STEADY, COWBOY #011

🗞️WELCOME TO ISSUE NO. 11

Welcome back to “STEADY, COWBOY”, where I do three things:

1. Document the effort I’m putting in to become a world class photographer & creative entrepreneur

2. Track the progress I’m making, where my head is at, and what I’m testing to raise my own game

3. Share as much value as I can, so that I can be useful to you in your own creative mission, whatever that may be

I’m super psyched you’re here. Let’s go.

🛰️CAPTAIN’S LOG

We are going to have a very short newsletter today, but I do have a few fun things to tell you about.

First, where am I? It’s 4:44 AM at LAX’s Terminal 6, and I am not proud to tell you I spent the night here. I missed my flight to Seattle last night, I was 100% that guy doing my best 90’s Emmitt Smith impression through the airport in complete futility. Spending the night in the airport wasn’t as bad as you might expect, and one potential cool thing: I broke out the Contax G1 to shoot some photos of the empty airport around 3AM. If any good ones come back, I’ll post ‘em.

Where was I, part one: I got to go to National Rodeo Finals in Las Vegas this past week. It’s the “Super Bowl for Cowboys” as Boot Barn’s creative director Isha calls it, and she’s right - I've never seen more cowboy hats in my life. I’m from Dallas, so I can say this, it’s the closest the Cowboys are getting to the Super Bowl anytime soon.

Jokes aside, it was remarkable. Getting to go to the rodeo at Thomas & Mack Center was incredible - the best of the best competitors in every rodeo event were there and I thought the skill level, the passion, it all was just so cool to see, even from my nosebleed seat. I liked getting to walk the floor at “Cowboy Christmas” where hundreds of vendors are showing off their brands, I liked getting to meet people in the western community, I shot a couple of fun projects while out there, just really cool. I have never been more confident that I want to find a way, someday, to photograph that rodeo. It’ll take a ton of work. But I wanna get there. Here’s a picture from my seat at the NBA-sized arena packed full of cowboys:

Where was I, part two: From Las Vegas, I headed straight to Los Angeles. Stayed in a very design-y hotel that I’m going to make a video about soon, got to spend a bunch of time hanging out shooting with a tremendous photographer named Jon Premosch (link to a video I did about him here), and shot a super fun project for Oren’s brand Valuable Studios. It is really fun, and gratifying, when you put all this work into a craft, and over time not only do you get more opportunities, but you find people along the way that you can relate to, have shared interest with, and maybe even become friends. Overall, I had a really good, productive time down in LA.

🔬EXPERIMENTS & LEARNINGS THIS WEEK

1/ 🎬VIDEO: “The World is Your Runway“: I don’t know if these will ever be big hitters and I don’t care too much yet. I got my start as a photographer shooting free tests, out in the streets and public spaces, trying and usually failing to make something interesting. And I saw a reel recently from @voguefrance that just had the coolest walking shots in the streets of Paris timed to music and I thought, that’s super slick. I want to do an homage to that. So this is my first one of what may become a series - working name is “the world is your runway”. I like the idea of people feeling great about how they’re dressed and turning random public spaces into a runway for a minute. First ever one, we’ve got @shelby.mayfield at the @lasvegasnfr. I’m going to keep testing these.

2/ 📸PHOTO - Film: Got a few rolls back that I shot on this Contax G1 I bought last month and here is the verdict, I love it. I have not yet seen any of the issues I read about on autofocus, but I need more time. 28MM lens is really good. Haven’t tried the 45MM or 90MM yet. Will continue to update.

3/ 📸PHOTO - Digital: For the first time in 5+ years, I am giving consideration to making the switch from Sony. Jon is putting the full court press on me to have a look at Nikon and I’m not saying I’m gonna do it, but I am saying that the difference in what his Z8 was able to get and my A7IV was able to get in the exact same situations was jarring. Different price ranges on those two cameras entirely, so we gotta account for that, but man, I had my eyes opened today.

🎬VIDEOS

Just one video this week:

garrettking.co

View more on Instagram

📈AUDIENCE GROWTH

Instagram: 9281 followers, +132 vs. last week, +1% vs. last week
TikTok: 1054 followers, +31 vs. last post, +3% vs. last week
Newsletter: 946 subscribers, +20 vs. last week, +2% vs. last week

🙋GOT A QUESTION?

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.

💬COMMENT OF THE WEEK

It’s cool (and bemusing) to be called an OG. Super flattering but I can confirm, I still feel like I’m learning every day.

💬LINKS

📍Free mood board #05, lederhosen + dirndls: LINK
🆓Five free Lightroom presets: LINK
🛠️All the cameras + flashes I use: LINK
🤝1:1 consult calls: LINK

🔗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