 Clapsync. Clapsync? Yeah. I don't know if you're on. Sam. G'day. Thanks for coming. Thanks for having me. The noise that you'll hear in the podcast version of this with heavy breathing and licking is definitely not Sam, it's Wilson and he's going to be laying there for a little bit, making some noise. There may be some excessive dog scratching going on. So, well, I've written some questions and let's start with telling you about yourself and I mean I know who you are. Tell everybody else who you are and if you're trying to plug yourself for anyone that's looking for photography isn't it? A bit about myself. Well, I've sort of been doing photography now for quite a long time. I've always been someone that's played with cameras and always had an obsession with it. I kind of started with the old auto cameras back in the day, either bugs or flowers, the old macro mode jumping straight in but probably in the last year or so I picked up cameras and learned a little bit more about the manual mode, proper photography and how to do it and yeah, it's actually been really nice to sort of pick up a camera and learn how to use it the right way. I started doing landscapes. Invested in some ND filters. I think I've got a 3.5 and a 4 and sort of worked in the long exposure type things and I managed to sell a few of those just over time through just some bigger prints and gloss prints which is a really nice thing to have someone say, you know, we like your work and it's really nice to be able to sell it. And then up until recently I had someone else if they wanted to come and do some portrait stuff and for me that was really new. I hadn't really shot with people before and they'd asked if we could do it at night and so I've got a white bar that I used for my painting with cars so I decided to use that and it actually turned out really well and a lot of people said that's a constant like why don't you have a go at flash and for a long time flash has always scared me. I've always been flash. Yeah, I'm still scared of it. Yeah, it's a bit tricky the old flash thing but spending a bit of time on YouTube and learn from a few people I don't know, have you heard of the manual teas before? Yeah. I'm a girl with kilos, I've sort of used them as a lot of inspiration and sort of used a lot of their work to learn from them and it's been really good and since then I've got a handful of Niwa speed lights I've got my Godox 8200 and yeah they've worked really well and it's been nice and I've worked with probably 20 models now and it's been really good and coming in and meeting myself and these like photography groups that we've got it's a really good opportunity to meet people and work together and work with other creative people and it's been really nice. It's been really interesting. Flash! Yeah, it's been good. I work FIFO, fly and fly out out of area C and I've been doing that for 8 years now and it's very repetitive. You do the same thing day in, day out and it's not the best industry. Like yes the money is good but it's not everything and I've always wanted to do something that I love and photography is something that I love doing so if one day I can get out of FIFO and do photography full time well yeah that'd be amazing. You say one day. Yeah because I mean at the moment shouldn't say this. I am someone that works from my phone I don't have a laptop or a computer to edit from so until I have a laptop computer something to work from then I don't feel that would be the right thing to sort of leave from a FIFO or to start working full time to hustle but once I've got to that point then yeah it's going to be a hustle city it's going to be you won't hear the end of me you'll see me here over everything. So the thing that's holding you back is a laptop. A laptop or a computer of all things yeah and I don't know why I think I'm a little bit scared to jump into the actual Photoshop Lightroom like professional side of things like I think I'm a little bit comfortable I think that's one of my fears. I feel you. So I think that's something I need to work past and get a bit more familiar. I didn't even touch Lightroom I didn't even touch any editing when I first started photography because I said to myself I need to just get you to the camera and I didn't read any books I didn't watch that many YouTube videos I think I watched like two just to get like the basics that I already kind of knew and then just like to rehash and refresh and now it's like in the second nature but I did this project in 2014 2015 I called it project 200 because there's this book here actually fancy seeing this so this has this has 200 sleeves in it and I never actually properly finished the project never actually put any photos into Thanks Wilson never actually put any photos in this so maybe it's a project I might re-discover but I do have these here some of my original photos hang on I'll get it for you so the rule was to take photos unedited I've got a whole stack of them here because I printed them out so yeah the rule was I only had to take them with the camera that's it and I had a Nikon D7100 so like there's the moon and then you've got hillarys just like basic stuff but like iconic kind of foundational I've got into bird photography this is something nice about having a printed photo as well yeah it's like it shows you my like foundation is more than I did and this is in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan this is when I started photoshopping a bit and I oversaturated them a bit because that was the cool thing to do and you to me first started photography this one wasn't as edited but it's nice like it's a really nice sort of composition yeah yeah so like I was just trying to get the settings all correct and then and then this is my first long exposure milky way like no no extra purple tints or anything like that and yeah and there's like beach stuff and yeah these are all like and then I started to get a little bit more into it light painting so like long exposure stuff but and then like that was probably my first ever portrait there you go I'm just one of my clients had a kid had a grandson with them and that was probably my very first portrait right there I don't want to get forever you know that's and yeah there's so many like just random things depth of field and this was all me just practicing and playing around with it and it's so so like that's probably one of the most important things with camera especially for people that are starting out with photography like if you've just gotten yourself a camera and you're just wanting to learn just get out there and shoot everything door knob, door handles like anything around the house anonymous objects that's probably the best thing to start doing yeah because there's still when you can practice focusing on that but I did not touch Photoshop or Lightroom I didn't touch Lightroom until my first holiday because after the holiday I wanted to like make it real cool and different and then I started getting to Lightroom and slowly building up my practice and got better and people started really liking the stuff and then I was like Photoshop's there Photoshop is right there and I'm like I don't need it I don't know why I need it and then the one thing that changed me was someone online I was following, they said Doge and Burn that was it Doge and Burn for landscape and then more specifically for portraits and you're getting so much work with your photography now if you double down and really commit I reckon long term and not even that long I reckon you'll be able to make more money if that's what's holding you back as well then your FIFO job because happiness is more valuable than money you're not wrong happiness is everything I feel like you're going to just regret it a little bit you're going to regret the next there you go but for me I'm taking that leap next year and I'm happy with my job I'm so happy, it's not repetitive every day is different but for some reason and I hate saying the word but after I said something because it kind of makes the previous stuff redundant it's something that I just want to I need to scratch that itch I need to do it and then I need to see if it's something I really want to do as soon as I start missing those kids I'll be right back there it's so fun as well and I'm trying to balance it at the moment and it's half pregnant kind of the world kind of like a big kid you just miss having all your young friends there but the best thing about it is you get to go home here and you're what what's your turnover two weeks on one week off so that one week you just have to if you can book out that whole week yeah, see I've had two weeks off this time round and I've had morning and afternoon shoots nearly every day since I've flown home and yeah it's been chaos it's been wicked good fun and I've met lots of good people but yeah man working for my phone for that I wouldn't recommend it if you can afford to buy a laptop or a computer you can do it what's stopping you I don't know I guess the fear of jumping in and learning the new side of Photoshop a little bit scared of it but yeah the finance thing it's not really something that bothers me but yeah I really need to do it I know I need to and I think I'm going to September? September? September accountability right there are you going to do it? September or maybe yeah it's in the plan a 105 is it a solid yes or a solid maybe it's a solid maybe there's a heap of different things that I really want but priority hit like if you believe him hit like if you don't I think the laptop is probably the more responsible thing to do with where I'm going and what I've been doing it would make more sense to get that rather than go in and start buying more lenses oh my god absolutely man I've already got my 2470 I've got an 85, 1A, 250 a 1.4 and a 1.8 plus a handful of cameras and flashes, softboxes I've got all the fruit and juice for that and I don't see any point in going buying more stuff it's more just because I want to what's your current rate do you want to talk about that yeah I mean I do a lot of TFP which I know a lot of people it gets my name out there and that's kind of what I want to do at the moment I don't see much reason behind me charging a lot just yet I will usually say if someone comes to me that 100 to 120 type of mark I think that's a fair for my time 2 hours? yeah I would say for an hour and a half, 2 hours sort of thing couple of different outfits, couple of different locations close by if we're doing that sort of thing but yeah I mean it's all good fun for me it's getting to meet people again for a long time I shut off the person I was and now doing photography which is something I love and meeting people is something that I always love so being out there meeting new people, talking with people getting to show the person I am to people it's something I love and it's a really good feeling to hear some of the things that you like you feed back from people it's a really nice thing to hear sometimes it's quite refreshing yeah you heard it for people that are getting out there if they're not too sure just go out there give it everything you've got and I mean for me I really want to do more portraits as well I've played portraits and I've done a lot of TFP but now I feel like I'm dogging the boys a little bit I've got more paid jobs and the TFP they've put second because the paid jobs get a priority so I've kind of stopped TFP and doing all these paid shoots but I really want to still bring it to the community and I feel like I am doing anyway with the portrait walks yeah that's pretty full on that's looking really good yeah I mean it's just coming out of nowhere out of nowhere the one that's your third one, there's a hundred plus people 100 plus confirmed 100 plus people so do you have a favourite shoot story do you have a favourite shoot story do you have a favourite shoot story so far favourite shoot story yes they're all really they're all just handfuls of fun I couldn't bring one down that I've found my favourite so far because everyone that I go to I just think this is just getting better and better because the more creative that I'm getting the more creative that these people come to so they can see that I can adapt to different things and work in different areas it's really fun to see what people have so I started off very basic with a very small camera we used a library and worked in there so I had some really moody type shots some very dark lights holding a book open and that was when they came and that was amazing that was so much fun as my first actual shoot with the model I've progressed from there I've worked with people doing cosplay type things just seeing that effort that people put into those outfits it's incredible and it's just so much fun did you go to supernova I've never been to a supernova I went this year but I didn't go inside I was just lurking outside with the camera I got some cool photos I'm still trying to get that lighting right I'm not happy with my lighting right now and I really really want to try and figure out a way to just get that natural light as best I possibly can kind of off flash but I can hold it and get it right that little softbox I had before I want to be able to have that but still be able to have it as almost not like your beauty douche that's your next level but a little bit more of a natural vibe enough light for the skin to be detailed yeah I mean I haven't seen graduation ceremonies before with the universities I don't know the brand of them but for the cameras they do have those big brackets that come off the side and sometimes they can be just as useful when people have a flash or being in a hot shoot the flash will be up here to the camera and sometimes they can be really useful for that sort of thing yeah maybe like one of those ones that's like a brace that has that's like on top of me or something I don't know it's your own supernova out here with just flashes what's this guy doing that's next level so no no specific favorite shoot stuff or I think nested be most upset if I didn't tell her this one we did one Vanessa and I with Brittany and we collaborated with Braids yeah like Game of Braids Game of Braids yeah and yeah that was awesome just so many fluorescent colors and yeah that was the first time I met them so that was really cool lots of cool fun colors we moved around we had sunsets red glasses and wacky colors all you could find through Northridge that was a really cool, groovy way to do it nice way to meet the girls I had a shoot with like we had Jordy Ivy Emma and Steph and we went just down the road here we had a paint fight oh stop it that was sick that was pretty cool we're going to do a second one with I've got I've got this shirt or the good pink shirt in reverse so it's white no black riding or white shirts they're all going to wear that and they're going to so we're going to try and figure out how we can do a better job the paint fight was okay but it was like kind of quick it was just like in bottles so we need to figure out how to get super soakers and really like some high speed cameras full slow motion video that stuff just what this was well that's what I mean like maybe I can maybe I can be the videographer and then you can kind of cool I would definitely be down with that that would be sick little project my dog just shitting himself so he's yours maybe guys you can't smell it but we just got punched in the face making my teeth fairy I feel like I need a shower now what do you see yourself in the next 5 years in the next 5 years question what do you see yourself towards like within the next 5 years not in the next 5 years yeah I mean I always said I wouldn't want to be 5 forever and you know I'm 8 years strong and my goal was 5 years so life changes over time you can never know what's going to happen tomorrow but um you know in the next 5 years I'd like to have myself sort of have a house and you know travel the world a bit more with my wife love it yeah if I can do some portrait work along the way and keep that going my goal originally was to be a supervisor at my work and the way the business and the way the company has changed I'm sort of feeling photography is more my flavour and now that I've picked it up and I feel like I've developed and I feel like I can definitely take that a bit further you're only starting yeah so I'm really hoping I can pick up some more with that it's a lot of fun I reckon you can buy the laptop tomorrow and just have it sitting there you don't have to touch it the finance is not a problem then the next step is I'll come around with my laptop you don't have to take the lapping off just have it sitting there I'll bring my laptop in we'll play some photo shop some lightroom I'll show you some tutorials that I'll learn and you can watch them and then I'm gonna push it he's playing on my rubber arm for sure hard hard I'm not comparing you to my kids at school but the teaching philosophy the principles are the same you teach by showing monkey see monkey do I don't know how many people have been inspired by me they say they have I don't try and fish their compliments out for them I'm doing this because you're doing it you know one of my good friends Cody he's a football player and he's just finished up recently and he's got A7 III and he's got a water housing thing like our summer portraits are gonna be sick but he got into it because of me and now we're talking about all the time like I finished footy a year or two years ago and we still stayed friends and we're bonding again because of photography so you know like I didn't even have to twist his arm because he was watching how much fun I was having he was teasing me at the start like all my mates do about the stuff that I do but that's the thing people are gonna tease you my mates just took the piss but I knew it was taking the piss and they love me and I love them but there are some people out there that actually are harsh because they're just jealous or whatever insecure but man like start get your first one out, get your first lightroom edit out on your computer and then go to Photoshop I mean I recommend going a little bit of lightroom just playing with the dials on the computer and then learning how to export that into Photoshop and just do basic stuff and then from there it's like the basic side of things you say that's something that I've always had to work from being someone that works on their phone I've never been someone that's had to or been able to build photos on top of others and air it and whatever it is that we do and they come up amazing when people do it but I've always it's a benefit for me I've always had to be someone that gets the photo in the camera I've had to get exactly the way it is in the camera so when I'm working from my phone I just have to do tiny incremental changes that's what I mean and it's really helped me over the years and it's not the best way that's exactly why I did that project I wanted to be able to get the best possible image I could and that's helped me I feel like I need to go back to it again I think working with film is a really good way to do it as well because my Nikon F4 that's a 1987 camera has all the same settings that you can see on a modern DSLR but you can't just look at the screen and go that's not a good one I have to make sure it's really good perfect how I want it in the view and then print it and go cool I really like this one I don't like this one there's no editing involved my recent one I don't know if you saw the one that Kari uploaded just recently this one I like it I feel like I'm back with that I took that though a few weeks ago that's really nice that reflection there that's really beautiful I don't know if you guys can see that gorgeous shot I'm super stoked with it and then there's a few more out there as well that I'm wanting to edit but I'm just just not happy with my lighting game at the moment and my colour grading but it's just it's a matter of just sitting down and just doing it like Kyle the ginger boy he's he is much respect Kyle doing so well and Byron he's doing so well and Ethan young Ethan he's doing so well they inspire me they inspire me I've spent a bit of time with Kyle now and yeah, hard to go with that guy yeah and then now I'm also focusing on video because I'm really liking the film stuff I like to tell a story with audio involved are you going to jump in on the DJI and get the rodent absolutely I'll get the I've got the rodent in the car oh stop it I've already got it and now watching Nick doing the handheld stuff I see the appeal for the handheld because it's less bulky as well it's like if you can do it minimally it's like perfection not as a shingles perfection only improvement but the way you improve is not by adding more but by taking away and making it as less as possible and that's yeah when that's what I'm trying to get with my editing less as more like I put it in transfer it to like Photoshop and I'm like okay we'll fix the skin up a little bit you know pimples and stuff happen like loose hairs going across the eye that's not fun not especially on the foreign Jesus and then yeah doing that all that and then going to the next thing and the next thing because you follow the tutorial that you're used to and then you realise like I've gone and done it actually the people that I've watched the tutorial I don't actually like their photos anymore well they're nice but they're not my thing they're just too overdone when I look at my photos and I'm like oh no shit so then I reverse it now it's starting to get my own flavour but I feel like I need to bring a few more flavours in and combine them to make it like more optimal for me that's the thing everyone has their different styles and like their own flavours so glad you said flavours because that's definitely how I describe things flavour not bad nice yeah you're exactly right you look at things you learn from it and then once you've kind of got your own flavour you go I think I like mine more and that's purely opinion but if you like it and someone else likes it then you've got business and you're doing well and that's it best part so there's a lot coming up for me in the next few weeks and I hope that in the next few weeks you've bought that laptop and in September I hope my wife doesn't watch this I hope I'm going to buy that tomorrow I hope she sees that and I hope she's like nah nah Sam do it if it makes you happy do it because she should come on back me up alright let's wrap it up it's been good thank you good things if you have one piece of advice for anyone out there for absolutely anything what would it be if you're I guess with the photography side of things if you're just thinking about doing it or you're a little bit nervous about going out and working with other models just go out and do it honestly for me it was I shut off a very long time ago and to go out there and start working with people it's given me so much more confidence again in myself knowing that I hadn't lost myself I'm still able to be the person that I am I can still get out there and show people who I am and that's been a really nice thing to hear from people that that outgoing person good to work with easy to talk to and that's been really nice really refreshing which is kind of nice get out there guys please do it go hard follow your heart just buy a laptop buy a laptop don't be a hypocrite and buy a laptop Sam thank you very much