What makes him so good?

elementgs · Nov 25, 2015

I want to make money selling the art I love to produce.

I think it's a reasonable dream.

Scatterbrained · Nov 25, 2015

tecboy said:
...

I don't get your point.
.............

I can see that you don't.

When I look at his website I don't see the kind of images you'd expect to see from someone who claims to be a working commercial photographer. I see zero studio work, and nothing with any sort of artificial lighting. His portrait work is the typical "shots of my friends for instagram" type of images that you see all the time. I see nothing in his portrait portfolio that tells me anyone has actually paid him to take their portrait.

This guy looks like his style was developed completely on Instagram. The point being that it's a totally different approach to becoming a working photographer. As I mentioned (maybe you missed it), companies will pay popular people for product placement. The budgets are usually pennies on the dollar relative to the traditional advertising approaches, but it gets their product or location in front of a decent sized audience for not too much money, while helping these social media mavens work their way up. As I mentioned to the O.P., getting popular on social media takes a lot of time and dedication, but not necessarily in the sense of "honing your craft" so much as working to pimp yourself across a variety of platforms. Once there however, there is the possibility for a decent revenue.

tecboy · Nov 25, 2015

Social media or not. The style and idea that can draws people to like this kind of photography. People who like Star Wars actually hate Star Trek, and people who like Star Trek actually hate Star Wars. There are pc people hate Apple, and there are Apple people hate pc. Some clients are not looking for rich, supersharped, and clean photographs with artificial lighting. Some clients are looking for natural looking and certain style of photography for people can relate to. That is how photographers make money. They just evoke people's interest.

tirediron · Nov 25, 2015

tecboy said:
Social media or not. The style and idea that can draws people to like this kind of photography. People who like Star Wars actually hate Star Trek, and people who like Star Trek actually hate Star Wars. There are pc people hate Apple, and there are Apple people hate pc. Some clients are not looking for rich, supersharped, and clean photographs with artificial lighting. Some clients are looking for natural looking and certain style of photography for people can relate to. That is how photographers make money. They just evoke people's interest.

Very true, and all valid, but having looked at his 'site, his work doesn't seem to match up to the very impressive client list he's claiming. In addition to Scatter's point about the portrait work, there's a consistent theme running through his portfolio which, IMO is a bit of a tip off that someone is NOT a working pro, and that's repetition. In the portrait gallery, he has several people in there numerous times, and in the commercial work, he uses the same cell 'phone for a number of different images. I'm not putting down his work, but I think his professionalism is more in the social media discipline than the photographic.

EIngerson · Nov 25, 2015

Marketing. "period"

Vtec44 · Nov 26, 2015

I like his work. It's very consistent.

Peeb · Nov 26, 2015

BTW, does thread title make anyone else think of Pinball Wizard?

Never mind- you know you're getting older when 45 year old songs pop into your head...

Derrel · Nov 26, 2015

Scatterbrained said:
When I look at his website I don't see the kind of images you'd expect to see from someone who claims to be a working commercial photographer. I see zero studio work, and nothing with any sort of artificial lighting. His portrait work is the typical "shots of my friends for instagram" type of images that you see all the time. I see nothing in his portrait portfolio that tells me anyone has actually paid him to take their portrait.

This guy looks like his style was developed completely on Instagram. The point being that it's a totally different approach to becoming a working photographer. As I mentioned (maybe you missed it), companies will pay popular people for product placement. The budgets are usually pennies on the dollar relative to the traditional advertising approaches, but it gets their product or location in front of a decent sized audience for not too much money, while helping these social media mavens work their way up. As I mentioned to the O.P., getting popular on social media takes a lot of time and dedication, but not necessarily in the sense of "honing your craft" so much as working to pimp yourself across a variety of platforms. Once there however, there is the possibility for a decent revenue.

I tend to agree with this line of thinking.

WayneF · Nov 29, 2015

elementgs said:
Is that photographic technique, or heavy post processing?

A big part of it is "being there". The aircraft surely helps.

limr · Nov 29, 2015

Peeb said:
BTW, does thread title make anyone else think of Pinball Wizard?

Never mind- you know you're getting older when 45 year old songs pop into your head...

Oh my god, TOTALLY! Every single time I see this thread, I sing the title in my head. I didn't even realize I was doing it until you mentioned it

Malavok · Dec 1, 2015

I agree; I don't think his compositions are very creative (some are but most aren't) and the post-processing is too "hipster-Instagram-ish".

However, photography is just way too subjective. I see this subjectivity everywhere -- on social media, in photo contests, even when sharing my own pictures with family/friends (both pros and non-photographers). There will always be people who hate a photographer's style and people who love it.

I despise overly processed 'fake' looking photos because I think they defeat the purpose of capturing and sharing experiences and the beauty of the world but some people love that style. Some people like gaudy HDR, for example. I shoot nature to help people feel what I felt when I was there but some people shoot to make fantastical artistic pieces that are not grounded in reality; they are just different methods/styles.

nerwin · Dec 3, 2015

Is 500px always this slow loading images?

chuasam · Dec 3, 2015

his photos are cool. but my advice is not to take photos to get likes and popularity. Take photos for yourself.

killerseaguls · Dec 3, 2015

This is like asking why people eat at McDonald's knowing it's terrible for you... Cause they f***ing like it lol. But, for real, ew

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Peeb · Dec 4, 2015

chuasam said:
his photos are cool. but my advice is not to take photos to get likes and popularity. Take photos for yourself.

But what if 'myself' WANTS likes and popularity?

Seriously tho, if you sell your photos, you'd best understand what is popular, shouldn't you?

He seems shrewd to me. I have no problem with his business model.