The Beginner Photography Podcast

Photo Q&A: AI vs A Camera - Who Will Win the Photography Battle?

• Raymond Hatfield

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#357 You have photo questions, I want to answer them for you here on the show.

Whenever you have a question about photography, day or night, 24 hours a day 7 days a week, head to https://beginnerphotopod.com/qa , and send me your questions.

After shooting for more than a decade and interviewing 300+ world class photographers, its time to share some of that practical information with you!

THE BIG IDEAS

  • Quality Over Speed Wins: Focusing on craftsmanship and genuine client connection ensures your work will stand apart, even in a world of instant digital creation.
  • Safe Communities Fuel Growth: Seeking out or contributing to positive, supportive photography groups helps foster learning, creativity, and confidence without fear of harsh judgment.
  • Adaptability Encourages Longevity: Being open to change—be it new technology or legal best practices—keeps your creativity and career resilient in an evolving industry.
  • Clarity Builds Trust: Clear communication, especially around expectations and contracts, protects both you and your clients, leading to better outcomes and relationships.

Todays Photography Questions:

  • Will AI replace the role of a photographer
  • Do I need photo contracts before shooting?
  • Do I need photo contracts when shooting street photography?
  • Whats better, Photoshop or Lightroom?
  • Can you make it as a photographer without learning Photoshop?
  • What the best camera under $2000 to photograph wildlife
  • What is the best lens for wildlife photography?
  • What Im shooting now that Im not focused on Weddings


Resources:

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Connect with Raymond!


Thanks for listening & keep shooting!

You go out as a hobby photographer for the enjoyment of photography, not to create something to then sell, right? So, your enjoyment in photography is the act of photography itself, and AI will never be able to take that away from you. But when your livelihood is at stake, that's when it becomes different, right? Hey, welcome to the beginner photography podcast brought to you by cloud spot, the easiest way to deliver and even sell your photos online. I'm your host Raymond Hadfield and today is our monthly Q and a episode. Oh man, you have photo questions. I want to answer them for you right here on the show. So guess what? Going forward, if you have any questions about photography day or night, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, you can leave me your photo questions in a voicemail, all you got to do is just head over to beginner photo pod. com forward slash Q a again, that is beginner photo pod. Dot com forward slash Q a to send in your questions. Now, before we dive in to this week's episode, I wanted to cue you in on on some things that are going on around here. And a few weeks ago, I had sent out a survey asking you what it is that you want in a photo community. There's a community on Facebook and the changes that Facebook has made to its platform over the years have just made it a very hard place to host a photo community, for you, you know, something that encourages education and camaraderie in a safe and inviting place. So again, I sent out this survey, hoping to get some feedback from you and some insight on what it is that. That you want in a photo community and I got more than 250 survey responses, which honestly blew my mind, blew my mind, because it tells me that, you know, you really want to be a part of this new home that we are building together, this photo home on the internet. And while I am still going through each and every single survey answer, I have been overwhelmed by the kind words that you have had for the community and how, for many of you, it is the only place where you feel safe enough to share your photos online without fear, without fear of ridicule, without fear of unnecessarily harsh judgment. There really is a big difference between somebody just saying your photo sucks and somebody explaining in specific ways that you can improve upon an image. And that's what it is that you're looking for. I think that we all know in the beginning of our journeys that we're not going to be professionals right away. But to be told, that your photo is no good does not help anybody. You need some real actionable help and that is what you get from the community. And, uh, it is just so awesome to see, to see so many of you have got so much help that way. So just know that, because of your help and your feedback, I truly am excited for the future of our community and I will be sharing more details over the next few weeks, so be sure to stay tuned now with that, how about we go ahead and get into some questions, huh? What do you say? All right. So this first voicemail comes from Grant. Let's see what Grant has to say. Hi Raymond. My name is Grant. And I, this is not so much a question as it is just to get your, um, input on AI image generation. I know it's a big point of discussion right now amongst photographers and, it is rather concerning. Thanks. Bye. Grant, I can hear in your voice that you have reservations and that you are, that you are nervous about the future of photography. And I gotta be honest, this is something that, we've been talking about a lot recently because of things, of tools like, DALI and, I don't know, there's other ones out there as well, that it has become extremely easy to just be able to input some sort of, know, text Some sort of descriptor and get an image from a computer and this is such a interesting tool and a very awesome tool for a lot of people, say small business owners or, people who need marketing material, who don't know anything about photography. So they've been using it a lot and that makes other people want to use it, and then there's been tools where you can upload photos of your face and boom, now you got headshots and stuff like that. It's an interesting time to be alive, I'll be honest, and I think what it comes down to for me is, I think you have to first, okay, let me wrap my head around this, to figure out whether you should be concerned about AI image generation or not. The first thing I need to say is that the genie is not going back in the bottle. This is going to be around for a long time, forever. Nobody's just going to stop using this. It's you come up with an idea and boom, there's an image in front of you. There's just so many use cases for this. It's not going away. All right. But whether or not you should be concerned about it is different. So the first question that you need to ask yourself is, is what do you shoot? You know, is what you shoot, do you do it as a hobby, or do you do it for a business? Because if you shoot photography as a hobby, then you have nothing to worry about. You go out as a hobby photographer for the enjoyment of photography, not to create something to then sell, right? So, your enjoyment in photography is the act of photography itself, and AI will never be able to take that away from you. But when your livelihood is at stake, that's when it becomes different, right? So if you shoot professionally, again, that's where many of these photographers shaking in their boots. And honestly, they have every right to do so. Growing up, there was a carwash in my town and I promise you this is related. Okay. There was a carwash in my town and, it was like a spectacle. I'll tell you what it was like. I mean, it looked like. It came out of a spaceship, there were all sorts of like pipes and, tubes and the whole place was like kind of like a neon blue color. And there was this team of people who would come out to you, they'd take your keys, they'd get you out of the car. They bring you into this beautiful lounge area and then while you were just like hanging out and enjoying your day, they would give your car an amazing wash. Right? Hand washed everything. It was beautiful. And this place was always busy. And when you got your car back again, spotless, everybody loved this service. And it was honest. This sounds kind of ridiculous, but like it was an event for our family, like to go get the car washed. It was like exciting to do this, to watch people take over the car and we could like watch them, do so through the glass. And they typically had like hot chocolate and stuff that we could drink as kids. But despite everybody loving this, a few years ago, a new car wash moved into town. And it was like, it was just an automated car wash. Essentially what they've had at gas stations for years, right? And for the same price, you could now get It wasn't a terrible car wash, but it was definitely a lower quality car wash. And the hand car wash place shut down not long after and for a long time for me, I was like, why in the world would anybody, I mean, for the same price, why would you not want a better wash? Right? So the question became, why did everybody switch? The reason why everybody switched is because it would now only take five minutes to get your car washed as opposed to 25 minutes. And with an automated car wash, you could stay in your car the whole time, meaning that the majority of people value speed. Over quality. And for you as a photographer, if that's the client that you serve, then yes, you should absolutely be worried about your ability to make money with your camera. But if your client is, one with that, you know, my stepdad had restored a 69 Chevelle growing up. It was a 69 Chevelle SS had the 396 in it. I loved that thing. He would never take that car to an automated car wash. He would only trust it to the people who would wash it by hand. Now those automated car washes, you know, they're gonna pick up every time they clean a car They're gonna pick up the dirt off the car. They're gonna pick up some rocks off a car They're gonna pick up debris and then when your car goes through Well, they're just gonna hit your car with all the rocks and the debris and the in the dirt And if you had spent a lot of time restoring and you took pride in your car, you knew that it was just going to ruin your paint. So then, for them, it became, are you willing to ruin your paint to save, a few minutes? And the answer is no. those people who take care of, their car, or in this case, if you're a family photographer, really care about your family, You're going to happily pay to wait longer, because you value quality over speed. So if that's your client, then you have nothing to worry about. Because There's always going to be people who want, custom. People who want quality. People who want real quality. When you look at people who, um, I don't know, just playing like a free association game in my head, you know, when you think wealth, you can think, like a private chef, you never think, somebody who has billions of dollars is just going to microwave a meal for a few seconds. So that they can eat it because yes, that saves time, but they don't want to save that few minutes. They would rather have quality over easy. So as a photographer, you just have to make sure that what it is that you're offering from a photography standpoint caters to those people, the people who want custom, the people who want quality, the people who want real over easy. So grant, I hope that that answers your question about my thoughts on AI. because yeah, it is definitely going to change everything. but if that's who it is that you cater to, you're going to have nothing to worry about. All right? Again, Grant, thank you so much for that voicemail. The next question we have here is from Sarah. Let's see what Sarah has to say. Hello, Raymond. My name is Sarah. My question is more related to the photographer's relationship with the client or subject than the photography itself. I've been into photography for a while now, and I'm finally making it an official side gig. But I find myself stuck in two different places. One, for pay clients, what should I do about contracts? Do I need to pay to have a lawyer draw them up? Or what does that process look like? I've heard a lot of different information and in some cases conflicting information and two for something like street photography where the subject isn't the client, how would it be best to navigate that as far as consent contract, or how all of that works? Thank you for all you do for the photography community. Hey, Sarah. Thank you so much for that was a fun one. And, question, or questions rather, that I know a lot of people, also have. share. so the first thing to know about contracts is no, you don't need any contracts. you don't need a contract to take a photo of somebody. you don't need a contract to own a camera. You don't need a contract to sell a photo, but you do probably want a contract. A contract is simply an agreement between two parties, right? you want to have your client sign a contract for many reasons. But you don't need one. You do want one. So a contract can protect you and also protects your client, right? It protects you from things like I had this happen to me. What if a client slips and falls during a session and they break their leg? Are you going to pay for those medical bills? Are they going to pay for the medical bills? A contract is going to protect you for things like, how do they know how much to pay? when to pay. It's going to protect your client to know how much what they're going to get, what are the deliverables going to look like? When are they going to get them? It's going to help everybody know if you're allowed to post those photos online for promotional, purposes, or if the client wants those photos private. So no, a contract isn't needed, but you probably want it. Now, when it comes time to getting a contract, Should you have a lawyer draft one up for you, 100%. Is that, are you always going to do that? No. And this is why the world of, these legalities is so difficult, because do you have to do it? You don't have to do any of this stuff. But should you do it? You probably should. You probably should, right? So getting a lawyer to draft up contracts, that's what I did. It was extremely expensive. It was more expensive than I had imagined, especially in the beginning. but I wanted to do it quote unquote, right. just have everything on the up and up. But unfortunately, what I wasn't thinking of is that, well, experience, changes things, right? Because suddenly, there are situations that you may run into and you ask yourself, or you, you just may want to make sure that those things are covered. I have not been in this situation, but I was in a situation where, or I'm sorry, I know a photographer who was in a situation where they were at a wedding and a guest knocked over their light stand and it damaged some part of the wall or a piece of artwork at a venue. The photographer didn't knock over the light stand. The client didn't knock over a light stand. The venue didn't knock over the light stand. And damage the artwork. So who has to pay for what's going on here, and these are things that you're not typically going to think of until you're in a situation like that, which can be very difficult. So, if you're just starting out, I highly, highly, highly recommend that you look for some sort of just free contract online. I know that the LawTog has. Some, free contract templates. I had one at one point. I don't know if that's still up or not. It was just mine that I use for weddings. but I would say, try to look for one that is related to your niche. You know, if you're shooting families, try to look for a family one. If you're photographing, weddings, try to look for, one based on weddings and just know, like, look over it yourself and ask yourself, like, does it protect you from, knowing exactly how much the client needs to pay you, knowing when you have to deliver your photos, what's going to happen in the event of, I don't know, you get into a car crash on the way home and everything's ruined, you no longer have those images. How long you're going to keep those photos before the client is solely responsible for them. And things like, you know, what happens if somebody gets injured at a session. And then I say, just go forward with it from there. And then, as time goes on, and you start experiencing more and more, just different situations, start writing down, what you want to make sure is covered in your contract. And then, as your business starts doing better and better, then it might be time to go. And take your contract to a lawyer. And rather than have them draft up one, just say, these are the situations that I want to make sure that I'm protected against. Does this contract do that? And then if they're just going to advise on that contract, and perhaps provide a few rewrites rather than just draft up the entire thing, that's going to be a whole lot cheaper as well. So, I hope that that answers your question. As far as street photography goes and consent, again, you do not need a Where a contract might come in handy is if that photo that you took on the street of somebody you go to sell and it somehow sells for, a large sum of money, they find out about it and they want some of that money. The law says if you are in a public place, you don't have any rights to privacy because you are in a public place. Now, you as a person can control your own privacy by, I don't know, wearing a hat, wearing sunglasses, wearing, with just your outfit and the decisions that you make, but you still can't stop somebody from taking a photo of you, you can't stop. or I guess you as the photographer, you are allowed to. Take photos of technically whatever you want, as long as it's a private space. Now, I would say that it is a good idea to be aware of people's feelings and, you know, a situation that is happening, having situational awareness. but other than that, Legally speaking, you have every right to take a photo while you are on the street. If you sell that photo, that's fine, because you own the copyright to that photo. Now, if you own the copyright to that photo because you took the photo. Now, if somebody decides to I don't know, sue you or whatever for taking a photo of them. There's no basis. I mean, if you're just like out at a park or out, you know, walking along the streets, taking photos, there's no basis for somebody to be able to sue you for that. So you have nothing to worry about. Yeah, I think that's all that there really is to say about that. I would say, because I'm not a street photographer, I've never, I've taken photos on the street. I've never asked anybody to sign any contracts while taking photos. I would say, If you do a lot of street photography, it might be a good idea to reach out to a specific street photographer, and just ask, what is their process like? What do they do when they go out and take photos? And see if, you know, if that matches what it is that, that you need to do. So, Zara, I really hope that that helps. Because it is kind of a tricky world when anything legal comes into play. All right, well how about we go ahead and get on into our next question here from Andre. Hello Rima and how are you? You have a wonderful podcast. Uh, listen to it all the time. I'm still very, very new on my photo journey. And I have one quick question. I see there's a lot of editing tools available. The Premiere ones are Lightroom, and then there's Photoshop. I'm kind of familiar with Lightroom. I think it has a nice plug and play, easy workflow. But Photoshop seems extremely daunting. Is it really essential for someone to really look good? Can you get by as a photographer, without knowing Photoshop anyway? Happy to hear what are the benefits, advantages or pitfalls. Thanks so much. Great job as always. Thanks Andre. This is a question that, many new photographers have. Do I use Photoshop or do I use Lightroom? And I think that it gets kind of confusing because Lightroom's official name is Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. Lightroom. They're in fact owned by the exact same company. They do not do the exact same thing, right? And that is where people get messed up. They say, you know, for a long time, Photoshop was the only option to edit your photos until Lightroom came around, right? So then it became, well, which one is better, Lightroom or Photoshop? But they are in fact two entirely different tools, all right? And here's how I best think of Lightroom. Uh, the difference between Photoshop and Lightroom. Well, I guess first to answer your question, you know, can you make it as a photographer without using Photoshop? Let me say that as a wedding photographer, 98 percent of my workflow was all done within Lightroom. And the only time I would use Photoshop is if I needed to do, something very specific. So let me break down the difference between the two editing programs. Lightroom is made to catalog all of your photos. So every time you go out and you shoot, you bring those photos back and then you import them into Lightroom. This is your catalog. If you want to go back to photos that you took five years ago, 10 years ago, last March, the, you know, the 4th of July, you can do so within Lightroom because it's all in one spot. All of your photos live in this box, right? Think of it like that. Photoshop is. Is more for working on just one photo at a time. So in my case as a wedding photographer, what I would do is the only times really that I would go into Photoshop is if there was excessive glare on somebody's eyeglasses or if I needed to do a head swap, right? So sometimes for like family photos, you know, you got 10 people in front of you, you take just a burst of four or five photos, make sure that nobody's blinking, but if somebody is blinking, that's okay. Because now you took, three or four other photos. Hopefully they weren't blinking in one of those. And then you can just swap the head of the non blinking person onto the face of them when they were blinking, because everybody else looks good in that photo, you know what I mean? so again, can you make it as a photographer? Without learning Photoshop, I would say that if you are a portrait photographer, that's going to be very difficult. a lot of portrait work relies on different layers, which Photoshop allows you to do. Lightroom does not. Photoshop is really good tool for retouching and being able to go back and reedit, aspects of an image that you did later, which again, Lightroom does not. It just applies more globally to the photo. Whereas Photoshop allows you to add things and do more, localized edits. So I hope that that makes sense. The, according to Adobe. The workflow should go just like that. So you go out on a shoot, you come back, you import your photos into Lightroom to catalog them. You then rate your photos. You decide which ones you're going to edit. You do a base edit within Lightroom exposure, contrast, color. And then if there's anything else that you want to take care of that Lightroom cannot handle, then you can actually, within Lightroom, right click on a photo and then click edit in Photoshop. It will then open that photo in Photoshop, allow you to do whatever edit you need to do. You press Command S to save the photo, and then it is now saved back into Lightroom. They work together, not against each other. So I hope that helps. If you're worried about them, just start with Lightroom. Try to really figure out its limitations, If you hit a wall of limitations, well, then maybe it's time to think about Photoshop. And luckily with Adobe, their, Lightroom, plan, I guess, subscription comes with Photoshop as well. So it's not like you really have to, splurge and purchase anything additional because it's included with Lightroom. And then you can go ahead and start to learn Photoshop. But otherwise, no, you don't have to know Photoshop to be considered a photographer. So Andre, I hope that helps. All right. The next question that we got here comes from Joe. Let's hear Joe's question. Hi, my name is Joe Cofiso. I'm from New Jersey and I'm a beginning photographer. And I have a question regarding the purchase of a DSLR. My budget's around 2, 000. I can stretch a little bit and I wanted to know what camera you'd recommend if I'm more photograph oriented but would like video capability, mostly outdoor photography and wildlife. Also taking into consideration future lens purchases. So availability and price. Thank you. Yeah. Big question. when the time comes to pull the trigger on a camera, you just want to make sure that you are making the right decision. So Joe, hopefully I can help here. 2, 000 camera, or 2, 000 budget for a camera shooting outdoor and wildlife. And think about lenses. Okay. So. I am assuming that this is a hobby for you, Joe, mainly because, if you did this professionally, I feel like you would know where your, weak spots were, and then you would You would then just look for a camera that could fill that weak spot. So if this is a hobby for you, let's see, some things to consider would be how far away are you from this wildlife? And then when you say that you're outdoors, are you talking about landscapes or you're just outdoors because you're photographing wildlife? Those are two things to think of. if you are really far away from your wildlife. Subjects, say wildlife, lenses, long lenses, telephoto lenses are more expensive than wide angle lenses. And when you say outdoor, if you are talking about landscapes, then you're going to need something with a wide angle lens. So let's tackle the camera first. Okay. I always say, spend as little as you can on the camera and spend as much as you can on the lens because the lens is going to last you a lifetime. You know, I have lenses that I've been shooting for 10 years. Some people buy literally 50 year old lenses and put them on brand new cameras because they still work great. It is a piece of glass. There's no technology inside. There's nothing, well, I mean, except for autofocus motors and whatnot, but essentially it's glass and it's going going to work great no matter how old it is. So, that being said, let's talk about the camera. When it comes to a camera, I would say, just looking at your, you know, being outdoors, photographing wildlife, thinking about lens consideration, which means, we're kind of in this transitional period between DSLR and mirrorless cameras. What does the future look like? I think that for you, Joe, the Canon R10, Looks to be a really good choice. And what's even better is that it can be had for about 800 used, buying a new mirrorless camera allows you to use, older and more cheaper E F lenses, which were made for DSLRs, with the new mirrorless. Adapters, but also allows you to keep the door open to using new mirrorless cameras for their RF mount, which is for mirrorless cameras. If you wish to, upgrade lenses in the future, the Canon R10 also shoots 4k video. It's 60 frames per second, so that takes care of your, your video needs. If, you wish to record some video, Canon. is good with autofocus as well. So if you're photographing, if you're, taking videos of people, it's going to keep those people in focus. Now, again, when looking into wildlife photography, I would try to spend the rest of my money on the lens, right? So buying the best quality lens for wildlife that you can afford, knowing that long lenses are extremely expensive and in many cases are multiple, multiple, multiple times more than the camera body itself. All right. Long lenses are always more expensive than wide lenses. So I did a little research. Sigma makes a 100 to 600 millimeter lens that is an F five to 6.3, which costs about a thousand dollars, which is still within your $2,000 budget. Even with the, uh, buying a refurbished, Canon R 10, the six, the 100 to 600 millimeter focal length is really good because. on a crop sensor, which the Canon R10 is, it will give you the appearance of a focal length to be 150 millimeters to 900 millimeters. Again, because of that crop factor. So the crop factor is going to get you closer to the wildlife action. And that's exactly why I recommended a crop sensor camera over a full frame sensor. And this is good because again, when long lenses are so expensive, you could use all the help that you can get in saving money, but still being able to get a further reach. So that crop sensor is going to get you 300 millimeters closer to the action than a full frame camera. So if you're shooting wildlife and you're not close up to it, like you're not shooting bugs, you're not shooting your dog. things like that, but you're really shooting things like far away birds. I don't know, wildlife, you're going to national parks and stuff. That crop sensor is going to be a huge, huge advantage over a full frame sensor. And since mentioned that you're going to be outside a lot. Wildlife is outdoors. It's not indoors. Having a lens that is a variable aperture from f5 to 6. 3 is going to do you just fine I wouldn't worry about you know that at all if you are going to be indoors and you need something that allows in more light, you know You could always buy canon makes a 24 millimeter f 2. 8 lens and that could be had for just about 200. So that whole package, you know, you can get a 24 millimeter prime lens, the Canon R10, and the Sigma 100 to 600 millimeter lens for under 2, 000. And I actually found the Sigma lens for 1, 089. Okay. Listen to that 1, 089 on B& H's website, but they have a bundle that comes with the adapter to make it work for mirrorless camera for 1, 088. So it's 1 cheaper than just buying the lens itself. And it comes with the lens. The Canon branded EF to RF adapter. That's going to be the right choice for you. I don't know why anybody would just buy the lens, by itself, but if, again, if you are looking for a good budget setup, that's going to get you. telephoto shots and also gives you the ability to shoot something pretty wide with that 24 millimeter lens. The Canon R10 looks like it's going to be a great option for you, Joe. So hope that helps. Let me know if you have any follow up questions. Again, so many numbers, so many different, acronyms and just a new lexicon of words when it comes to photography. So any other questions, let me know. I'm happy to help. Then now we got the, Hey, Hey, we got Shane back on the podcast. Let's hear what Shane has to say. Hey Raymond, hope all is well. I got, as usual, two questions today. My first one is, since you left professional wedding photography, I was wondering if you could speak about how or if your approach to photography has changed. Maybe what you like to shoot, how you like to shoot it, and even gear choices. Like, where you at with photography right now? I'd love to hear it. And my other question is, when can we expect a skate photographer interviewed on the podcast? Would love to hear maybe Atiba Jefferson or Mike Blayback. there's lots out there. Uh, anyways, for now, cheers. I'm gonna start referring to you as two question Shane. Thank you for those questions. Yeah, So I'll answer the second one first, because that's how I do it. I actually reached out to you to ask, uh, if you had any questions for a skate photographer, somebody who I had on the podcast, and this is probably why you're asking that podcast episode fell through, unfortunately, and I have found it extremely difficult to get other skateboard photographers to agree to come onto the podcast. And, I don't know if it's a, if it's an imposter syndrome type thing or what it is, but it has been very difficult. If you have any connections with those skate photographers that you just mentioned there, feel free to send, you know, to make an, introduction because I'd be, I'd be happy to. Happy to have, one of them on that is a world of, I mean, it's, it's so reactionary. It is so hard to plan exactly what you're going to get because you're not in control of, so much of what's going on in front of the camera that there's just so many questions that come up that I too would love to, to know. So again, if you know anybody personally make that introduction and we will make it happen. Shane, as far as my photography, what does it look like now that I am done with weddings? Yeah. So, Lots of fun stuff. I will say my love for photography. Okay, I was worried that getting out of, professional photography, having an external reason to go out and shoot, losing that was going to affect my desire to shoot on my own, right? Doing my own photography projects. And I'm happy to say that that is not the case, that that did not happen. And in fact, now I want to shoot more than ever. I feel like. There's a lot more creative ideas that I have that I want to act upon and rather than What I would do before is that I looked at photography in two different ways, right? I had my professional photography and then I just had my personal photography, which sounds obvious there. So I apologize for that. But like the way that I would approach professional photography was it was very intentional I knew what I wanted I would stretch myself and go out of my way to try to get something unique and interesting for my couple Because I think, you feel like you have to prove yourself a little bit, and you really do want them to be happy. But my personal work was more reactionary, and I would just keep my camera on me, and whenever the kids would be doing something interesting, or I saw an interesting line, or an interesting light, I would take a photo of it. I'd take a few moments to, try to make it a little bit better than just a snapshot, and then I would, I would move on. So now that I don't have wedding photography to encourage me to push myself creatively, I'm finding that that is happening within my own personal photography, in the way that I'm shooting. in the way that I get different angles, in the way that I will, see something while I'm driving and I will decide to pull over to take a photo of it rather than just like, Oh, that was really interesting, uh, composition or subject or, whatever. that would have been a cool photo. I'm actually stopping to take these types of photos. So I'm still trying to figure out, what my body of work is going to look like going forward as a whole, but I will say that I am thinking more along the lines of projects. I'm thinking more along the lines of, feelings, how I want a body of work to feel rather than just look. Or subject matter. And that is becoming interesting as well. I will also say that I, back in January, I went down to Texas to shoot a short film. And while I was down there, I had a number of roles of actual photography film to shoot. And after getting those photos back, I absolutely, like, I loved those photos, they were so much fun to look at. but I have, I think, decided that I'm done with film photography. It just, there's just too many barriers, for me and I don't see the payoff in film being worth the additional work for my own types of photographs. I'm not closing the door on photography forever because I'm sure that there are certain projects that I would love to do that could only be done on film. But for now, I'm taking a huge step back from film and just focusing on, well, the numbers. The more that I can shoot, the more you're going to get better, right? The more you shoot today, the better of a photographer you're going to be tomorrow. And with film, you kind of have to limit yourself on how much you can shoot because film is a very physical thing. So I'm taking a step back from film for now. And not closing the door on it forever, but focusing on just capturing more photos. I did just pick up a, Canon PowerShot G7X Mark III. That is the worst name ever for a camera. And, it's alright. I bought it to replace my Fuji X 70 that I used for just personal photos that is kind of pocketable. And it's not a camera. it's not bad. It is pocketable. It has the flippy screen so that I can get, down lower to my kids and take photos of them at their eye level. so that has been good, but It's not a Fuji camera. I will say that. It is not a Fuji camera. But it is nice to have something that's not just a phone to take photos with. So, I hope that that answers your question, Shane. I appreciate you checking in on me because, it's scary to leave professional photography and wonder what is next. But, with y'all's help within the group and the community, seeing your photos, giving me inspiration, You know deciding being more intentional with the photos that I take has been a wonderful experience so far And I'm not regretting leaving weddings if you are wondering that so again Shane Thank you so much for all that and your continued questions You have asked more questions than anybody on the podcast and I have a feeling that it's going to continue that way as well So again Shane, thank you so much Now if you are listening and you have a photo question And you want it answered on the show again, I'm here to help just head over to beginner photopod. com forward slash Q and a again, beginner photopod. com forward slash Q and a to submit your question for the show. If you have a question about photography, the chances are that others do too. So by you asking your question, not only will you get the answer that you're looking for, but you are going to be helping out other photographers who are struggling with the exact same issue. So give yourself a pat on the back for being such a helpful photographer. Again, beginnerphotopod. com forward slash QA to send in your photos. Now that is it for this week. Again, remember the more that you shoot today, the better of a photographer you will be. Tomorrow. Talk soon. Thank you for listening to the Beginner Photography Podcast. If you enjoy the show, consider leaving a review in iTunes. Keep shooting, and we'll see you next week.