The Beginner Photography Podcast

Balancing Client Needs and Creativity in Photography with Chris Britton

• Raymond Hatfield

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#525 In this episode of the podcast, I chat with Chris Britton, a talented photographer and father who juggles family life with his passion for capturing moments. Chris beautifully articulates the balance between creative freedom and client expectations, the importance of being present, and overcoming social media pressures.

THE BIG IDEAS

  • Balance Creativity and Client Desires: Blend your artistic vision with client needs to create compelling images that satisfy both parties. 
  • Be Present in the Moment: Stay engaged and mindful during shoots to capture authentic, meaningful photographs. 
  • Overcome Social Media Pressure: Focus on personal growth and expression rather than social media metrics like likes and shares. 
  • Embrace Imperfection: Accept noise and other imperfections as part of the creative process, enhancing your willingness to experiment.

PHOTOGRAPHY ACTION PLAN

  1. Stay Present in Your Shoots: Turn off notifications during photo sessions to minimize distractions. Take a moment to breathe and observe your surroundings before pressing the shutter.
  2. Experiment with Light and Color: Use natural window light to explore different moods and effects. Try adding warm tones in Lightroom by adjusting the color temperature or using split toning.
  3. Blend Creativity and Practicality: Plan a family photoshoot with a mix of candid and posed shots to practice balancing client and personal creativity. Set specific creative goals for each shoot, such as trying new compositions or lighting setups.
  4. Improve Your Technical Skills: Spend time learning to control shutter speed and aperture to tell clearer stories. Experiment with different ISO settings to find the balance between reducing noise and maintaining image quality.
  5. Enhance Your Post-Processing Consistency: Calibrate your monitor using built-in tools or a dedicated calibration device to ensure color accuracy. Create a preset in Lightroom that matches your preferred style for easy and consistent editing.

RESOURCES:
Follow Chris Britton on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/iamchrisbritton/

Take the 2025 BPP Listener Survey and help me to create the resources that will help you grow as a photographer in 2025!
https://beginnerphotopod.com/survey

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Thanks for listening & keep shooting!

Chris Britton:

I do it for myself, but there's also a part of me that wants to put it out there into the world and you want it to be seen. That's certainly part of like, how do I get my work out there in a meaningful way but while also not deriving the value of my work by five likes. And again, social media is tricky too, because Facebook and Instagram kind of sometimes control your audience and how much something gets seen or not seen too. So it's not a pure, I'm putting it out there. So it's kind of finding those ways too, how do I put my work out there?

Raymond Hatfield:

Hey, welcome to the beginner photography podcast. I'm your host Raymond Hatfield. And each week I interview one of the world's most interesting photographers to learn what it really takes to capture beautiful images so that you can start to do the same. In today's rewind episode, we are chatting with community member, Chris Britton about maintaining creativity behind the camera while balancing the expectations of others. But first, the beginner photography podcast is brought to you by Cloudspot. You know, this with Cloudspot, you can impress your clients with a beautiful gallery that is easy to view, share, and of course, download on any device. Not everybody can say that. You can control image size at a watermark. And of course, download limits as well. So grab your free forever account today over at deliver photos. com and only upgrade when you are ready. So today's guest, Chris is a member of the beginner photography podcast community who, as you'll hear, really has this thirst to learn as much as he can also as fast as possible. And sometimes when we go as fast as possible, you run into some problems. So in the spirit of sharing what we struggle with today, Chris and I discuss balancing that creativity with client expectations and how Chris tries to schedule personal time to do creative work so that ultimately, that'll make him a better photographer for his clients. We also talk about being more present while shooting. So when you're capturing portraits of your family, you can focus more on the genuine emotions rather than, technical perfection. And then we also talk about the struggles of getting consistent edits, and how to avoid your photos being exported with like weird colors so that your photos look exactly how you edited them. You know, we have a very fun and supportive community of photographers, including today's guest, Chris, who are just like you and are looking to learn and grow. And I would love to invite you into the group and hang out with us. So come join us, the free and amazing beginner photography podcast community by heading over to beginnerphotopod. com forward slash group. Now with that, let's go ahead and get on into today's interview with Chris Britton. Chris, I'm going to start off super easy for you here. And, I just want to know who are you, what do you do?

Chris Britton:

Yeah, so I'm Chris Britton. I'm a dad to four young kids. I've got a seven year old daughter, five year old daughter, and then two three year old twins. I'm sure people in the Facebook group have seen lots of pictures of my kids because that's primarily what I shoot right now. professionally, I am the executive director of a non profit. we help people with transportation. we're putting in a community resource center that has a laundromat in it. We have a food ministry, and we're also kind of dabbling in housing right now. We're flipping a house and providing it to, uh, a resident of the community where we work, for pennies on the dollar. So I, I do that part time and then part time stay at home dad.

Raymond Hatfield:

Wow. Okay. So You obviously got a lot on your plate. I only have two kids and I know that they are a handful. So four and twins. My goodness.

Chris Britton:

Yeah. Oh man, it's crazy. I don't, I don't recommend having twins in the three and four position. You're going

Raymond Hatfield:

to have them, have them first. Have them first. Yeah, exactly. So tell me, when did you first discover photography?

Chris Britton:

I think when I started dating what who's now my wife, when we started dating, she was into taking a lot of pictures, just kind of simple point and shoot and had kind of gotten me into it a little bit. And then part of our story is back in 2011. We quit our jobs and, did a year long missions trip. it took us around the world to 11 countries in 11 months. It's called the world race, not the amazing race. We lived on 3 a day, not very glamorous, but in preparation for that trip, it was like, man, we're going to be going to all these cool places. Like, I want to be able to take good pictures of this. and so we bought our first, DSLR. It was a Nikon D 90. And we signed up for a photography class at the local, art center in our community. And, I really not had an interest in pictures before that. And I just really, I've always kind of had like a desire to be involved in the arts in some way. I think it's just kind of how I'm wired and just kind of. Oh, this is it. And so from there, it was just kind of, it was just all downhill from that point.

Raymond Hatfield:

What do you mean? Like, at what point, at what point does it go from, I'm not super into photography to now, obviously you are invested in your education. You're taking a lot more photos. You're trying to learn as much as you can. what made that switch for you?

Chris Britton:

I think for me, It was having the creative outlet. Like I think I've been looking for a creative outlet. I can't draw. I'm saying I'm a terrible drawer. but I've always appreciated the arts and again, I think as I've learned more about myself as I've gotten older and done personality assessments and things like that I do have this kind of creative bent to me and it was just like it was really just this convergence of I got a camera in my hands and I learned how to use it and I learned about kind of what made a good picture and kind of how to get there That it just that's when it really kind of took off and I got that kind of that satisfying Moment of like oh wow, I produced something that was really like good and Relatively good. and interesting to me that I was proud of and so that's kind of what I guess to me that was the dopamine hit right was that will produce something that I was that was really proud of and then I think that was just reinforced as we traveled and I got some really good again pictures I was really proud of from our trip around the world.

Raymond Hatfield:

Can you tell me about one of those photos like does one stick out to you?

Chris Britton:

Yeah, one, one of my favorites, I actually was able to sell it to, we were in Romania and we had just come from South Africa. We didn't have any of the right attire. We went from like, warm weather to like, we jumped off the train into like knee deep snow when we got into Eastern Europe. And, we were in Romania and we had gone to like a thrift store to buy some more appropriate, weather appropriate clothing. And we walked out onto the street and there was this red Yugo and in the front seat of the Yugo was this man with a long white beard. And the backseat of the Yugo was a goat with a white beard and their heads were both, it was like that magical moment where I don't think I could do it again. Their heads are both positioned exactly the same way. And I just pull up my camera and I just popped a picture really quick. it was just like one of those perfect street photography moments.

Raymond Hatfield:

Oh my gosh. do you have that photo? is there any way that I could post that in the show notes of this episode?

Chris Britton:

Perfect.

Raymond Hatfield:

Awesome. so if you were to go back to that moment, like, let's think about that photo for him for just a second. Is there anything about that image looking back at it now with the knowledge that you have that, maybe you would have done differently or you see as maybe an amateur mistake that you would have made?

Chris Britton:

That's a good question. I haven't thought about that way. I think, probably Would have lined it up a little better. Like it's a little, I mean, again, it was like a quick draw shot. so I think, and as I recall, I haven't looked at it recently, but like the hood of the car isn't, I mean, these are real technical details too, that I think we often like, this is what we lose our sleep over, but probably shouldn't because again, the photo is of. Interest either way. And you just gotta take what you can get, but probably would have like tried to frame it up a little bit better.

Raymond Hatfield:

Now at this point, when you took that photo class at the local art center, what were you learning there? was it just, visual, literacy, or is it more of like technical how to use your camera?

Chris Britton:

It was everything from like, you know, here's the exposure triangle, visual literacy. Another thing that really helped me that kind of converged is, so I'm a, I'm a former teacher. That was my first career. and I was tutoring one of my students and the grandfather had somehow heard I was into photography and he brought me this little photography book. I wish I could find it again. I let it, I lent it to a friend and they lost it. but that book really influenced me. It was like a black and white book. Maybe someone listening knows this book I would love to get the name of it, but it was like this big. So it's like you take a book and you cut it in half and it was all black and white and it just had like simple line drawing diagrams of like different compositional elements and techniques and like how to frame things and whatnot. And that book, was also really, really influential in helping me kind of learn composition and things like that.

Raymond Hatfield:

Was composition the hardest thing for you, to learn technically?

Chris Britton:

Yes. Yeah, the technical sides come pretty easy to me. I'm kind of a gear junkie, which is probably my other draw to photography. I probably spend too much time thinking about the technical than I do the artistic. Like I think in one of your pre. show questions you'd ask me in the survey I filled out was like, what's your biggest challenge? It's it's really like doing the hard work on the creative side and taking that taking creative risks, too

Raymond Hatfield:

Taking creative risks. Do you think that photo? of the man with the beard and the goat with the beard was one of your most creative photos Like would you consider it most creative?

Chris Britton:

No, I don't know. no I would not say is most creative because again, it was one of those things I just kind of walked into it now having the technical knowledge helped me to get it because I only had like probably a split second to get it. probably some more of my creative. I mean, there was a risk there, like it's street photography and I really wasn't like, I wasn't shooting with a long lens or anything, so I was pretty close to the car and it's always a little unnerving, especially in like another country where you don't know how you, I mean, you really never know how you're going to be perceived, especially when you're out of your element. yeah, I don't know if it was my most creative What elements

Raymond Hatfield:

do you think, like, if you think about your whole body of work, the photos that you've taken, what elements do you think make a creative image?

Chris Britton:

I think use of light and color. I mean, I think lighting is huge. And I think perspective a lot, like getting a unique perspective on something. and that can be a lot of different things, like the angle where you take the picture, how close or far away you are from something,

Raymond Hatfield:

do you find when you go out and shoot, did you play around with those a lot and, or do you already have an idea of, the photo that you want in your head? And you just go for that.

Chris Britton:

I play around a lot, like just trying different things. Now, so like pre kids and when I had a lot more time on my hands, you know, I did a lot more landscape photography. That's probably more my, passion, but then having, since having kids, the opportunity just to go out and like try shooting a sunset from 12 different places in the dunes. I don't quite have that luxury anymore. Of course. so now it's kind of taking pictures of my kids. And then the challenge there is like, you got to move so quick because my kids are so young. I mean, they barely stand still for a second. so that, that definitely factors into it. So yeah, I just, just trying, I try a lot of different things. I'm kind of, I, that's, I think an area I need to probably get a little better at is, visualizing what I'm after rather than just kind of. I think there's a fine line. There's a tension to be managed there between not necessarily spray and pray, but like, Oh, I'm just gonna try everything versus like intentionally trying something.

Raymond Hatfield:

Do you think five years from now you will still feel the same way? Or do you think that, experience will change the way that you shoot?

Chris Britton:

I think experience will certainly change the way I shoot, but I think we'll always kind of feel the same way. Right. Because there's always. More creativity to be had. I think that's always the challenge. Yeah, from what I've learned from being a part of the group and listening to other creatives talk you're always in pursuit of that kind of creative muse

Raymond Hatfield:

Right, right. Yeah, that is so difficult. That is so difficult because Kind of like what you were saying. Like there's different seasons of life, right? obviously before kids, after kids, that's a big, landmark right there. That's a big milestone. and I think that going through photography, you're going to have those as well. They're just not as strong because I don't think everybody's going to go through the same milestones, unfortunately, which is really difficult. You're going to learn certain things at different times. Then others, and then, others are going to learn different things, from you. So really figuring out, I think, listening to yourself, figuring out what it is that you love the most is, going to be like the most important thing I think for all photographers to be able to do. and that is extremely hard in this world of, sharing all of our photos on social media and kind of tying how many likes we get or this interaction to the value of the photo. Do you deal with that at all, posting photos to social media and tying the value to it?

Chris Britton:

Really? Yes. I mean, that's, certainly, certainly a challenge. Yeah, because it, you know, I think for me, it's like I want, I do it for myself, but there's also a part of me that wants to put it out there into the world and you want it to be seen. I think that's, that's certainly part of like, how how do I get my work out there in a meaningful way? but while also not deriving the value of my work by, Five likes. And again, social media is tricky too, because it also decides like Facebook and Instagram kind of sometimes control your audience and how much something gets seen or not seen too. So it's not a pure, I'm putting it out there. So it's kind of finding those ways too. how do I put my work out there?

Raymond Hatfield:

So far for you, is it just social media?

Chris Britton:

No, I used, to again, pre kids, you know, do enter in some like local galleries and things like that. I recently. Did enter a Michigan. I live in Michigan, but a photo contest that some tourist council in the state was doing. And so I've tried to do some of those more kind of digital things where I could just Submit something from home. well, I could, I also, there's no reason I couldn't do something in a, local gallery either. I just need to be a little, I needed to plan ahead a little bit more. You're right. Right. And again, a lot of those, the shots that they're looking for, I'm taking less of like, again, 99 percent of my shots are my kids,

Raymond Hatfield:

right? Yeah, that was exactly where I was going to go with this. This next question here, which is, with you photographing, kids and also doing family portraiture as well. how do you think you're going to handle that?

Chris Britton:

Yeah, I think that's where I think the creative risk part is kind of challenging to again. I do. I would say it's like A side, side, side, side, side hustle. the family portraiture thing. I mean, it's, it's not a significant portion of time, but it's like, I want to, you want to be creative. Those are great opportunities to be creative because honestly, those people typically listen to you better than your own kids, because my kids are like, Oh yeah, dad just got his camera out again. and they almost ignore it, which is good in some ways, but in other ways. You know, if you're trying to set them up for something, so you have this, I feel like I had this great opportunity of like typically willing subjects, but that's like, Oh man, do I, how do I take this one? You're in the stress of the moment, trying to move fast because I know what it's like to have small kids and you're just waiting for that meltdown to happen. I also know that like, they're paying me for these pictures, so I gotta, I have to be able to deliver. So I can't, you gotta balance that. I struggled to figure out that balance of like the creative shot versus the, like, let's get the client what they want. or I know what they're going to want kind of thing. and really it's just slowing myself down. I think that's just it. Like before when I was doing like landscapes and like trail photography or whatever, it's just a lot slower. Especially when it was just me and my wife out like hiking with our dog. you know, it used to have a lot more time to kind of stop and think and be creative right now. Like, you know, we're out with our kids. We're trying to make sure like, someone's like not running away or someone's getting ready to fall out of a tree or, getting lost in the woods somewhere. there's just a lot of pull. So it's like, I have to work a little harder and probably need to spend some more time just kind of like. quieting my mind a little bit, to kind of get back into those creative spaces.

Raymond Hatfield:

Are we talking for shooting family portraiture or for photographing your kids? You feel like you need to slow down? Both.

Chris Britton:

Both. I need to slow down. I think, so the family portraiture, it's slowing down in the moment of like, you know, my anxiety rises a little bit and it's like, oh man, again. I've got to hammer this out because again, are there kids, when's everyone going to be done with these pictures? And then in regards to just overarching my family or family portraiture, it's also just taking the time to slow down, not necessarily in the moment with a camera, but to stop and allow myself the time to do the creative thinking, right, to feel inspired. So like to read a photography book or to. just stop and let my mind wander just to go for a walk in the woods, you know, and kind of like recenter, I guess. I struggle probably with a little bit of like screen addiction, always like scrolling on Facebook or Instagram or, or something like that, but that doesn't really fuel my creativity. So I'm, I'm doing that because I'm tired, in my free time. And again, that's not a good habit. So that's probably something I'm doing that I shouldn't be doing. Um, that's not, you know, again, that's not giving me my, it's not giving me the appropriate space to kind of get the creative juices flowing when you're kind of running from one thing to the next, whether it's in your photography world or not. just The pace of life.

Raymond Hatfield:

I see. Okay. Now, I want to know when you go to take a photo, especially with kids, moment is a very important thing, right? It is, uh, in fact, I remember your photos, that you posted in the group. He said, I always love a good action shot, you know, kids jumping off of the, uh, I believe the bow of a boat, right. For you. it moment that is the most important element for an image for you? Or what's the balance between moment and, technical?

Chris Britton:

Yeah, that's a really, really good question. When we're talking about saying, I mean, I guess I'd like to clarify, like the technical for me in that instance is like the right shutter speed, the right aperture and those kinds of things, those are important because it helps to make sure that the story can be told, right? if something that's blurry, isn't supposed to be blurry or whatever that, that can kind of confuse the story a little bit. So having some, but I think that's, there's that aspect. You got to have that part. good enough. It doesn't have to be perfect for the moment. but then I think most importantly, yeah, that is the moment and the lighting and the atmosphere. And then I would say the composition, of it is probably the most important of kind of telling, telling that story of what's happening. like I think the photo you're referring to is, I think one of my kids jumping off the bow of the boat. and so like making sure I had the, and that I took a bunch of these, but like make sure I had the The boat in it and making sure that the kid was far enough off the boat, like trying to position the camera. So it made it look like there was some distance between them and the boat. Not just like, it's not quite as a compelling shot if their feet are only like, in my opinion, like an inch or two off the boat, I mean, it kind of tells the story, but you know, kind of those compositional elements were for me. More, more important. Um, so it's, I think it's all those things that kind of come together.

Raymond Hatfield:

Did that take a while for you to put together or in your head, were you like, I already know the shot I want.

Chris Britton:

That one I knew, I knew the shot I wanted. It was just kind of positioning myself somewhere on the boat that I could get it and then getting my kids to do multiple rounds of jumping so I could dial in the technical details.

Raymond Hatfield:

Yeah, that can always be difficult. However, I've never really had a tough time getting kids to jump off of things. I have a hard time getting them to not jump off of things, actually more so, but, um, I really want to know more about your relationship with. Post processing, because that seems like something that you've had some challenges with recently, within the group. so tell me, kind of, what is that relationship with post processing like?

Chris Britton:

Well, it's like a, it's a love hate relationship. Because I shoot in RAW, and the pictures just look really flat. You know, otherwise you do something with them. And then it's like, I take, probably, I don't know if this is a thing, but I take a ton of pictures. I would say way too many pictures, but. Is there anything is too many pictures, I'm not sure, but from a processing standpoint, it can be a little overwhelming. like which one do I edit? taking that time to edit the picture. so that that's challenge right there. It's just dealing with a sheer volume photos. And I have like, like, I take any pictures I take on my DSLR. I put them in Lightroom. Any pictures that I take on my phone are automatically imported to Lightroom. So, I mean, it's just like. Just pictures flowing in all the time. So there's that I think it's I think it's trying to determine what I think as I've tried as I've kind of dabbled a little bit, you know in Like family portraiture and contract work kind of thing. It's kind of developing a consistent look that's true to me But also so that my the people who would hire me know what to expect and so kind of trying to define that so define what kind of look i'm going for And I think that's, that's really kind of a challenge. Something I've been really wrestling with is like, I want something that looks genuine. I'm not, there's a lot of work that's being done. It's really great work. It's just not for me, but there's a lot of stuff that's like, and it has this like overarching orangey earthy tone 10. That's kind of a, thing right now. and you know, if anyone's listening and does that, like, that's, I mean, I admire that work, right? it just doesn't speak to my style.

Raymond Hatfield:

Same.

Chris Britton:

but try to find something that, but what I like about that is it evokes this warm, kind of nostalgic feeling. So I'm trying to find something that like marries that kind of warm, nostalgic connection feeling with something that's a little bit, my style's a little bit more probably like higher contrast, vibrant colors. So kind of true to life while still having that kind of unique kinda warmth

Raymond Hatfield:

to

Chris Britton:

that. Some of those. Kind of, I don't know if it's vintage or earthy tone pictures tend to have.

Raymond Hatfield:

Sure. Sure. Well, I feel like, this is going to sound ridiculous, but I feel like everybody's, preferences when it comes to their own visual literacy happen When they are children, like when they're kids, I find it. I don't really think that people change their opinions too much later in life. like completely, like, I don't feel like they're formed later in life. I feel like they're formed as a child and then we grow into it. So that idea of like that vintage look, I don't think is necessarily vintage. That's just what you knew. You know, probably as a child. So probably the photos that you are thinking of were warmer, you know, because we had, there's always two different film stocks, you know, there's indoor and then outdoor. So if you're shooting outdoors, they're going to be warm. They're going to have those warm tones. And if you're shooting, those same stocks indoors, then everything is, orange and very warm, like overly warm. And I think that that's where a lot of, that comes from. I would. Encourage you to, if I'm understanding you correctly, I would encourage you to probably look up some YouTube tutorials on, obviously the color panel within Lightroom, right? So you can add specific colors just in shadows and just in highlights. I would encourage you to check that out because with having a lot of contrast in your images, you're going to have a lot of, well, There's going to be a lot more areas of darkness because there's a lot of contrast. And if you can insert, warm tones into the shadows, even just a bit, I think can, get you a lot closer to where you're looking to go. And if not, then, um, Completely forget about what I said, but at least now you're going to worry more thing about, one more thing about Lightroom. That's funny.

Chris Britton:

Yeah. that's really good. Thank you for that. and back to your original question, I think it's then again, trying to find that consistency. That's what I've been asking people for. And then, I mean, I think to get really into the weeds, something I've been noticing recently is, so I'm, I'm working on an uncalibrated monitor. I work on a, just like a Mac book pro, which by the

Raymond Hatfield:

way, are fantastic monitors. So go on. Yeah.

Chris Britton:

Yeah. but like when I'm in Lightroom, it looks like a post, a picture I just posted recently. It looked a little orange to me. I posted it and it looks really orange, like on Facebook and I'm, I'm exporting it, you know, using what I've read on online about how to export for Facebook, making sure that the long edge is like 2000 by four, 2048. making sure I'm only doing it like 80 percent or like 70%. For the JPEG quality to get the file size down and things like that. So I'm trying to wrap my head around like what the heck's going on there. Cause that's a big concern. Like it looks okay to me, but then it looks really red when I post it or someone else posts it or they print it. that's a little nerve wracking.

Raymond Hatfield:

Yeah. I went through the same thing, and you're absolutely right. It can be, very difficult because we spend so much time trying to get the image perfect. And then the second that we export it, it's an entirely different image. And it's like, why did I just waste all that time editing if it's going to look this way? I think that there's a really good chance that it could be, your color space. Do you happen to know what color space you are exporting your photo in? I think sRGB. Okay. So there's also a good chance that you're editing in Adobe light room. They're going to use Adobe's color space while editing. If you're exporting sRGB, it's going to tweak the colors just a bit. So, you can change your, the way that it renders to the photo as sRGB. And then if you export as sRGB, it will. Yeah, then they will match. Did

Chris Britton:

I, or could I export, uh, in the Adobe color space or is it better to export in the sRGB color space?

Raymond Hatfield:

I am not a hundred percent positive here, but I believe that the sRGB is just like kind of the standard. So I'm not gonna, I like, I wouldn't even try to export as anything other than the standard because then I feel like you're just asking for a problems. Again, I could be totally wrong there, but I haven't had any issues. Okay. Exporting ssrgb, so i'm just going to continue to do that stick with it. Yeah, exactly It's one of those if it's not broken right now, like don't fix it at this at this moment And I haven't had any that's a great

Chris Britton:

tip. I mean if I was listening to this, community spotlight interview I would find that very helpful One good thing has come out of this

Raymond Hatfield:

Good. Well, I really hope that I really do hope that that helps Yeah, I want to know when it comes to your photos let's imagine that we're fast forwarding a hundred years from now, right? I want to know, what do you hope your kids feel when they look at you? Well,

Chris Britton:

a hundred years from now, I'll probably be my kid's kids, but

Raymond Hatfield:

we'll go with that then. Yeah. Well, normally the question is, what do you want people to think? But then I thought, well, you are taking a lot of photos of your kids. So let's say 60 years from now.

Chris Britton:

Yeah. So what you said, what is the feeling I want? that's deep. I mean, as a parent, I think you want your kids to grow up in a, like a warm and nurturing and loving home. Yeah. In a space where they feel safe, space where they feel like they can have fun and gain valuable experiences. So when my kids look back at the pictures of them, that's what I hope that they feel. And they look back on these things that we've been able to do. And again, I mean, as a parent too, you're always hoping you're doing it right. You just never, you never really know. there's a lot of parenting podcasts, but there's, there's no one's written the book yet. so yeah, I, I'd hope that they feel that, that sense of warmth and love that I hope that we are providing.

Raymond Hatfield:

How do you plan on making sure that that comes through in your photos?

Chris Britton:

Oh man, you're just going, you're just going real deep, real quick. You did not prepare me for this. You didn't tell me this is gonna be all philosophical. Uh, these are really good questions though. Really good questions. cause I love it. Cause you really got to, I mean, to be successful in anything, you, you have to begin with the end in mind. so this is great. It's a great exercise. how do I hope to accomplish that in these photos? mean, I think it's boy. I don't know. It's a really hard question. One. I think it's just good documentation of the things that we're doing. I think it has to be more. This is where something I want to get better at too. It has to be more than just portraiture, in my opinion, to accomplish what I had said, because portraiture is, is great and it can accomplish some of that, but really it's typically portraiture is, you know, stand here in this nice, nice light. Okay. Do something silly. Don't do something silly. Stand this way. Don't stand that way. so I probably, I mean, I want to get better at the lifestyle photography thing of like, you know, Okay, we're in our kitchen having like a special moment. You know, we have lion pancakes, for every, we celebrate a birthday, we make a lion pancakes. And so kind of capturing that, but in, in a way that, captures the essence of the moment. And so I think for that. It's finding. So again, this is where I struggle a little bit between like how much the technical details matter versus how much the moment matters and like kind of removing myself from it. Like when I look at the picture, if some technical stuff isn't right, like the lighting in our kitchens kind of a little bit off. and so the coloring comes out kind of strange. Drives me nuts. Like it's all I can see. so every photo is black and white. Yeah, I know, right. It should be. And even then the black and white ones, it's just, we just don't have great lighting in the kitchen. but a lot of our family life is in the kitchen. so finding like the right balance to where I, cause again, I do feel like lighting conveys emotion. And so finding ways of manipulating the light and therefore getting the technical settings, right. to get the lighting to a place. In our kitchen, you know, whether it's like learning up the flash or getting out reflector and just setting it somewhere or whatever While not losing the moment. So again, it's kind of that it's attention. I think to be managed a little bit.

Raymond Hatfield:

Yeah That is very difficult. I have found, and I think this is something that I just discovered through weddings, right? So I went to film school, learned lighting, right? we were, you know, given all this time and opportunity to create the perfect lighting. And I was kind of, spoiled on that, cause then when you start going to weddings, you're like, I don't have time to set anything up because. You know, the wedding day is just happening around us and I found that, when it comes to areas where light is very poor, I have found that, unless you're in a completely dark room or windowless room with like one overhead light, there's usually some window in there, right? And if you can. Position yourself in a spot to where that window light looks good. Then just wait for life to happen around that and then capture that. So, maybe it's, you know, standing so that the window is, right to your left so that. You just wait for that moment for, you know, one of the kids to be looking kind of towards that window light and then they're just being hit directly by that. And then it looks better. otherwise, because I'm kind of there with you. It's like, you know, you really want good photos, but you don't want to, manipulate the scenario too much with a flash or a big reflector or something. But, I don't know. Hopefully that's something that maybe you can take away. And if you can find the light source and then wait for life to happen around that, the images are going to be better. Now you're going to have to be okay with missing a few of those moments, but that's a good tip. I think

Chris Britton:

that's something I hadn't, when you said it, it's like, Oh yeah, that makes sense. Is sometimes again, you need to set, like we talked about earlier, you got to balance the tension of. The moment versus the tension of another element, like say lighting, which again, I think is, is makes or breaks a photos, even from like the emotional standpoint. Yes. so it sounds like a little impatient, a little afraid of what, Oh, I'm going to miss the moment rather than being, like I said, positioning myself and waiting for. Someone to turn and face the window or something like that.

Raymond Hatfield:

Yeah, that's good So switching gears just a little bit. I want to know a little bit more about you And how did you find the beginner photography podcast community? Yeah I know it's been a little over a year now at this point, so I don't know if you remember but I'd love yeah

Chris Britton:

I think I was just looking for some inspiration on how to get better, uh, at my photography and I was like, man, it's probably hard to come by, but I'm going to look for a podcast on photography. Like how do you do a podcast on something that's so visual? and so then I just happened across the beginner photography podcast and listened to that for a while. again, I don't know when I started that I probably like six months before joining the Facebook group and you talked about it in the podcast. you know, I should go. I should go check that out. and it was all, all downhill from there. I think I just did a search, like in Spotify, photography podcast, and there were a bunch. Some are really bad. yours was really good. Any

Raymond Hatfield:

names? No, I'm just kidding. I'm not going to put you on the spot right there. Yeah, that's funny. Now that you have been in the group for a while, you definitely interact quite a bit in the group. You are one of the most active members. I want to know what has been your favorite part of being in the group and, why do you stick around?

Chris Britton:

one is like, it's the inspiration piece, right? I feel like it's, it's good inspiration. It's authentic inspiration. It's not as. curated as something, you know, you follow some people on Instagram and it's just, kind of over the top curation kind of thing. It's real people posting real photos, asking real questions. and I think it's just the authentic feedback that you get. like I said, like I crave that feedback and interaction of how to get better. I don't necessarily need someone to like, like my photo. but one, knowing that there's people out there appreciating it. As I know, I appreciate other people's works and like, wow, that's really cool. You know, I wonder how they did that, helping me to think creatively, but then it's just the dialogue with other like minded individuals. I think that's really probably one of my favorite. aspects of it. nice individuals too, that are helpful. And we're a pretty awesome bunch for sure. I will say that it is. It really is. I'm going to part of some other photography groups and they're just awful. I know I'm like, even a part of them. They're just, people are mean and rude. tearing people down. You post something, telling them how they're wrong or whatever. And again, I mean, we, we do need to know how we can get better, but. There's nice ways and not so nice ways of doing it. So everyone, everyone in the group

Raymond Hatfield:

ways.

Chris Britton:

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So if someone's not a part of the group, I mean, they should definitely check it out. It's, it's one of my Favorite groups. So it's like. One of the things I check Facebook for the most is what's going on in the group.

Raymond Hatfield:

That's unfortunately all that I use Facebook for at this point. I found the rest of Facebook is just, oh, it's garbage, which is trash. It's just a waste. And it's a time suck. Now I do want to know though, like having been in the group, asking a lot of questions, specifically asking for feedback, which has been great. And I mean, you weren't kidding when you say, like, it's okay. You want that honest feedback? Cause that's what you say. You're like, listen, don't just tell me that this is a good photo. I want some honest feedback. What's been something that you've learned in the group that maybe you wish that you would have learned

Chris Britton:

earlier? That's a really good question. I think, I mean, there's lots of things I've learned. It's just trying to figure out one. I I think one of the things I've come around to through discussions in the group has been that noise is okay. I think we have this big aversion to noise. and so I think that's, that's been really helpful because that's helped me to push my ISO up. And therefore get some better, get some shots. Maybe I wouldn't have been able to get before.

Raymond Hatfield:

Noises. I mean, you're not alone. Noise is definitely one of those things that everybody. Yeah. It's right. but when you say that, uh, not to have an aversion to noise, do you find that you try to, and I'm just curious about this. Do you find that you try to stay as low as possible? As long as possible, or do you just say, screw it, we're going to 1600.

Chris Britton:

I have been, I'm kind of in between both those camps right now. Um, let's keep it as low as possible, as long as possible. Screw it. I'm just going to 1600. I finding myself jumping up a little faster because I just don't want to deal with potentially not getting the shot. I want to be able to have more control over my shutter speed, and, or particularly my aperture. You know, depending on what, what kind of subject I'm shooting, if there's some depth involved or multiple subjects, I want to make sure everyone's in focus. just jumping right up to that a little bit higher ISO than I ever would have dreamed of doing before.

Raymond Hatfield:

You mean before being in the group and, and seeing other people's examples?

Chris Britton:

Yes. And just having the conversations. Yeah.

Raymond Hatfield:

Yeah. I absolutely love it. Chris. We are at the end of our time here. I feel like, we could go on for another one of these, but, I really want to be respectful of your time. So, before I let you go, I want to know, obviously we can find you in the group, but where else can listeners find you online?

Chris Britton:

so I have a photography Facebook page, it's Facebook. com forward slash Chris Britain photo. I think or photography. I'm not sure. Let's put the show notes links

Raymond Hatfield:

will definitely be in the show notes. Yes.

Chris Britton:

Yeah. Yeah. I'm not super active there. Also Instagram again, not super active, but that's, I am Chris Britton.

Raymond Hatfield:

Come join our free and amazing community of photographers just looking to learn and grow their skills just like you by heading over to beginnerphotopod. com forward slash group now. Thanks for listening to today's episode and remember, the more that you shoot today, the better of a photographer you will be tomorrow. Talk soon