What You’ll Get
I only picked up a camera about 8 years ago when I was taking a Graphic Design course at SMC and I had to take a photography elective. The moment I had my first assignment I was hooked, knowing that this was what I was looking for my entire life.
What made me realize that was the fact that I didn’t care how much money I made doing it. With every other “job” I tried to pursue, I was in it for the wrong reasons, mostly asking myself “How much can I make doing this?”. With years of shooting on the side as a “second job”, I was lucky enough to make photography my full-time career as of 4 years ago.
One of the biggest struggles starting off was the lack of support and knowledge available to me from fellow photographers. Photographers have a tendency to keep their tricks to themselves because of the slight fear that someone will adapt their unique way of shooting and then copy it. There’s a lot to learn on set with photographers by being their assistant, however the majority of the time a photographer wants assistants that know more than them on the technical side. A lot of time on set you don’t have time to “teach” your assistants what to do, you just want to tell them what you want and they do it. So with that said, it was very difficult for me to get on set as an assistant because my knowledge was minimal.
I took to the internet to learn what I could, and was lucky enough to have a father who is an amazing photographer to ask him technical advice. The internet was filled with great tutorials to learn photoshop (lynda.com) and all that, but when it comes to watching the tutorials about cameras and shooting portraits it was always hosted by older men who knew nothing about the fashion world and shot the cheesiest photos. If I am not interested in the teacher, it is hard for me to listen to their advice and tips. The lack of inspiring people to learn from online lead me to just fend for myself. Everyday I shot photos of my friends, played around with understanding the balance between Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO, until I got the hang of it all.
Over the years I’ve seen a few female photographers step up and teach their ways, but not enough. I always told myself that if I ever get the opportunity to teach people what I know, I would. So a couple days ago I asked the people who follow me on Instagram what they want to learn from me in terms of photography. I thought I would get maybe a handful of responses, but I ended up getting over 100 responses. This reminded me how of how I felt when I first started (and I still have so many things I need and want to learn), and now with all this extra time I feel like its the perfect time to create a platform of spreading my knowledge.
I will be doing a mix of Video Tutorials and written blog posts, depending on what questions need a video walk through and what is easier to just read.
Please feel free to email me if there is a topic you want to learn about!