Preston, an aspiring photographer and photography student at U of O recently had some questions for me to help him in preparation for a class presentation. Below is the first part of our Q & A. Part two is to follow.
Q: Is your photography your main source of income? If not what is?
A: Photography is my main source of income, but let me qualify that a bit. First off, I didn’t leave teaching and go full time photographer until I had the financial resources to support myself while I built my business. I gave myself 5 years to replace my teacher’s salary. I’m coming up on year 4 as a full time photog. I’m optimistic that I’m going to get there. Also, I have a very understanding and supportive wife who has been the major source of family income over the last 3 1/2 years. I couldn’t do this without her. On the other hand, I started this career after I was already married, had house payments and two kids. Without those responsibilities I would be more free to invest time and money in my business without the pressure to turn a substantial profit right away.I don’t think that the kind of photography that I do and the way that I do it is a get rich quick kind of a career move, but I’m confident that it will continue to grow. Most outdoor photographers I know who are well established have been in the business for 20-30 years and even then, most of them aren’t wealthy…but job satisfaction is high.
Q: Where in your travels, is your favorite place to photograph?
A: I have a real connection to the mountainous regions of the world. The Himalayas certainly tops my list, but getting there and spending enough time to do the region justice is difficult and cost/time prohibitive for me at this stage. I also love the American West, especially the southwest. However, this is an area that is largely over-photographed in my mind. I want to take photos that are fresh and different. As I evolve as a photographer, I’m finding that my favorite work comes from the Pacific Northwest where I live and have a lifetime of knowledge and experience. I think my familiarity and proximity to the northwest allows me to make much more personal, nuanced and original images than anywhere else.
Q: How did you first start shooting professionally?
A: In the late 1980’s and into the 1990’s I started doing a bit of adventure travel and participating in climbing expeditions. I was the guy willing to get up for the sunrise, hike ahead to get a photo, carry the extra equipment and deal with taking pictures when no one else wanted to, so I was usually elected to be the team photographer. Since I was the guy with the photos, by default I was also the guy who would present slide shows of the climbs and provide photos for newspaper articles and the like. Every once in a while I would get lucky and take a photo that was more than just a record of what we were doing…something nice to look at. I began trying to take photos that had some sort of artistic or dramatic element to them. Around that same time I became aware of Galen Rowell, first as a climber and then as a photographer. I was greatly inspired that he was able to create such powerful artistic images of the places, people and landscapes he visited and also realized that photography was actually a real career. By that time I had already started my career as a science teacher, but I began to read up on photography techniques and teach myself how to be a better photographer. My trips slowly shifted from being all about climbing to being all about photography. About 8 years ago I built my first web site, printed some business cards that said “Photographer” on them and began selling a few of my best shots in my spare time for about $20 each. Looking back, they probably weren’t worth that much. It was a fun hobby and I always wanted to have more time to devote to it. After my second son was born about 4 1/2 years ago I found it difficult to be as good a teacher as I had been and as good a father as I wanted to be. That’s when I made the decision to “take the plunge”, as they say, and try to make my part time hobby a full time career.
Q: Who inspires you professionally?
A: As I said above, and like so many others, Galen Rowell was the first big influence on me. Artistically I am very excited by the work of William Niel, Michael Kenna, David Lorenz Winston, Art Wolf, Frans Lanting and John Wimberly to name a few. Professionally I see people like Art Wolf, Tom Till, George Lepp, Frans Lanting and Tom Mangleson as being masters of marketing and getting their work known by the public. There are also some young, high energy photographers from Oregon who are really breaking boundaries and setting new standards in outdoor photography right now. Marc Adamus and Zack Schnepf are two of my favorites.
Q: What has been your greatest career accomplishment so far?
A: Wow, that’s a hard one to answer. Every time I sell or publish a photo, or get acknowledged in a competition I feel validation as a photographer. For me, however, when I feel I have created something new, better and different, or reached a new level of knowledge and skill as an artist, that feels like my greatest accomplishment. It’s really a personal thing, but if it leads to generating income or public interest in my work, then that’s a bonus.
Q: What has been your biggest struggle in your career?
A: The biggest struggle in my career has probably been my lack of training and skill as an entrepreneur and business owner. That, combined with the fact that I live in an area that is off the beaten path of the photography industry have made it a real challenge for me to make the right contacts and know how to sell myself and my work. Those pieces have been more time consuming and challenging than the photography.