Do not create another channel, i think its smarter to have all your content in the same channel. also im interested in fashion photography but your business advice has been so helpful that im a huge fan of your work and your channel
My passion is portrait photography and I will never stop doing this because it was what made me fall in love with photography. I've worked with fashion here in Italy, very toxic, then i change my target client. Commercial and still-life photography is my business now, sometimes beauty for cosmetics. Much better, technical and rewarding.
I agree. Because your career progress, your changing feelings and interests through time, and observations on those things, are actually what makes your postings so compulsive, watchable, and entertaining!
Has it only been six years doing still life work? Wow! you have achieved so much in that time. You have a really captive style and I can see how you’ve brought that to your portraits. So many great artists change throughout their careers. It shouldn’t really be a surprise; it’s what keeps them great, fresh and motivated. Wishing you the very best in your new(ish) direction. Loving your videos and the generosity you give in making them.
I like the style but my first thought was “shutterstock”. Maybe it’s the seamless colorful backgrounds. I’m curious to see your first commercial job with this style.
Honestly, none of those question popped into my head for long when I saw the portrait stuff. I remember seeing your portrait work before, and then just figured you were either deciding to branch out into it. Or, you were finding other outlets for creativity and wanted to do it. But keeping with your style, which is brilliant! (and has also given me an idea for an album cover for a friend)
Good on you Scott for trying something old in a new way. It's clear you had some past trauma with shooting people and this is a great first step in overcoming it. Also I watch your channel for the industry and business chat mainly so very happy for you to talk about your portraiture on here too.
Hi Scott. Congratulations on your latest direction. We need to always keep challenging ourselves.About 20 years ago, after a long stint as a photojournalist and then moving to the commercial & advertising side, one of the art directors who had me on speed dial asked me to photograph her wedding. At first, I resisted, but I relented since she had become good friends and allowed me to have total creative control. Not only was it great fun, but before the pictures were even out of my Leicas, I was approached by another art director (who was at the wedding) to photograph her upcoming day. In three months, I went from zero weddings to booking out a year in advance at a ridiculous price per event. So, to avoid confusing or raising concerns from my core client base, I created a new identity (website and marketing materials) to separate the two businesses. The only ones who knew about my latest venture were those who asked me directly. For a time, the income generated from this sector matched or exceeded my commercial side. Without a major back surgery, I would have continued doing high-end wedding photography until I retired. For me, it was fun, profitable, and another creative outlet. Plus they always had cake!
Hello! First of all.. love the channel. Your honesty had helped me tremendously in making decisions about gear and how to slowly build a career. Secondly, it would be interesting to see how you set up your lights for a portrait and if and how years of experience with lighting products has influenced your choices. Kind regards from Belgium!
Hi Scott. glad to see you adding portraiture into your mix. I'm starting to scratch this itch as well after shooting cars for most of my career. I've always thought that a good photographer can shoot anything in his or her vision/style. subject matter is irrelevant and often pigeonhole by clients, not the artist.
Wildlife, landscapes and travel photography have been for a while, my top favorite genres. I don't really see the money there. Yesterday I had my 1st photoshoot with a model, it was fantastic, I feel like I can do really well on that niche. Hopefully I'll find my way to profitable photography in it. But still, Wildlife will always be my # 1 favorite niche.
Can you make a detailed video of how and where you advertise. Im in a similar position, Im moving from one form or photography to another. I used to do website content for clients( products, etc) and want to move to portraits and fashion for any kind of magazine and ads. Need to know who to target and how.
As someone told me years ago, If you don't take the chances you won't make the advances, good luck with it we will be watching your progress and some will be complaining 🤣
I seem to recall you saying your current still-life work arose from free time during lockdown, and now I'm looking forward to your new body of work from this year's challenges/opportunites
Really interesting to see the change, I do Portrait photography myself and it's always nice to see somebody else's process. I do like the new photos but to be honest I think I like the subject matter of your old portraits a bit more, even though I can tell from a technical standpoint your new work is better. I think this may be because this was all from a two day test shoot some of the individuality of the images are lost a bit, like the colour choice and framing is really good but the subject matter is a bit lacking. Even with this I do think they are a great set of photos with my favourites being the old man in the blue and hope to see some of your future portrait work in a less "throw everything at the wall and see what sticks" way but never the less always enjoy your videos and perspectives.
“Better to have an unedited version out that gets you jobs than unedited version that gets you no jobs.” Don’t expect to hear this line tossed in after the whole video but this was the game changer line for me ! So you’ll actually post or share or market somehow great shots you took that haven’t yet been edited ?! What a revelation.
Hey Scott. Great video and explanation of your thought process. I think independents have to flex and pivot not only for financial reasons but also to satisfy our internal creativity. I really enjoy your YT content and will continue to watch whether it's on one channel or two. About the headline for this one - I don't think you actually "switched" since you will still be doing still life, but it did get me to click faster. :)
I’m in a different part of the planet, so I don’t get to see these live. I really appreciate being able to come back to them though. If you could have a bit more of the BTS tutorial, I’d really appreciate it.
Good luck. But erm, did you forget working with (photographing) people stressed you out and that was what you said was one of the reason you moved to still life in the first place? 😅
I do landscape and documentary work for my own pleasure, not a business. I watch you because you are interesting to watch. Better than a sitcom advertising healthy food, not junk food. Lol
Hi Scott, Interesting. I note that you are based in Leicestershire (and recall you mentioning it was tricky to succeed in advertising field, if outside London). Also that from your website your details (within URLs) imply "London". Have you moved, or is this just part of your positioning to suggest to 'casual' lookers, that you may be easily accessible to ad-agency staff who might be minded to think 'London centric' and dismiss those further afield? I'm an amateur shooter (40 yrs) who loves photography and manages to win a few international awards. Friends and work colleagues used to say I should do it professionally, but I thought it smarter to stick at my day job (well paid, which I also loved, but now retired) rather than try to earn a living at it. Because you 'want to' is a valid reason IMO. Personally I'd keep one YT channel, but can see why you may decide differently. On websites, I can see more reason to have separate sites (identities) for different genres/clients etc. I'm a generalist (aka "I'll have a go at anything that interests me" - still life, portraits, sport, travel, landscape, creative etc) so it's hard for those who don't really know me to understand what I'm really 'good' at. And, maybe even more difficult to sell myself to 'paying' clients as the best photographer for their needs because of my diversity. But, unconcerned with clients and getting paid, I can please myself. I have previously shot a few paid assignments from associates who knew about and liked my style, but I never felt is was a seriously viable option.
I love shooting (but hate editing ) ... what crushes my soul ? ... no shows , people with no idea what they want from the shoot , self loathing (mainly the ladies) . Joys? The interactions , the models telling their stories , meeting people you wouldn't normally interact with
Just watched this. I do follow you and would appreciate a 'portrait channel'. I'm a beginner. I've done about 30 photoshoots but I'm always nervous as hell and always appreciate other people's BTS videos. So, I'm just throwing my hat in the ring.
Go for it! People bring several extra layers of chaos and randomness that you don’t find with products. But just loosen up and go with it. It will do you good! 😂
Asking a creative person to do one thing and one thing only forever is asking them to let their soul whither. I'm only surprised you haven't done this sooner.
Good luck with your additional focus on people! The title of this video says you switched, so you may want to change it to accurately reflect you are doing both people and still life.
It looks like AI can create fantastic portraits just based on a number of random snaps from a phone. I wonder how it will change the photography business.
He chooses to portraits one day and the next a whole bunch of people turn up to have their picture taken, I don't get it. Where did they come from and who is paying who?
You have to decide if you're going to COMPETE VIA DISRUPTION or use the power of your current brand name. But you don't need a new channel. The people you're talking to will hear you. You already have the audience
Don't change the channel, people do not care about your past videos + this one is already monetising. 70% people watching your videos have never heard your brand. I have started as portrait and event photographer. It works well, I can't live out of this, nor I intend to for now, but there is some money if you find the right people, specially in London I imagine with everyone wanting to climb the social ladder. Funny enough, my brand is starting to become more and more associated with my catholic faith (I live near Fátima), getting a lot of pilgrims that come all over the world to take pictures here. Interesting twist, zero mainstream, but totally niche which I am enjoying. Should I go full on and brand myself as "catholic photographer"? Thinking about this. This would stop all the naked newborn moms from reaching out for sure.
Thanks for flashing my picture. Lolol! Yeah, it make sense why you stepped away from portraits/band stuff. Do what you love and that's all that matters! And no, please don't start a new channel. Cheers!
Interacting with people is stressful. Not everyone can pull it off, especially when photographing. You might have human anxiety. I never take on human photography except my family.
Scott, you should do you. You are a great photographer and what other people think about this should not even be considered. If you want to change things up, keep it fresh, then I am here for the journey. Photography is art, and it's a journey. Screw the haters and do what pleases you. I have faith that whatever you shoot will look fantastic because at the end of the day... You have a great creative eye and that will take you wherever you want to go.
One has Glad to do other stuff. Push oneself, Frankly, product photography strikes me as the most boring, empty, soulless genre, whether it pays well or not. Glad to see you returning to humanity,
For those who need help with business, marketing or the creative process as a professional, head here tinhouse-studio.com/product-category/workshop/
Do not create another channel, i think its smarter to have all your content in the same channel. also im interested in fashion photography but your business advice has been so helpful that im a huge fan of your work and your channel
Seconded.
Yeah we're interested in your work, your process & your insights. Not people vs things in any given photo
My passion is portrait photography and I will never stop doing this because it was what made me fall in love with photography. I've worked with fashion here in Italy, very toxic, then i change my target client. Commercial and still-life photography is my business now, sometimes beauty for cosmetics. Much better, technical and rewarding.
I don't think you should start a new channel. Keep this one growing.
I agree. Because your career progress, your changing feelings and interests through time, and observations on those things, are actually what makes your postings so compulsive, watchable, and entertaining!
Has it only been six years doing still life work? Wow! you have achieved so much in that time. You have a really captive style and I can see how you’ve brought that to your portraits. So many great artists change throughout their careers. It shouldn’t really be a surprise; it’s what keeps them great, fresh and motivated. Wishing you the very best in your new(ish) direction. Loving your videos and the generosity you give in making them.
I understand you. I am a photographer first. A commercial photographer second and how I make my money is my business.
As always, I thoroughly enjoyed our weekly conversation! 😊
Have a great week!
I like the style but my first thought was “shutterstock”. Maybe it’s the seamless colorful backgrounds. I’m curious to see your first commercial job with this style.
Honestly, none of those question popped into my head for long when I saw the portrait stuff. I remember seeing your portrait work before, and then just figured you were either deciding to branch out into it. Or, you were finding other outlets for creativity and wanted to do it. But keeping with your style, which is brilliant! (and has also given me an idea for an album cover for a friend)
Good for you Scott. A true photographer, an intuitive transition. The right recipe for this time in your life. Blessings brother! 🙏🏻
Good on you Scott for trying something old in a new way. It's clear you had some past trauma with shooting people and this is a great first step in overcoming it. Also I watch your channel for the industry and business chat mainly so very happy for you to talk about your portraiture on here too.
Glad to see someone doing what they want to rather than what they're expected to do. Hope it's a great success.
Your style definitely is apparent in your portraits. Watching this take off is going to be fascinating!
Hi Scott. Congratulations on your latest direction. We need to always keep challenging ourselves.About 20 years ago, after a long stint as a photojournalist and then moving to the commercial & advertising side, one of the art directors who had me on speed dial asked me to photograph her wedding. At first, I resisted, but I relented since she had become good friends and allowed me to have total creative control. Not only was it great fun, but before the pictures were even out of my Leicas, I was approached by another art director (who was at the wedding) to photograph her upcoming day. In three months, I went from zero weddings to booking out a year in advance at a ridiculous price per event. So, to avoid confusing or raising concerns from my core client base, I created a new identity (website and marketing materials) to separate the two businesses. The only ones who knew about my latest venture were those who asked me directly. For a time, the income generated from this sector matched or exceeded my commercial side. Without a major back surgery, I would have continued doing high-end wedding photography until I retired. For me, it was fun, profitable, and another creative outlet. Plus they always had cake!
I thought this was clickbait, but glad to see it's not. I love how you explain what you're doing and why.
Hello! First of all.. love the channel. Your honesty had helped me tremendously in making decisions about gear and how to slowly build a career.
Secondly, it would be interesting to see how you set up your lights for a portrait and if and how years of experience with lighting products has influenced your choices.
Kind regards from Belgium!
You're hair looks amazing Scott!
We are here for you, not your genre of photography. Your style is interesting no matter what you shoot
giant fan of the new work. certainly has your DNA in each photo. Cheers!!
You don't know how surreal it is being recommended the video about switching from portraits to product yesterday and gerring this video today.
Hi Scott. glad to see you adding portraiture into your mix. I'm starting to scratch this itch as well after shooting cars for most of my career. I've always thought that a good photographer can shoot anything in his or her vision/style. subject matter is irrelevant and often pigeonhole by clients, not the artist.
I dig your style man. If the year is bad, why not make it worse is a lovely way to lean into the punch. Keep it up! You are very inspirational
Wildlife, landscapes and travel photography have been for a while, my top favorite genres. I don't really see the money there. Yesterday I had my 1st photoshoot with a model, it was fantastic, I feel like I can do really well on that niche. Hopefully I'll find my way to profitable photography in it. But still, Wildlife will always be my # 1 favorite niche.
Can you make a detailed video of how and where you advertise. Im in a similar position, Im moving from one form or photography to another. I used to do website content for clients( products, etc) and want to move to portraits and fashion for any kind of magazine and ads. Need to know who to target and how.
thank you!
As someone told me years ago, If you don't take the chances you won't make the advances, good luck with it we will be watching your progress and some will be complaining 🤣
Good luck Scott! If you do start another channel make sure to let us know where it is.
Change of genre keeps you fresh!
I seem to recall you saying your current still-life work arose from free time during lockdown, and now I'm looking forward to your new body of work from this year's challenges/opportunites
Really interesting to see the change, I do Portrait photography myself and it's always nice to see somebody else's process. I do like the new photos but to be honest I think I like the subject matter of your old portraits a bit more, even though I can tell from a technical standpoint your new work is better. I think this may be because this was all from a two day test shoot some of the individuality of the images are lost a bit, like the colour choice and framing is really good but the subject matter is a bit lacking. Even with this I do think they are a great set of photos with my favourites being the old man in the blue and hope to see some of your future portrait work in a less "throw everything at the wall and see what sticks" way but never the less always enjoy your videos and perspectives.
Great stuff!!! This is why I watch this channel.
As i love portrait work i'm so looking forward to that side of your work.
Finally you are not boring anymore 😆
“Better to have an unedited version out that gets you jobs than unedited version that gets you no jobs.” Don’t expect to hear this line tossed in after the whole video but this was the game changer line for me ! So you’ll actually post or share or market somehow great shots you took that haven’t yet been edited ?! What a revelation.
go forth and conquer!
Hey Scott. Great video and explanation of your thought process. I think independents have to flex and pivot not only for financial reasons but also to satisfy our internal creativity. I really enjoy your YT content and will continue to watch whether it's on one channel or two. About the headline for this one - I don't think you actually "switched" since you will still be doing still life, but it did get me to click faster. :)
Love your answer to why you’re doing this. Respect
I’m in a different part of the planet, so I don’t get to see these live. I really appreciate being able to come back to them though.
If you could have a bit more of the BTS tutorial, I’d really appreciate it.
Very Interesting! makes me wanna give it a go too
New channel or not I'm sure it will be interesting. Good luck with the return to portraiture.
Love the new work! What kind of modifiers are you using for that crisp light?
Would you ever use a 5 foot soft box for headshots?
Bonne chance, Scott!
Thanks for explaining why you’re moving into portraiture. Sounds good. You don’t seem to make it clear why we should though.
Thanks for answering my unposed questions.
Good luck. But erm, did you forget working with (photographing) people stressed you out and that was what you said was one of the reason you moved to still life in the first place? 😅
I do landscape and documentary work for my own pleasure, not a business. I watch you because you are interesting to watch. Better than a sitcom advertising healthy food, not junk food. Lol
Will you ever do a website review video soon?
Hi Scott, Interesting. I note that you are based in Leicestershire (and recall you mentioning it was tricky to succeed in advertising field, if outside London). Also that from your website your details (within URLs) imply "London". Have you moved, or is this just part of your positioning to suggest to 'casual' lookers, that you may be easily accessible to ad-agency staff who might be minded to think 'London centric' and dismiss those further afield?
I'm an amateur shooter (40 yrs) who loves photography and manages to win a few international awards. Friends and work colleagues used to say I should do it professionally, but I thought it smarter to stick at my day job (well paid, which I also loved, but now retired) rather than try to earn a living at it. Because you 'want to' is a valid reason IMO. Personally I'd keep one YT channel, but can see why you may decide differently.
On websites, I can see more reason to have separate sites (identities) for different genres/clients etc. I'm a generalist (aka "I'll have a go at anything that interests me" - still life, portraits, sport, travel, landscape, creative etc) so it's hard for those who don't really know me to understand what I'm really 'good' at. And, maybe even more difficult to sell myself to 'paying' clients as the best photographer for their needs because of my diversity. But, unconcerned with clients and getting paid, I can please myself. I have previously shot a few paid assignments from associates who knew about and liked my style, but I never felt is was a seriously viable option.
I love shooting (but hate editing ) ... what crushes my soul ? ... no shows , people with no idea what they want from the shoot , self loathing (mainly the ladies) . Joys? The interactions , the models telling their stories , meeting people you wouldn't normally interact with
Do what makes you happy.
Just watched this. I do follow you and would appreciate a 'portrait channel'. I'm a beginner. I've done about 30 photoshoots but I'm always nervous as hell and always appreciate other people's BTS videos. So, I'm just throwing my hat in the ring.
Go for it! People bring several extra layers of chaos and randomness that you don’t find with products. But just loosen up and go with it. It will do you good! 😂
Great video! Elgato has the best most affordable teleprompter. I would keep all videos on the same channel.
Shooting in multiple genres/niches and having a recognizable uniform style across genres is very difficult.
Good luck with your new venture. I suspect people are more interested in you than your subject matter. Always interesting.
More importantly.... did you place the purple swatch behind you to set off your shirt?
Will your portrait business clients be individuals or corporate? Thanks.
Asking a creative person to do one thing and one thing only forever is asking them to let their soul whither. I'm only surprised you haven't done this sooner.
Good luck with your additional focus on people! The title of this video says you switched, so you may want to change it to accurately reflect you are doing both people and still life.
welcome back to the cool kids :D
It looks like AI can create fantastic portraits just based on a number of random snaps from a phone. I wonder how it will change the photography business.
Great Stuff.
..."Everything that doesn't talk" LoL
Portraits ❤
My 20 yr old son is in school for Photography. Will you explain why this has been such a bad year for the field? Is it simply the economy?
He chooses to portraits one day and the next a whole bunch of people turn up to have their picture taken, I don't get it. Where did they come from and who is paying who?
Cheer, jooy good your not adverse to changing things up & taking chances. Your be successful, I'm sure
I'd love to do portrait photography but not enough to get off the sofa.
You have to decide if you're going to COMPETE VIA DISRUPTION or use the power of your current brand name. But you don't need a new channel. The people you're talking to will hear you. You already have the audience
Don't change the channel, people do not care about your past videos + this one is already monetising. 70% people watching your videos have never heard your brand.
I have started as portrait and event photographer. It works well, I can't live out of this, nor I intend to for now, but there is some money if you find the right people, specially in London I imagine with everyone wanting to climb the social ladder.
Funny enough, my brand is starting to become more and more associated with my catholic faith (I live near Fátima), getting a lot of pilgrims that come all over the world to take pictures here. Interesting twist, zero mainstream, but totally niche which I am enjoying. Should I go full on and brand myself as "catholic photographer"? Thinking about this. This would stop all the naked newborn moms from reaching out for sure.
Thanks for flashing my picture. Lolol! Yeah, it make sense why you stepped away from portraits/band stuff. Do what you love and that's all that matters! And no, please don't start a new channel. Cheers!
Interacting with people is stressful. Not everyone can pull it off, especially when photographing. You might have human anxiety. I never take on human photography except my family.
Scott, you should do you. You are a great photographer and what other people think about this should not even be considered. If you want to change things up, keep it fresh, then I am here for the journey. Photography is art, and it's a journey. Screw the haters and do what pleases you. I have faith that whatever you shoot will look fantastic because at the end of the day... You have a great creative eye and that will take you wherever you want to go.
One has Glad to do other stuff. Push oneself, Frankly, product photography strikes me as the most boring, empty, soulless genre, whether it pays well or not. Glad to see you returning to humanity,
easy, there are more people searching for portraits (less equipment, only 1 lens) than product photography (all your previous videos )🤣
Unrelated: can you please do something about your Facebook group and Doug Howell using it as his personal family Instagram feed? It's damn annoying.
Funny, Doug said the same about you the other week,😂, just block him if his photography offends you so.
Isn't portrait photography still life... sort of?
No offense, but I find the new work more engaging and interesting to watch.
Don’t start a new page just keep growing this one
Lots talk and talk… 😬🤣
I give a still life photography 1 -1.5 years before it 95% replaced with generative 3D
Agreed
Reason:
Not making enough money in product photography.
Reaction:
Go into portrait photography where there's even less money.
Finally you are not boring anymore 😆