My work in progress portfolio.
Photography is the perfect marriage of technology and creativity.
For me it began as a child. My first experience with my own camera was in a photography class at the local art museum. We learned how to build a pinhole camera from cardboard. Later, I used film cameras including 110 film, Polaroid, and even a Kodak 35 mm. My father was into photography, which was very common in the 70’s. However, being the consummate gadgeteer, he had professional camera equipment. We have a good amount of family snapshots as a result. Fun times.
I followed the snapshot photo pursuits that many do for years. Birthday parties, vacations … etc.
During the Covid-19 after having become more interested in photography, I really went into a deep dive. There wasn’t a lot that we could do to preserve our sanity, so I began to focus on photography as a serious pursuit. I consumed Youtube videos, social media of well known photographers, and hundreds of websites worth of information. I cannot begin to tell you how much information is out there to help in the learning process. It really is incredible. I was all over the place. Landscape, macro-photography, portraiture, still life, astrophotography … there are seemingly no limits to the realm of photography.
However, I had no real budget. I was just as interested in making my photography work. I bought adapters to mount vintage film lenses to digital bodies, I used old flash systems with optical triggers, and even learned to DIY light modifiers. I think that I actually learned more through having to solve my problems without being able to throw money at them. Who is to say.
In tech, I’ve always been an open source guy, so it kind of made sense to spend no money. I’ve worked as a senior Linux administrator, because I refuse to pay for technology. It has just carried over, apparently.
Having started working events as bar staff, I began taking a Nikon J1, camera with me. That’s where it took off for me. That’s where I was hooked, and knew that this would never be a temporary pursuit again. This is when I began to think about photography as a more serious path. So, here I am …
At the time of this writing, I still have my original events Instagram account. I was not credentialed, and never promoted this account; however, I did leverage it for my first credentialed gigs. https://www.instagram.com/event.legions/
My credentialed photography account is here:
https://www.instagram.com/scott.randall_photography/