 How's it? How's it guys? So great to have you here today, having a little chat on the couch about our photography and because I am so thrilled that you are here sharing with me and I want you to be the like the best photographer that you possibly can can be. I want to give you a little warning. I want to give you a heads up about something that has probably affected you at some point in your photography. If it has now it is going to at some point in the future and so many photographers struggle with this mistake. It's not a mistake that can be rectified by doing a tutorial or reading in a book or or any of those sort of things and yet because it it affects so many photographers I'm surprised that nobody has ever addressed it. So that's what I would like to do with you today is have a chat have this this kind of informal conversation about this very thing that is is threatening to sabotage your photography. I'm going to share with you a a story a secret about me if you will that is very difficult for me to to say especially to you and everybody else who watches this channel and is that that is that for the longest time I fell out of love with photography. I was not into photography. I sure I was I was still working as a photographer. I was still running my studio and I would put on the the stage face and and go and do you know do family portraits you know and make a reasonably good living from doing that. But yet every time I went into that studio every time I opened the door every time that I sat down with a family I showed them photographs of them it reminded me that this was not really what I wanted to do in photography that by step by step inch by inch I had moved further and further and further away from the excitement of taking photographs of the joy the simple pleasures of just taking a photograph for that simple fact of just because I liked looking at it I wasn't doing that anymore I spent you know 18 months two years really not taking any personal photographs at all like nothing I barely looked at any of my monographs I if I didn't have to go into the studio because really I'm only trained as a photographer I don't have any other skills to fall back on I probably would have ditched photography completely and and my life would be so much emptier for that and the reason that I haven't the reason I have now rediscovered my enthusiasm photography is down to two things the first is a guy called Chris and we'll come back to him in a little minute but the second thing it's well it's you it's you there watching this having a conversation with me albeit just a one-sided conversation it has reminded me that there are people out there who enjoy photography that they don't see it just as a way to make money and and that's kind of you know in in the in the area that I was working in a lot of photographers would pay lip service to the the idea of being a photographer of you know a wider sort of thing but they weren't taking pictures to have fun they were taking pictures that were mechanical in process simply to make some money they were effectively marketers who were taking photographs and so I was worried the very first time that I put up a video and it's almost a year ago now in fact this time last year I was busy putting the touches on my first video the Richard Avedon one and if you haven't seen it before I will link to it at the end of the video and it's always at the site for sore eyes right but I was sitting there and I go okay well I've got to do something I have to try something to rediscover my connection with photography and I thought maybe I can do this by helping other people remember why they start taking photographs in the first place they're having that that fun back in in the images so it's thanks to you and the rest of the community who sit who talk who give me feedback send me emails who who say great things and and and enjoy the content that has helped rekindle my love and my interest and my passion and my joy for photography that I felt when I was just starting out taking and holding that camera in my hand and and just seeing the world with the possibilities that it could so the second person and and is is what I would call a friend of the channel in old speak which is um I don't it's a bit of a naff with saying it yes okay so Chris Cuffero you are a friend of the channel you're officially been you know knighted as a friend of the channel now Chris is an american photographer and he is doing pretty much what I would have liked to have done when I was younger I wanted to be a musician not a musician a music photographer I wanted to be in there with bands and stuff because you know I was young was into music and stuff and Chris obviously has made a career from doing this he has photographed many many many many many many many many famous people and and I would love to do a a deeper look at his photography at another point we certainly will come back to him because he's he's a great he's a great guy and a great photographer but he would reach out and he would say listen Alex wake up right your content is good it's interesting I enjoy it but dude you need to lighten up right you are like ramrod stiff and you are kind of like not from presentation thing but you're being very earnest you're being very serious you are drifting into the realm of the strokey beard person who's telling you all about the high highfalutin sort of things and concepts remember why you take photographs in the first place you take photographs because it's fun man because it's it's it is a fun thing to do so Chris absolutely thank you ever so much for reminding me and for in extension reminding everybody who's watching this so that's you you need to be having fun with your photographs the people who tell you that you need to be in a certain way are the same sort of people who would sit there and they would look at somebody like Keith Moon this lunatic drummer over here and they would look at Charlie Watts and say this this very studious looking man over here and they would say well Charlie Watts is evidently the better drummer he is evidently the better because he is learned he's wise he he behaves in a in a serious fashion he takes it seriously and you know and and he just sits there doing his stuff whereas Keith Moon is was rather a lunatic I think it's fair to say he beat the drums like they owed him money and and I don't think you could say that he took anything seriously and yet both of them enjoyed the process of drumming they enjoyed the art form of drumming and and they were committed to it they they they loved it for for the energy that it gave them and and and those you know those sort of things and this is what we need to remember in photography is that you can express yourself as a photographer as a personality in so many different ways you can have fun with your photography and still talk about you know conceptual concepts and and and layering and all that sort of stuff but you can also have fun by being silly by by doing ridiculous things by going what happens if I do this what happens if I photograph a wedding with a plastic 1.8 50mm on my Canon you know it's you know you may recognize the voice of experience in that one and you know and then you tell people that you did this you say I have photographed wedding on a plastic 1.8 and they look at you and they go but well why why would you do that don't you aren't you serious about your photography and you go well yes I am and you know that was it was fun it was an experiment and it was cool it worked it was great you know so you don't need to behave in a silly fashion to be fun you don't need to be if you are the person who who is you know a little bit more upright a bit more old-school if you want to call it that that's also fine so long as you remember why you're doing this and that is to not please other people not to become a version of the photographer they think you should be and behave in a certain way that they think you should but because this is fun man you take a photograph and you see the world and it's and it's awesome whatever enjoyment you take from photographer whatever you get from it don't let other people stop you being fun with it having a fun and enjoying the process I have been guilty on this channel of occasionally being a little bit high but a little bit earnest and I think you know Chris has called me out on this a couple of times and and I've felt over the last few videos that I'm finding my feet with with the channel the channel is almost a year old the 20th of November 2020 I put up my very first video it was a video about Richard Aberdon if you haven't seen the half hour epic of me talking about a book I'll link to it at the end of the video it's certainly worth checking out because I would say that wouldn't I right but but here's where I would go with this is that this this video here has been more conversational it has been a lot more chatty than then certainly my earlier attempts at photography or videos about photography work and and this is because I have taken Chris's advice on board and also introduced into into this channel which is I started this channel because I wanted to talk about photography was something that I enjoyed it was my way out of rediscovering the the the the the the fun that I was having with with my photography by doing something that I enjoyed which was talking to other photographers now the reason I kind of moved away from scripted episodes and more kind of just conversational things while talking about photography is that if you were sitting here next to me or in front of me this is in my lounge and this is this is my lounge where we're finally getting around to doing some decorating um you know after the move then we wouldn't be sitting here with you sitting there going mmm yes it's all very very interesting and stuff you know and and it would be a proper conversation it would be back and forth back and forth hey you know and it would be fun we would be feeding off each other's energy and obviously in in youtube land it's a little bit tricky to to feed off but that's kind of why I'm moving away from the the more scripted more rigid formulaic sort of uh you know sort of very like here's a photographer and we're going to discuss their life and yada yada yada right into more kind of like do you know what we're going to look at these photographs and remember why that we enjoy them why do we like looking why why do I look at somebody like Tim Walker you know Tim Walker creates worlds a bit like David La Chapelle that do not exist that they they create these these fantastically worlds and I don't think that you know you would look at some fashion photography per se and say that has deep and layers of meanings and things like that it's just it's it's made because it's fun there are certain photographers who take their work very seriously and I believe that you know they have a a method and an agenda and something like that and they they will you know be more the Charlie Watts kind of photographer but then there are also photographers who are the Keith Moons who are the you know the the lunatics who you know would jump off the stage blow up their drum kits and all sorts of things like that because they can because they're not worried about you know conforming to some idea that comes from a you know a camera club or some sort of academic who says you must do this and they're not trying to impress that person they're just trying to be themselves so so with you just you know do your own thing man just I would implore you right if you are in a camera club right now if you're a member or you know if you're part of a group of photographers or you're in a phase you know whatever if you're if you are around other photographers who are not making you happy who are saying things that you kind of go well that's really not how I see photography don't waste your time trying to convince them that your way is is is good or is acceptable or whatever because it's just it's just a waste of time it's like it's like arguing on the internet nobody ever won an argument on the internet move away if they're if they're if they're being downers man just just move away from them right surround yourself with people who make you excited about photography and if you are excited by photography by being around people who talk in an academic sort of way little stroking bits that's cool that's absolutely fine but also if you want to be surrounded by people who are kind of maybe on my side of things where I'm a little more like do you know what I'm just going to see what happened I'm going to photograph a wedding with a plastic lens and I'm going to you know I'm going to photograph on holgers and all that sort of stuff because you know why not because it's fun you know then then do that just whatever you do just surround yourself with people who inspire you who inspire you to be the very best photographer and expressing yourself in a way that makes you happy that makes it fun for you that's really what I want from this channel is is to kind of just say to you look you know any way you want to express yourself is perfectly fine that that ultimately you should be finding fun with all sorts of things I don't know we keep coming back and talking about fun and stuff and that's because as I mentioned earlier this this video is not scripted this is me talking to you this is me reaching out and saying do you know let's let's forget about this idea that there are people who come down from on high and dispense their wisdom whatever word and and just throw it away you know or just yeah most people listen to their wisdom and throw it away but you know it's not like you've come down from on high and say look these are the things and you should and then I disappear again and I come back and I disappear and I come back right I from talking with you listen to the comments from from reading the emails that that you guys are sending me you know it's it's wonderful to see that there are so many people who watch the channel who enjoy photography who are either you know seasoned photographers who've been doing this for for many years but also there are people who are who are just new to photography that there is a common thing that runs throughout all of them and that is that at one point or another all of us picked up a camera and and we loved what it was that it made us feel it made us feel something and that was obviously a positive thing because we stuck with it you know we didn't take some pictures and say well I'm not really into this chuck it to one side and try you know a drum kit maybe you know Charlie Watts or Keith Moon had done or something like that we stuck with the hobby and for some it turned into a professional career and you know so like myself and and and I drifted further and further off what it was that initially connected with me and for some other people they have never wanted to do anything more with their photographs and simply just see the world in a certain way take pictures and you know if somebody else likes them that's cool all right because ultimately we got to take pictures to to have fun and and and that's just kind of I really want you know if you're ever feeling like you're not having fun with your photography I'd employ you don't just don't don't chuck it in don't just give up on it because you know I was very close to giving up on it as I mentioned earlier and I really would have regarded that I think it would have been a crying shame it's such an important thing in my life that that I would just become disconnected from so if you are struggling with your photography if it if it does feel like it's a chore if it does feel like it's a job that you are unwillingly doing then take a breather take a breather do something else you know put your cameras away for a while and just you know take a walk in the woods without your camera something like that come back to it come back to it later or if you if you really want to keep taking pictures take pictures of something that is of a genre that you have no interest in or no idea about at all because you're not going to be working under preconceptions you're not going to be forcing yourself to do something you can just take any you know it's just just go out and take pictures of whatever it is that you want and don't worry about whether or not they're good or bad they're just they they just are they're refilling your tank of of of happiness in your in your photographs so this is kind of like the third time I've recorded this video and and the reason I've done it three times is because each time I went well that's not right doesn't follow a structure and doesn't do this and might not hold attention and all these things that have gotten in the way of me kind of again drifting away from the enjoyment of of sharing this content with you sharing my love of photography with you and this is a big step for me is to take this leap and say well do you like the conversational aspect of these things you know what do you think because this is a two-way chat you know I I can sit here and talk all day to my lampshade which is behind the camera but ultimately I want to talk to you I wanted I want to have this as a conversation with you I don't want this channel to to drift once more into talking at you about things let's make this a back and forth so I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments it'd be fantastic really just to to get a feel for you know how you like well how you connect with the channel how do you see it is it is it a learning resource or is it more that you enjoy you know possibly the the thoughts that pop into your head when you watch it like oh my god that guy is always wearing the same waistcoat it's just like what's going on right or or would you you know what is it you would like to see I'm happy to talk about photography obviously the core of the the channel has always been talking about photography about photographers and I'll be I'm trying to find a balance between introducing as many of the great photographers who I enjoy who I love looking at to as many people as possible but also in a way that isn't just like oh I look at look at this photograph I like it so it's kind of cool so we'll look at the next picture and oh I like it so it's trying to find the balance between sort of you know academic-y kind of stuff but also you know the enjoyment the the the excitement about photography how it moves us in many different ways so please let me know in the comments below that would be fantastic anyway earlier I did mention about my very first video if you haven't ever seen it you are in for a rare treat so here it is it's rigid avidon and his book autobiography thank you ever so much for being here and I'll see you again soon