At the end of April I wrote a piece for Medium.com. This article chronicled everything I had done during quarantine up to that point, including bringing in over $15,000 in income, being interviewed on three podcasts, and calling over 100 people. My hope it that this inspires you to continue on your freelance journey and […]
How to Follow Up With Clients
How to Follow Up with Clients Mia (QUESTION): I was wondering if and how I should follow up with clients, since sometimes they don’t get back to me as soon as I would hope, which makes it harder to plan things. I’m also not sure what the appropriate time is, to reach out to the clients again, […]
Deciding Where to Live as a Photographer
Morey (QUESTION): I’m thinking of moving back to Santa Barbara from Los Angeles because I’m not sure if fashion photography is for me and I want to live a more balanced life outside of Los Angeles, but on the flip side I’m not sure if I’m just giving up on my “dream” by moving back to my college town. I […]
Printing Large Photos
Printing Large Photos JOE (QUESTION): How do I go about printing large photos to sell? What resolution do you recommend printing the photographs in and do I have to worry about delivery options? PHILLIP VAN NOSTRAND (ANSWER): For printing large photos, you’d have to sign up for services such as Pixieset (which costs around $10-40/month) or something […]
Choosing the Right Shutter Speed
Josh (QUESTION): Recently, I’ve been getting back into photography and when I was riding back from the beach, I noticed the reflection of the moon in a puddle, and I really wanted to take a crisp picture of it with the border of the puddle. I’m not sure if it was still the shakiness of my hands, […]
Are you going to WPPI?
I’ll be speaking there in a week and a half! If you haven’t signed up for WPPI I can get you a 15% DISCOUNT ON THE PLATFORM or ALL ACCESS PASS. If you are signed up already and want to add one more class to your schedule, come see me speak on Thursday at 3:30pm. “Passive […]
Off Camera Flashes
Off Camera Flashes Jose (QUESTION): I am dipping into the world of off camera flashes and strobes with modifiers and would like any feedback or advice that you have from your experience with them. I just bought an umbrella and triggers recently – already had the light stand and flash. I took it out today and just couldn’t […]
Getting Sharper Images
Getting Sharper Images Matt (QUESTION):I’m having trouble with getting sharper images. I have seen advice from the internet. Most of the things they recommend are making sure you have a fast enough shutter speed, not too shallow depth of field, and trying to avoid camera shake. I get about 1 in 5 that are sharp and […]
How I Shot the Cover of Rolling Stone: Year Three
To read about this journey from the beginning, start here. [Note: I have not yet photographed the cover of Rolling Stone! But by the time this blog series is finished, I will have photographed the cover] Year three was the year I finally moved to Manhattan. I moved from my apartment with three roommates in Brooklyn to […]
Organizing Your Photos
Organizing Your Photos Brandon (QUESTION): I really want to know how you are organizing your photos. I just got a Mac Pro tower w / 4.5TB, and up until now my photos have been across a few external drives. I’ve played with iPhoto (hate it because it duplicates everything), Picasa (which lays out every media file […]