I thought I was a good presenter because I'd been doing it for decades. I was wrong.
The day someone suggested I should film myself presenting (to address my distracting mannerisms) was the day I started working on my YouTube channel. I spend an evening or two a week on it.
Here's what I've learned after 2 years of YouTubing…
1) Hearing my own voice and seeing my own face while editing is surreal. I experience what it's like for someone else to talk to me.
2) My distracting mannerisms are worse than I thought. I often pause because my mind stutters and can't find the right word to say. It lasts 4 or more seconds (feels like a lifetime) and I often have to use the wrong word in the end just to keep going. It's like having an empty thesaurus.
3) My feedback is now from the public, and it ranges from high praise ("Beautifully said. Never heard someone talk about photography this way.") to personal criticism. I was called an “arrogant git” today. I guess that's the next thing I need to work on. It's emotionally taxing because people are saying aloud what probably used to be said when I wasn't in the room.
4) I've experimented with memorizing scripts, teleprompters and speaking with no prepared material at all. Different types of video lend themselves to different techniques.
5) Though I'm addressing my “ums” and my brain freezes, a lot of it is simply cut out while editing. It's kind of cheating and is probably slowing my progress.
6) My self analysis gets put into full practice when presenting in-person at photography and art clubs. It's clear that YouTubing has really helped with my speaking confidence.
Lastly, and the reason I think everyone should be a YouTuber, is that I get to explore new ideas, think them through, present them and have a record that I can look back on in the future.
And of course, “The best way to learn is to teach”.
As long as there are people who are entertained or informed by the videos, then its worth it.
Photographers only need this extra gear to start YouTubing
If you primarily shoot still photography, you’re in a great position to start a YouTube channel because you have most of the gear you need already.
Most cameras can capture video at 1080p, and either 24 or 30 frames a second. 4K recording and faster frame rates are nice but absolutely nonessential. In reality, the phone in your pocket will do a great job recording YouTube videos too. Common video wisdom is that the audio matters much more than visual quality anyway.
Which ever lens you have attached to your camera right now will probably do quite nicely.
Chances are you’ve already got a tripod and some light stands. I bet you have a shoot through umbrella in your closet somewhere too.
Disclaimer: If you buy through the affiliate links in this description, I may receive a small commission at no additional charge to you. I appreciate your support!
What might you be missing?
The first thing I had to pick up to start my YouTube channel was a good external audio recorder. With a good recorder, you can capture much better sound than the internal microphone of your camera. Especially if you’re going to be so far away from it. I chose a Zoom H1 (cheap and cheerful) and later added a Zoom F1 to the collection because it had a belt clip.
Because I do a lot of talking head videos, I chose a lavalier mic to plug into the recorder. A lav mic will get more of your voice and less of the ambience of the room, which is exactly what I wanted. A wired one like the Rode Go is fine because it goes directly into the recorder in my pocket.
If you want a bit more of an ambient mix of what’s happening in the room or perhaps you have a couple of people talking and you want a really simple set up, a hot shoe attached mic like this rode video micro might be just what you’re after.
Lighting can be as complicated or as simple as you want to make it. Natural light from the window is free but you are at the mercy of cloud coverage and the time of day. The lights I use for my still photography are all strobes because I like having high powered lights to stop motion. So I had to pick up a good continuous light source that I use only for YouTube. I chose a litemons la200 bi because you can adjust the color balance and it had a Bowens mount that matches a lot of the reflectors I already have.
An audio recorder and a continuous light source might be all that you need.
An optional extra would be a Teleprompter that you can mount to the front of your camera and use a smart phone or tablet app to display a script in front of you as you present. It’s not for everyone because a lot of people will prefer to speak from memory, but that’s some thing that I really struggled with and a Teleprompter helped. It might be worth experimenting with regardless because you can get a serviceable Teleprompter for around $200 like this Newer X14 I purchased off Amazon.
A teleprompter may cover up your camera’s flip out screen, adding the need for an external HDMI monitor. You might want one of these anyway because they give you a larger display that you can mount closer to you than the camera.
And you are away! YouTube has been a way for me to organize and share my ideas with the world. I hope the process helps you with your goals too.
Are you a Camerist or an Amateur? And other names we’ve given photographers forever.
As soon as the amateur scientist Louis Daguerre released his method of fixing an image on a sheet of metal in 1839, the hierarchy of camerist, amateur and professional photographer established itself almost overnight.
I came across the term “camerist” in a photo magazine from the early 1900s. And it sent me on a journey reading about the ways photographers classified themselves -and each other- when photography was in its infancy.
Old magazines are the best, because they have the same information as today’s blogs and YouTube videos, but with a hundred year’s less fluff getting in the way.
A note on labeling ourselves. We really don’t like to do it. But, for example, if you call yourself a vegetarian, then a cook knows what they can and can’t serve you. It can be helpful.
I’ll summarize some of the articles I read - and once you’ve watched the video let me know in the comments below which descriptions you relate to most.
The Camerist
A Camerist can be anyone who uses a camera, but reading these old articles, the word is often reserved for those at the very beginning of the journey.
“Regarding the word amateur as compared to the word novice, there is much confusion…” writes the editor in a 1912 issue of Photo-Era. “An amateur is one versed in, or a lover and practiser of any particular pursuit…but not engaged in it professionally. A novice is one who is new or inexperienced…”.
The Camerist, I think, is a novice, and would be obsessed with collecting cameras, or simply collecting memories. Kodak went all-in targeting this market with the slogan “you press the button - we do the rest”. They removed hurdles for those who would never have taken a photograph otherwise. This turned Camerists into Kodakers.
Step-changes in accessibility happened again and again over the decades, with the brownie, 35mm cameras and then automatic cameras. If you think the iPhone was the first camera that made everyone into a photographer, then you’ve missed almost 200 years of people saying exactly the same thing.
“It has been said that no true camerist is ever seen twice with the same camera.” Does that sound familiar? This quote isn’t a recent one, but from Photo era magazine in 1917. “…but this stage is not the final one”
“The average adult snapshooter is not interested in art and will not be bothered with technical knowledge”. Mused one writer in (1926). “But how to transform…the indifferent press-the-button offender into an amateur photographer…?”
The Amateur
I think being an amateur is the sweet spot for photography. Even working professionals allow themselves to be amorous with their craft through personal projects or pro-bono work.
The rules for submitting photos to LIFE magazine in the 1930s 40s and 50s set a level playing field. “Amateur photographers are welcome as contributors but their work must compete with professionals on an equal basis and will be judged (and paid for) as such.” The label distinction was based on whether the photographer made a living from making pictures, but the criteria here was the quality of the work.
Labeling yourself helped you pick what publications you needed to read to get the most out of photography. A magazine aimed at professionals, with articles on window displays, advertising and complaining about amateurs, would be useless for the amateur. Not so different from today. The downside of labeling photographers, is when it becomes an exercise in one-upmanship.
Amateurs were often sub-categorized when it came to competitions run by clubs or magazines, with the beginner categories being more general, with the winners showing they had the quality to call themselves “advanced workers”.
There’ll always be orders of magnitude more amateurs than professionals, which has long been recognised as a symbiotic relationship. Edward Newcomb in a 1900 issue of “the professional and Amateur Photographer” recognised that “if it were not for the multitudes of (amateurs) hypo would probably be 50 cents a pound, dry plates twice the price, and endless other conveniences lacking”. “Amateurs…have invented their share of improvements, done lots of experimenting and brought better understanding of photography into the land”.
The Photo-Era editor in 1918 describes a letter sent to him with “…in large type beneath (his name) the designation ”amateur photographer”. In one corner quite conspicuously appears a well known make of camera”. Sounds a lot like a beginner’s instagram profile to me!
He mentioned this letter to make the point that calling yourself an amateur photographer might be appropriate if you “ make only an occasional picture and…distribute prints without making any charge for them”. “If the photographer in question, in a desire to advertise his activity as a side-line, let him proclaim himself a “professional amateur photographer”. You might also think of the phrase semi-professional.
I’ve never heard a photographer call themselves Pro-Am, but the label is used in some sports, so maybe we should adopt it too. It describes the modern side-hustler. Something that could be dialed up to full professional in the future.
The Bulletin of photography, though aimed at professionals, quite often stood up for the amateur and presented the benefits they offered:
“The hand camera and the Kodak have had to stand much abuse from a certain class in the professional ranks….This type of photographer has in nearly every instance come from the ranks of the amateur.” “The more people conversant with amateur work, the greater will be the demand for the higher class of work from the art studios. This education of the public has done more than anything else in abating the demand for the absurdly cheap type of photograph”(1912)
A 1939 article by a photographic examiner said “If anyone should curb the privilege of the amateur to sell his worthy shots, he would be hindering the rapid increase of amateur interest, because it is most natural and most American to desire to sell the products of our creative ability”. He recognised that professionals rely on the sheer number of amateurs to raise the photographic consciousness of the public, and that professionals profit from selling supplies and education to amateurs.
Interestingly he also asks “What is the difference between the professional and the amateur photographer? I am frank to admit it is a hard line to draw and harder to put into words”.
The Pro-Am had a fine line to walk. To differentiate themselves from the Kodakers without upsetting the Professionals that they’d eventually like to rub shoulders with.
“And here is a rule as near the wished-for formula as the amateur will ever get - take pictures for yourself” wrote Ida Bale in 1900. “If you cannot enjoy your pictures, no one else will; and everyone else may not, even if you do”.
The Professional
Fred Wright wrote in a 1904 issue of “the camera”, “that a person ceases to be an amateur photographer, in the strict sense of the word, the instant he accepts cash in excess of the cost incurred in the making of his pictures”.
The definition of the word professional is simple, “a person who gains his livelihood through the making of pictures with a camera”. It really has nothing to do with the quality of the work or the personality and habits of the worker. Though the definition gets stretched all sorts of ways, especially when comparisons to amateurs are made.
Rob Schwalberg in pop photo 1989 makes a distinction based on the necessity of getting a result. He says “I’ve known lots of amateurs whose photo-technical knowledge was far deeper than that of the average working pro. But having the outlook of the problem-solver who’ll do their best to get the job done is the hallmark of true professionalism”.
A rant in a 1944 issue of the same magazine argues “Every amateur picture is served with an apology!”. “We (professionals) have to sell a picture, not on the strength of what we tried to do, but solely on what we have accomplished”. Halleck Finley continues to make points on the professional’s duty to “carry out ideas suggested by someone else”. Though critical, I think there's an interesting point here - that the amateur has the privilege and freedom of choosing their subject.
The Editorial from a 1915 copy of Photo Era argued that equipment was a key differentiator for the professional, which makes sense given they had dedicated spaces for larger cameras and darkrooms.
“Admitting the talented amateur with…advantages in spontaneity and originality frequently surpass the…professional…it has yet to be shown that he bests him in the technical side of the art. Here the professional excels because of the efficiency and latitude of his apparatus, and the conditions of the light and room at his command.” The editor is talking about the efficiency of the camera despite its bulk,and access to the right lens and studio conditions for the job.
Remember what we said earlier that quality and profession don’t necessarily go hand in hand? Check out this scathing letter that the Globe chamber of commerce sent to The Bulletin of photography in 1908: “There is a really fine opening for a good portrait photographer here in Globe Arizona - three so-called portrait men are butchering the profession and making a good living because the poor public cannot help themselves… ”. Way to insult the entire town! But fair point - labeling someone else, or yourself, a professional says nothing about the quality of the work.
To keep our definitions straight, the editor in a 1912 issue of Photo-Era explains. “The professional photographer…who is new and unskilled is a novice and not an amateur”.
Its also worth remembering that the professionals were throwing stones from their glass houses. Their work might be superior to the camerist, but they only used a camera because they didn’t have the skills to make a Portrait with paint brushes. Oil painters in the early 20th century still had the advantage of colur, and flattering a portrait subject by rejecting any parts of reality that didn;’t do them justice.
Closing thoughts
The Camerist, the amateur, the professional. This might be a progression, or something we dip in and out of depending on the hour of day. I find it fascinating, and amusing, that these comparisons and rants have been the same from the oldest magazine articles to the newest online videos.
What sort of photographer are you?
Having this website critiqued by Cory Vanderploeg
Cory Vanderploeg kindly gave my website a critique. I’ve already actioned many of his suggested changes, so please have a look through filnenna.com and let me know if you think it was an improvement!
The website is critiqued around 44 minutes in the video below.
From 0 to 1000 YouTube Subscribers in 9 months
I’m a bit of a photography nerd and I’ve learnt a lot about the craft over the years. Especially when it comes to vintage film cameras and making epic portraits and headshots.
My YouTube channel is a bit of an experiment. I wanted to document my own education (in the form of studying renaissance artists, techniques and other useful things for portraits like body language), and share what I’ve learnt with others. Here’s the story so far…
DISCLAIMER: If you buy through the affiliate links in this description, I may receive a small commission at no additional charge to you. I appreciate your support!
Why YouTube?
YouTube helps me get my name out there, show my work to a wide audience and share the knowledge I’ve gained. It also acts as a FAQ for my portrait sitters. Rather than explain my retouching methods haphazardly, I can simply point them to my video about it.
A very nice benefit is that learning is consolidated when you try to internalize and summarize an idea or technique for an audience. I pay more attention to a book I’m reading if I know I need to relay that information later. In that sense, making videos helps me out as much as my viewers.
Making videos
It was pretty easy to start - I have most of the equipment I need as a photographer. The only additions I bought were a continuous light (Litemons 200bi) and a voice recorder with lapel mic (the zoom H1). I use my backup camera (a Canon 6D mark2) as a video camera and film in 1080p. I use Davinci Resolve for video editing. Its a steep learning curve, but I get faster with every video.
I started with a video on how to treat digital scans of negatives, and I’m experimenting with tutorials and how-to videos, mixed with quirky videos on things like 3D stereoscopy and drone portraits.
1000 subscribers is significant because it is one of the thresholds to monetization. Along with getting 4000 watch-hours. Its quite a painful journey actually. When I was at 100 subscribers, I got some traction with a video about simplifying camera settings. Subscribers reached 350 a week later. And then….crickets. For months. And many low-view videos later, a video on the philosophy of photography as a hobby gained traction. This was my 33rd video. Over Christmas 2022 and the new year, the subscriber count went from 400 to more than 2000.
What’s next?
Knowing the YouTube ride is a turbulent one, I’m not expecting views to remain high from here. It will dip again as I experiment with various video ideas that may or may not gain traction. Coming up are videos on how to pick a your first film camera, and how you can use body language to signal the intent of a portrait.
The plan is to get to 100 videos in order to have meaningful statistics to study. Which types of videos perform well, which thumbnails get clicked on and what makes me happy as a photographer and a creator.
Thank you my first 1000 Subscribers!
I started a YouTube channel last year to talk about my photography philosophies and work on my public speaking. This January the channel reached 1000 subscribers who’ve responded kindly to the videos I’ve been releasing.
The videos with the most views cover how to simplify your camera settings and to recognize your interests in order to enjoy what really matters - taking wonderful photographs!
To everyone who’s subscribed so far, thank you! And watch this space for more engaging content over the coming weeks and months.