🗞️WELCOME TO ISSUE NO. 4

For anyone who’s new, this is is a weekly letter about what I’m testing and learning on my mission for the last eight years to become the best possible photographer and creative entrepreneur I can be. This is my attempt to share that with you so you might accelerate your own journey.

🔬EXPERIMENTS & LEARNINGS THIS WEEK

1. 🎬VIDEO - “Come with me to _____” style videos: This week, I tried a new format that I’d seen elsewhere, showing some of my favorite things I saw from a super cool Keith Haring exhibit that just opened in Seattle. And you know what? Biggest flop in more than a month. To me, I view it as a missed opportunity - I know the format works for other people, I know Keith Haring is interesting to many. I’m not going to give up on this format, but I gotta get a better hook, improve on the visuals, and see if I can make it shorter and punchier. There’s a way to make this more interesting. Will be coming back to this format again because I do love going to museums. PS - Ray Ban Meta glasses are going to play a role here for sure.

2. 🎬VIDEO - Lighting Tutorials: I’m hitting the gas on lighting tutorials right now, as you can probably tell. These tend to be some of my best performing videos, here’s a few things I’ve learned the last week:

   • Studio lighting seems to be the most interesting to people.

   • A rung or two below that: How to use flash.

   • People seem to dig the little hand-drawn diagrams.

   • Least impactful, from what I can tell: How to use natural light.

   • My guess is, natural light is the first thing many photographers learn, so it feels like less of a peek behind the curtain.

   • What I really want to try is a super fast paced one, ie can I land a point in 15 seconds or less - I might try that this week.

3. 🎬VIDEO - Recutting an Instagram Live into a Reel: This was super fun - Henry and I did a “draft” video where we took turns picking our favorite photographers and explaining why. It was probably 20 minutes long, and Henry had the unenviable task of cutting it into 90 seconds. My thoughts on this are, I like what’s possible here, it’s neat to be able to have a conversation and let people drop in and out. My big learning is, remember that it’s going to get cut into a short form video, so pause between points and acknowledge that a lot is going to get cut - so I can be more succinct. PS - Here’s a link to Henry’s Instagram and TikTok here.

4. 🎞️ STILLS - I’ve got two Instax cameras and one is better: Okay, so my main instant camera is an Instax SQ6. I recently bought a Instax Mini SE while on a trip, and after doing scans of all the polaroids, I can confirm: I think the images are crisper on the SQ6. Here’s samples of both, what do you think?

   

   Morgan in Nashville

🎞️STILLS

Here’s the two sets of stills I put up this week:

1. 📸Some portraits w/ Noah in the studio, we found this crazy pink fluffy gown and threw it on at the end

   • What I learned: Be constantly on the lookout for random things in a studio or outdoors that can add some visual punch to a shoot. This ended up being my favorite look of the day with him and it wasn’t even planned.

   • Gear used: Sony A7IV, Godox XPro-S Transceiver, Godox V1S flash with magnetic dome on it, Tiffen Black Pro Mist ¼ strength

2. 🌵Some portraits in the desert with Sophie

   • Gear used: Sony A7IV, Godox XPro-S Transceiver, Godox AD200 Pro flash, Tiffen Black Pro Mist ¼ strength

   • What I learned: Really dig how these came out, and if I gotta nitpick, The one thing I could’ve done better with these is more flash power. If I’d bumped up my flash a stop or two, it’d have added a little extra punch.

Want to see future issues?

🎬VIDEOS

10/20: Lighting Tutorial, Part 14 IG / TT
10/19: Come w/ me to the Keith Haring gallery opening IG / TT
10/18: Lighting tutorial: Part 13 IG / TT
BONUS: Photographer draft w/ Henry IG / TT
10/18: Compliment Attack: Jeff Vallee IG / TT
10/16: Lighting Tutorial: Part 12 IG / TT
10/15: Compliment Attack: Twelve Midnight IG / TT
10/14: Lighting Tutorial: Part 11 IG / TT

100 day challenge progress: We are in the home stretch! Today is day 89 in a row of posting a video. October 31st, if everything goes according to plan, is gonna be day 100.

📈AUDIENCE GROWTH

Instagram: 7786 followers, +457 this week, +6% vs. last week
TikTok: 821 followers, +47 this week, +6% vs. last week
Newsletter: 756 subscribers, +91 this week, +13% vs. last week

🙋GOT A QUESTION?

New section this week: Have a question about cameras, lighting, editing, workflows, whatever? Ask me here - your question may get featured and answered in depth in next week’s newsletter.

💻FREE PRESETS

If you edit in Lightroom, here’s a link to five free presets, no strings attached.

🛠️TOOLS

I often get asked what cameras, flashes, etc I use. Here’s all that in one place.

💬COMMENT OF THE WEEK

Thought this was really nice. Thank you, Karen Lawlor.

🔗SHARE

If you saw something you like or found interesting in today’s post - will you do me a solid and forward it to a friend or creator you think might like it?

Everybody have a great start to your week,

Garrett