After 13 Years with a Camera, These Are the Lessons That Stuck＂

This video is brought to you by Squarespace, the number one website platform for entrepreneurs. So I have been a photographer for about 12, 13 years at this point, and I want to share with you all the lessons that I've learned throughout this time. Now the first thing, of course, is making sure your coffee's right, right? And you know, Terry made fun of me last time because I recommended Chobani Creamer, but then he kind of took it all back when he said that it was amazing. So look, if you have an espresso machine, get yourself some Costco espresso beans, nothing fancy, Costco espresso, get yourself a Chobani Creamer, whether it's sweet cream or cinnamon. Those are my two favorite. They got a whole bunch of other flavors. This along with the dash of milk, the best coffee you'll ever have. I promise you, you'll never go to any other chain ever again. You're going to save some money over time because coffee's damn expensive. All right, I'm putting you guys on, I'm telling you, try it, try it. Now one thing that I've learned the hard way is what makes portrait photography hard has nothing to do with the actual camera, the technical aspect of taking a photo. Working with clients, I always found that was always my biggest struggle. It was always that struggle to connect and being socially anxious. This was always my biggest struggle. What has helped me throughout the years is learning just some basic psychology around socializing. So the one thing that really changed everything for me was instead of having that pressure of breaking the ice and being relatable and feeling like I have to be an entertainer, people love talking about themselves. And so asking easy questions, right? People just, there's like a 70-30 rule to this. Asking questions, people love talking about themselves, find things in common. It helps build rapport. It helps them become more comfortable. It allows me to feel like I don't have to do most of the heavy lifting when it comes to awkward silences or whatnot. Because at the end of the day, you want to get a good picture of somebody, especially a non-model. You need to make them feel at ease, you need to be confident, you need to act confident. Another one is realizing that the feeling of regression, it's all part of the process. And what I mean by that is those times where you feel like you're an imposter with a camera, I feel like we all have those moments. We all have those moments where we feel like we're not getting any better, right? Our work is just stale or getting worse. Our skills are deteriorating and just nothing seems to be clicking. And you start to question, like, is this even for me? And I feel like this is just all part of the process. Because I've talked to so many different creatives and I've heard everyone say the same exact thing. And you know what I've just come to realize, it's not rocket science, but progression doesn't follow a linear path, especially with the creative field, like photography. Just because things aren't working out does not mean that you're not necessarily growing from it or getting better from it. You have to allow yourself to have these bad days. Know that everyone else has them, okay? Allow yourself to fail because you are most definitely learning something in those moments. You just don't know it yet. Now this one might sound kind of weird, but I've learned how to finally enjoy using a zoom lens. See, I've always felt like my shots always came out better with a prime lens, right? Not only because of the wider aperture, but because of just the way my brain worked. See, with a zoom lens, I always felt like it gave me decision paralysis, right? And I constantly want to, I feel like if I have all of this flexibility, I have to take advantage of it, you know? And then what would happen is that I'll come home with a bunch of shots that I don't like because I was at 24, 28 millimeter shooting wide and low, because in a moment it looks cool, but it doesn't look good when I get home. So when I put a 24-70 on, I pretend like I'm shooting it like a prime. So I am actively looking at that zoom ring, I make sure it's at a 35-50 or 70 millimeter. And I work just and only within those specific focal lengths. And what that allows me to do, it takes the decision, decisions out. I'm now piecing together my composition, right? Now I'm looking for different foreground elements or looking for something to frame up like I do with a prime. So this has helped me enjoy a zoom lens more and really take advantage of the flexibility that it gives me. Another one is realizing that gear actually does matter, okay? And look, obviously I'm not saying that skill is not more important, okay? Obviously skill is more important. This is a very convoluted term and very nuanced, but look, the way a camera feels in your hand, the ergonomics of a camera, the way the camera sounds, the way the camera looks, all of these things matter. And I know some of y'all are just like screaming right now, because I've seen these comments before, but look, if aesthetics didn't matter, a company like Leica probably wouldn't exist, would they? It's an important part. And for me, having a camera that makes me feel like I want to pick it up and use it, it's important to me. Just forget about what your favorite YouTuber recommends. Forget about all the scientific tests out there that say one camera has better dynamic range than the other. Forget about all that. It's pointless, especially today in today's world, where we kind of hit a stalemate when it comes to image quality and a lot of these specs. Use a camera that you like, whether it's a brand that you just have, it has some nostalgic value, a camera that feels good, that you like to use, that inspires you to shoot. Yes, these are tools, but also you want to enjoy using the tool. It's possible. You can have it both ways. You know what I mean? Now, this leads me into the next thing, lighting. Lighting is key. Someone can have a Hasselblad X2D with a 90 millimeter lens, a $12,000 setup, and get absolutely dog walked by someone with a Z5 II, 51.8, and this person understands lighting on a high level. Lighting is the great equalizer. I've been saying this for a long time. It is the great equalizer. Buying into lighting and practicing will unlock that next level in your work more than any shiny new toy can. This next one, we've all heard, right? Comparison is the thief of joy, and I would say being mindful of who you're looking at and who you're comparing yourself to is very important because I need to tell you something. I'm going to just tell you my personal experience, and I'm better with it now, but when I would go on Instagram, I would feel like I'm in some kind of invisible competition, and I would see people with amazing work. It'd make me feel small and make me feel like, well, what am I doing? They're way better than me, and then at the same time, I'll post my work, and then people will say comments like that, and I'm like, wait, maybe people feel like that about me, and it's just kind of like this weird ... I'm in a weird place, and I just need you to know that, yes, this ... What happened? Okay, okay. You want to say hi? Yeah. Or maybe you want to go outside. Maybe that's what it is. Now, if there's one thing that I learned that you can take action on right now, it's finally pulling the trigger on Squarespace. They make creating a professional-looking website so ridiculously easy, you don't need any prior skill in graphic design or coding, right? For about eight years now, my entire creative business has run on Squarespace. It's where my portfolio lives. It's where I sell my digital products, and like my off-camera flash mini course and my Lightroom presets, it's where I can show off my best work without it getting compressed to hell like it does on social media. Their new AI design tools are absolutely game-changing. I was able to create the landing page for my course in like a couple hours, and they offer 24-7 customer support if you ever need any help. So try Squarespace free for 14 days, and when you love it, use the code Manny for 10% off. Another thing that I've learned is that sometimes less is more. Look, I don't take it for granted. I have a lot of gear, and I'm grateful, but having too much is a bad thing, okay? It sounds like a good problem to have, but I'm telling you, like, having too many options, it gives me anxiety. I used to enjoy going to my photo studio. It was like my playground, and now I get a ton of anxiety in there, a ton of anxiety in there because it's just so much crap everywhere. These days, I spend way too much time and focus too much of my energy on trying to decide what camera and lens I want to shoot on versus the actual content that I'm shooting, and even if I don't own it, I think about, oh, well, man, that new lens came out or this came out. I could probably do that, you know, and I'm always looking at new stuff. I fall into the same trap that a lot of you fall into, this consumerism trap where I feel like I need something to accomplish, you know, another thing. Man, forget all that. I'm telling you, it's going to be more of a burden at the end of the day. Understanding your gear and what you're actually using right now, understanding your gear, there is so much power in that, right? Sticking to one camera and it becoming muscle memory to you. This is where the true power lies and where you're going to see the most growth in whatever you're doing because you're able to focus on everything else and not the freaking gear. It can be a huge crutch, and that's just how I've been experiencing. Stop looking for that shiny new toy. And why are the lights going out in here? Wait, what light went out? Did the light just go off? So let me go over another thing that I've learned, and let's talk about ego, right? I've learned that ego can really hold you back. And let's not act like you're, like, something like this has never happened to you, right? Like, we all live in our, you know, little echo chamber where we're posting our work. Clients are hyping us up. Everyone's hyping us up. We start to feel some kind of way about ourselves and our work, like, yeah, like, I know I'm good and all that. But what happens is that sometimes you get caught up in that little ego trap, and that can totally hold you back in some way, you know, in some ways. For an example, when I started shooting Major League Baseball, I showed up to that field and because I, you know, I have accomplished things and I'm not a noob. I just assume that everyone's looking at me like I just started, you know, photography or like, you know, because no one's ever seen me around. You know, I want to pretend like, you know, I know what I'm doing, right? I'm like a four, I'm like a, I've been, you know, Little League All-Star four, four times. You know what I'm saying? Like, I know my way around baseball. But what happened is that I'll go out to the field and act like I know what I'm doing, asking no questions. And what happens is that I'm just following the action, which I'm not getting great shots. So the year, the following year, I realized that, look, my stuff is not getting better. I'm not, it doesn't look like these other guys that I've seen online. So I started asking questions and I started shadowing the main photographer for the Cubs, started asking a ton of questions and I learned so much. He literally changed the way I see the game and the way I see moments on the field and understanding the point where, when the light hits a certain part of Wrigley Field and where the light is and now you can get, you know, shots within this frame and it made me see everything different. I would have never learned that if I didn't let my, you know, if I didn't drop the, you know, I didn't want to look like a rookie. Same thing with wildlife photography. I'm not a wildlife photographer, but look, I went to Africa, went to Kenya. I got some amazing shots out there and it wouldn't have been the same if I didn't ask a lot of questions while I was out there, Jared including, Jared was on my car and Jared knows he, one thing about Jared, he's Jared Paulin, one thing about him, he knows how to do a little bit of everything. And so I learned a lot from him and again, Cubs photographer went out there with us and it transformed my wildlife. I knew what to look for, the angles to shoot at. Moral of the story is don't let your ego get carried away because it can truly hold you back. Now, this is another one that might make you laugh, but you, I've realized when and when not to stop my lens down. When I'm putting more intention on the framing of my shot, those tend to be my favorite. Stopping your lens down intentionally and creating a more, more of a story to your shot and using the elements around you will make more impactful shots and I've noticed that with my work. And the last thing that I wanted to touch on was pre-shoot anxiety. Now, if you haven't figured it out yet, I suffer from anxiety. And even to this day, I still get a lot of pre-shoot jitters, whether I'm shooting for YouTube or for clients. And I'm going to tell you, look, I use all the available, all the tools available to me. If I'm shooting on location, I will go on Google Street View and I will scout the location on Google Street View. I'll look for potentially other spots that would work if one didn't work. I will look at the lighting in Google Street View and I'll see, you can kind of tell if it's morning or afternoon and see where the light falls, right? Like when I'm shooting downtown, I can see if, am I going to get some light in this direction, this direction? I'll show up early and just do a quick walkthrough of everything so I know what I'm doing. I'm better prepared. And another one is just, you have to start trusting yourself a little bit more. And that's, I've always struggled with that. Now, before I go on a shoot, I think to myself, all the other times that I've been in this position, I've always made it work somehow, some way. You got to start trusting your skill and your problem solving ability to get you through a shoot where there are a lot of variables. Those trusting myself a little bit more has helped with also my confidence showing up on location. I used to fake it to make it. Now I have a little bit more confidence now, especially knowing that as the clients, they're the ones, when you think about it like this, they're the ones that should be anxious. They're the ones that should be more timid and anxious. So I'm going to own the fact that, well, they just assume I'm confident. Well, I'm going to act confident and that will boost the overall morale of the shoot. They will feel better about themselves and feel more like, wow, he knows what he's doing. He's in control. They'll feel more at ease.