko taped two 8 x 10 prints into a PeeChee school folder and walked into the top modeling agency in San Francisco. Looking to start his fashion career he handed the "portfolio" over for review. Three minutes later he was back in the elevator going down. To ignorant to realize the uproarious laughter from the booking room really wasn't positive thing, he naively kept going back with new images until he caught a break. Under the guidance of one of the toughest agents in the industry, Louis started his career shooting model tests until he was accepted to the University of Southern California.

In 1989 he completed a double major in English and a minor in Art History. After graduation he decided to try his skills as a photo-journalist. Blind luck, good timing and a bad hangover contributed to Louis landing an assignment that took him to Russia as part of Montage, a bold project to publish a magazine in both countries, in both languages. The first periodical of its kind ever attempted, Louis was based out of Novisti Press in Moscow. One of the youngest photographers of the organization, the people of Novisti honored Louis with an award for his work. Addicted to assignment work that took him to far off places, Louis continued on with photo-journalism for two more years, until he realized he was well traveled but broke.

Louis eventually landed back in San Francisco where he rekindled his fashion career. Fresh with the experience of his travels, he wanted to bring a more editorial story telling style to his fashion work. Mostly because he didn't have the cash for a studio and this style could be shot on location in natural light. Always looking upward, Louis moved back to Los Angeles 1992 in pursuit of more fashion and commercial work. He felt that Los Angeles' market, while extremely daunting, would provide a good test of his abilities. Ultimately it provided a few really lean years.

Just when he thought he couldn't eat another bite of a cheap burrito, Louis caught a break with a regional Countrywide Mortgage ad that went national. As his work evolved, Louis found himself shooting for more commercial clients like Honda, Quest Communications, AT&T and Microsoft. Looking to diversify, he took advantage of his proximity to Hollywood and managed to get his work the on sets of movies and television shows.

Louis broke new ground with his directorial debut of a breast cancer awareness public service announcement in 2000. Lurking around in the TV circles, his slightly frenzied personality got him a brief appearance on MTV as a photographer. His successful debut earned him a spot on other TV shows including a featured story on his behind the scenes style that appeared on NBC. As his exposure became more widespread, he attracted the interest of Digital Photo Pro magazine. A magazine the Louis terms "the most important periodical for the digital era..." He is currently a regular contributor.

As he wrote about all the really dumb mistakes he made as a photographer, Louis decided to try and help other shooters from making the same mistakes. In 2005 Blinkbid was born. Billed as the easiest to use estimating and invoicing software on the market, Blinkbids popularity continues to grow. Louis and his cohorts at Blinkbid remain dedicated to educating photographers in sound business practices. "Taking a great picture is fantastic, making money taking a great picture is fabulous."

Currently he is represented by Dana Walach for Photography and Commercials, 310.337.1690. All feature film and television inquiries should be directed to Sonja Panajotavic, 310.463.6845. All Louis' stock photography is handled by Corbis.

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