The Beginner Photography Podcast

Master Your Camera Settings Fast with Bryan Caporicci

• Raymond Hatfield

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#539 In this episode of the podcast, I chat with Bryan Caporicci, a seasoned wedding photographer who blends business acumen with artistic passion. Bryan shares insights into navigating the photography landscape by focusing on foundational skills, emphasizing patience, and finding personal joy in photography. He highlights the importance of technical mastery before creative exploration and the value of building meaningful connections.

THE BIG IDEAS 

  • Master the Basics: Understand your camera settings thoroughly before diving into complex photography scenarios. A solid foundation sets the stage for creativity. 
  • Practice Under Pressure: Learn to operate your camera instinctively in high-pressure situations. This skill is invaluable, particularly in fast-paced environments like weddings.
  • Slow Down for Success: Embrace a patient approach to photography and avoid rushing through your learning process. Long-term success is built gradually.
  • Embrace Creativity: Once technical mastery is second nature, focus on capturing moments, emotions, and stories that resonate and tell a unique narrative.

PHOTOGRAPHY ACTION PLAN

  1. Enhance Technical Confidence: Spend an hour each day practicing different camera settings until they become second nature. Conduct small self-assigned projects focusing on low-light and fast-paced scenarios.
  2. Develop Real-World Experience: Volunteer as a second shooter for a local event photographer to gain experience. Shadow a professional to learn the dynamics of different shoot environments. 
  3. Build a Portfolio of Experiences: Select 5 personal favorite photos that highlight varied skills like lighting, composition, and emotion. Create a physical or digital album and update it monthly to track progress.
  4. Connect with Professional Circles: Attend local photography meet-ups to network and seek mentorship. Practice engaging with other photographers through collaborative projects or photo walks.
  5. Explore Personal Creativity: Dedicate time each week to a creative project that pushes your boundaries. Experiment with different genres of photography to discover new inspirations.

RESOURCES:
Visit Bryan Caporicci's Website - https://www.bcapphoto.com/
Follow Bryan Caporicci on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/bcapphoto/

Download your free copy of
46 Creative Photo Ideas to Get You Out of a Rut
at https://creativeimageideas.com/

Sign up for your free CloudSpot Account today at www.DeliverPhotos.com

Connect with Raymond!


Thanks for listening & keep shooting!

Bryan Caporicci:

Success in this industry and growth and longevity and sustainability are not going to come overnight. Slow yourself down and say, it's okay that it takes time to build these things up. It's okay that you don't get this right away. It's okay that you can't pay$300, get a perfect portfolio and then book these luxury brides the next day. Like that's not going to happen. That's not a sustainable way to build a business.

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 wedding and portrait photographer Brian Caparici about what to focus on if you're just getting started out learning photography. But first, the Beginner Photography Podcast is brought to you by Cloudspot. With CloudSpot you can impress your clients with a beautiful gallery that is easy to share, view, and of course download on any device. You can control image size, add a watermark, and of course download limits as well. So grab your free forever account today over at deliverphotos. com and only upgrade when you are ready. Brian Capricci is not only an amazingly talented photographer, he's also an incredibly generous educator. Brian came into the world of photography from the business side. So, he had to learn photography in a very strategic, methodical way. You know, it was not just a part of him as he was growing up. He had to make a serious effort to learn photography and as you'll hear, he needed to do so quickly. So in today's episode with Brian Caparici, you're going to learn how exactly to master your technical skills early and become fluent in the operations of your camera. Why practicing in real world situations will build your knowledge faster than doing a million, paid style shoots. And what to focus on after you master the technicals of photography. There's one thing that I want you to remember though. It's that listening to the podcast should not be a passive experience. Use this time to better yourself. Take the lessons that you learned today and apply them in your real life photography practice. Use what is shared with you to make a difference and become the photographer that you want to become. just don't want you to waste your time and just go back to doom scrolling your social feed and watching everybody else get better. You can do this for your own creative well being, but you gotta do it. You gotta do it for yourself. So with that, let's go ahead and get on into today's interview with Brian Capparici. A few weeks ago. I saw one of your posts on Facebook pop up saying, you know, Hey, who's on Clubhouse? This new social media app, right? And, you were doing a talk on wedding photography and it was like this hangout for wedding photographers. So right away I thought, I gotta get in on this. I gotta, join this new social media platform. And I have to learn, of course, from the master, Brian Caparici, here. And this whole thing, while I was there, just like, blew my mind. it was very immersive, and it was very entertaining. So for those who, I guess, don't know yet, who haven't heard of it, can you kind of fill them in on what is Clubhouse and why it's so different? Because you've totally become an evangelist for this new, app, and I would love to hear your thoughts on this.

Bryan Caporicci:

For sure. Yeah, it's a ton of fun. I mean, I think the timing of clubhouse and we can back up and I can talk about what specifically it is, but like, let's just acknowledge for a moment, the timing of it was perfect. I mean, with where we are right now, or where we've come in 2020, where we are in 2021, we as humans are seeking connection. Like we're seeking, the ability to collaborate and talk and network and like be together and we, you know, we can't in our industry grant, we can't do it, at WPPI workshops, conventions, like it's just, that doesn't exist. So what do we do? We all go to Facebook and we chat on Facebook, but it just, there's a certain Something missing, you know, when you just do like this text based communication. So clubhouse is basically like being at a convention. It's a virtual convention, more or less, right? You have this like main hallway, which is like the main, newsfeed, like where you used to do on Facebook, where you just can kind of sort of scroll through the hallway and what you're scrolling through are a bunch of different rooms of all the people that you follow. And they're basically in a room having conversations. So imagine you're at WPPI, you're walking down the hallway and you see a room and you're like, Oh, that's cool. Raymond's in that room. And it says that they're talking about marketing. So you kind of can, like, you can step into the room and you can just kind of like hang out in the audience and you can listen to these different people. 10 people on stage who are talking about marketing. And if you want to add something to the conversation, you raise your hand, you go up on stage, you can add, and then you go back to the audience. Or if you have a question, you raise your hand, ask the question, go back into the audience. And that's basically what clubhouse is. It's an audio only. social media, tool that just allows us to connect, to converse, to have conversations, to teach, to learn, to network. it's just, it's a ton of fun and there's so many great conversations happening over there. And so many great ways to connect with each other as photographers with other, wedding professionals, or just to like hang out and learn things that you want to learn. If you want to go learn about Bitcoin or you want to go like, you know, last night, Tesla was on there. You know what I mean? Like doing all these, it's just like, you can really do anything, but it's just an opportunity to dive in and to connect in an audio only format. So it takes away that Fear that so many people have of like, zoom fatigue or being on video and all that you just kind of put your air pods on and you can listen and connect while you're doing something else.

Raymond Hatfield:

that's exactly what I was doing. I put in the air pods. I went and started walking on the treadmill and I was like, this feels totally different than everything else that we've had before. And even like with live, even if you join some sort of live conversation on Facebook, there's this element that you're still watching somebody who is live and that's it. And even like, if you leave a comment or whatever, you're still kind of behind this veil of a computer. But with clubhouse, like you can actually talk to these people. And I got to say the other day, there was a chat room with Joe Greer who is big into film photography on YouTube. And I thought to myself, I was like, Whoa, like, here's Joe Greer. Like, imagine if I just, walked into the store and there was Joe Greer, you know, and here he was talking about a film it's a really new platform, obviously, but it's a lot of fun. And I had a great time connecting with you and Devin who was there as well. so that was a great time. And I'm glad to get you back on the show today, obviously, but you know, there's going to be a lot of long time listeners who are going to remember that you, uh, We're back on the show in, uh, it was episode 60. So this is like 2017, so it's been a long time. Yeah, wow.

Bryan Caporicci:

It's been a while.

Raymond Hatfield:

it's been a while, but for those who, maybe haven't been listening that long, I'm sure that a few people have maybe just got a camera over the holidays for Christmas. Can you reintroduce yourself to them as far as who you are and how photography plays a role in your life?

Bryan Caporicci:

Yeah, for sure. first of all, congratulations on, I mean, you with your podcast, Raymond. It's like running a podcast is a lot of work. And I know that because we have a podcast. You know that. You're up to

Raymond Hatfield:

episode 450. Like, this is bananas.

Bryan Caporicci:

Yeah, I mean, it's cool. And it's fun and it's great. But like, you know, what maybe a lot of listeners don't know is like getting past episode 20 is a huge milestone. And then past 50 is a huge milestone. And then past a hundred is a huge milestone, like 1 percent of podcasts make it there. So the fact that we, we had a chance to talk back in 2017 on episode 60, and now we're still talking again today. I don't know what episode number this is going to be, but, but my quick math says My quick math says it's at least 200. So I mean, congratulations to you on that. Um,

Raymond Hatfield:

anyways,

Bryan Caporicci:

yes. So, so about me, so I've been a professional wedding and portrait photographer for 15 years. I'm here in Niagara, Ontario, Canada, and, I've been full time making a living supporting my family as a sole income provider for 15 years. my wife and I, we have three kids. She's a stay at home mom and, The living that we have in the life we have is because the money I made with my camera. And, I've always had a passion for the business side of photography, which I think makes me a bit of a weirdo in our space. Cause I'm not like the starving artist type. You know, I, I actually do like the business side, the marketing, the selling, the pricing, so on and so forth. And so I've been teaching business to photographers for about 10 years, but I've written a handful of books. the one book that I wrote called pricing for profits actually used in colleges and universities as a textbook, to teach, up and coming photographers how to price themselves. So the business side is something I have a huge passion for, and I really love, and I love to help photographers because most photographers get into it. Photography because they love photography,

Raymond Hatfield:

not

Bryan Caporicci:

necessarily because they're like, Oh, I want to be an entrepreneur.

Raymond Hatfield:

Um,

Bryan Caporicci:

maybe I'll make money with my camera. It's like, no, they think of it the other way. You know, they just stumble into it. So I like to be there to help them to give them guidance to give them advice to give them, strategies that have worked because I've been there and I've done it for 15 years. and that all led me about six or seven years ago to start and to be the founder of what's now Sprout Studio. So it's a software that helps photographers run their business. So we give them the knowledge and the strategies and the insight on the education side. But then we also have a tool that they can use to actually execute these things and run their business. So that's, that's me in 60 seconds, Raymond.

Raymond Hatfield:

Man, yeah, you could go on, so much longer just because of the amount of accomplishments that you have, not only, from your photographic capabilities and the awards that you've won there, but, as you're saying, I think helping out photographers now, it seems has kind of become like your mission, you know, in this past year, I've seen you take a huge step forward in the amount of content that you come out with, and that are the types of content that you come out with specifically geared towards helping Those other photographers, and I know that there's a lot of other, I don't know, systems out there for the business side of things. But yours is obviously focused on photographers and all the content that you come out with is as well. And it's great to see your experience, kind of shine through in all of that. But before you got to this point to where you are today, was a beginning, right? And this, since this is the beginner photography podcast, I want to know more about that. What was it that first told you, you know what, I think photography is going to play a large, role in my life here? The

Bryan Caporicci:

funny thing, and I don't talk about this too much, but the funny thing about my beginning in photography was, I'll back up to, I guess it would have been like 2000, 2005. I was in school for computer science. I was going to university for computer science. And because I was like the computer science guy, of course, like you're the guy that everyone goes to for computer. Help and questions and whatever, because you know, everything apparently. so I actually got a summer job working for another photographer. I didn't know anything about photography. I had no interest. I got a job working for this other photographer who did like gymnastics events. So we would go. To different gymnastics events around Ontario, and he would sort of deploy a crew of photographers to photograph the gymnasts on the floors and at the various sort of stations, and then they would all bring it back to me at this like booth that we had set up. And because again, I was the computer guy. This is early days of digital too, right? 2005 was, it was a very different day and age than it is now. So we would basically,

Raymond Hatfield:

Oh, it was, it was insane.

Bryan Caporicci:

So back then for reference, for anyone that, you know, we're used to Lightroom and all these things now that didn't even exist. Like Lightroom wasn't around then. I know it sounds like we actually carved the pictures on pieces of stone. Um, so we use a software called, what's it? A C. ACDC or ACD or OCD. It was some software like that. The logo was orange. I can still picture it. anyways, they would all bring them back. I would offload them onto the, computers. I would do selections and then I would get them ready for a slideshow that the parents could then come back and look at the photos. They would pick which ones they wanted and we would print them on site for them right then and there. So it was like this onsite event photography thing. Again, I was doing the computer side, not the photography side. so my entrepreneurial brain got spinning cause I've always been entrepreneurial in my thinking. And him and I started a side company called memories in motion. And we did what we call them. We thought we were fancy back then. We called it digital memory preservation, which is like, so like what a, what a mouthful, but again, this is like early days of digital. So the fact that we could do these like fancy slideshows or these advanced DVD menus with like buttons that you could click to play the different slideshows. It was like, it was all the rage back then. Right. So we did that. And, pretty well doing that. And him and I just kind of went two different directions. but I was loving what we were doing. He was always the photography side. I was always the tech side. And so when we split, I was like, well, I want to keep running this company. but I don't know anything about photography. So I basically took over the company. I had a company called memories in motion and I walked into Henry's a camera store here locally. And I said, Hey, so I have a photography business. I need to buy a camera because I don't know what I'm doing

Raymond Hatfield:

right away.

Bryan Caporicci:

So that was like, that was basically, you know, the start. And then from there, obviously I fell in love with photography through the discovery of it. But for me, I started it as an entrepreneur first because I saw the opportunity. I saw the excitement of running my own thing. and photography just happened to be the space that I fell into. And then over the next 15 years, I've obviously fallen in love with photography and the creative side and the ability to make images and say something with my camera. But, I started as an entrepreneur first and then found photography. So it's an interesting dynamic because again, like I said earlier, most photographers, Start in the opposite direction, right? Of like loving photography and then wanting to start a business. I was the opposite. those were kind of like the early days. And I think I attribute that to the success that I've been able to achieve and in my own way, as a photographer, because, you know, my first year of shooting weddings, I booked 32 weddings. weddings and it's like, and I believe it's not because necessarily I was a better photographer than anyone, even though I think I, I did a pretty good job as a photographer. It was my marketing skills, my selling skills, just the fact that I looked at what I did as an entrepreneur, as a business person, that's what got me to where I was.

Raymond Hatfield:

So you decided right from the beginning, once you bought that camera, you were like, You had decided to go into weddings at that point, or were you still doing some sports? I did, I did two

Bryan Caporicci:

seasons of sports. I did that and I think I remember one specific time where, so I would do like the team and individual picture where you have like a basketball under your arm and be like cheese. And then do that like 5, 000 times, like on a weekend. Cause I would do all the local, I did all the local basketball, the local soccer, associations. We did. We did tennis. We did baseball. I did everything. And then we ended up doing live events and things like that. and it was good. It was fine. I was enjoying it. It was able to help me learn photography and build the business and build the systems and build the team and do all those things. Again, I was like an 18 year old kid too. So here I was like, Holy cow. but I just, I was never fulfilled. I've never been a sports guy myself and I wasn't really fulfilled creatively doing that because. It's assembly line photography. There's nothing wrong with it. But just for me, I just didn't, I didn't love it. So I kind of quickly transitioned, away from that and into weddings after like a year or two type of thing. And yeah, that first year of shooting weddings, I booked 32 weddings.

Raymond Hatfield:

So let's talk about that progression for you as far as that learning curve, because I would say, I don't want to get these words mixed up. As you said, when it comes to like assembly line type photos, once you kind of figure out your settings, it's just, Yeah. Rinse and repeat all day long. Where as a wedding Entirely different. You're constantly changing settings. So is there a big learning curve for you there or by the time you had got into weddings? Were you already pretty proficient with the camera to where you were able to get in there?

Bryan Caporicci:

Yeah, I think it was like the way that I see things and analyze things and break things down and understand them I mean, that's what's gotten me to where I am now with sprout but I even think back then there were signs of that where there was this like, mass production element to like, to the sports photography, but I always looked at it differently. I always really looked at it as challenges. How can I do things differently? I didn't want to do the same kind of work that like, you know, your Jostens was doing or like, those kinds of things. So I did always look at it a little bit more creatively than probably others may have at the time. and in doing so I did, I did have to learn and figure out lighting and understand settings. And then also because we were doing live events, you know, photographing a basketball tournament or a baseball tournament and all that. There was this training of being able to catch the right moment and understand settings and learn shutter speeds and how they interact with different things and aperture and what you want to get in focus. And so there was an element. and back then too, if you, I don't know if like thinking back, what camera would have I had back in the day, the Canon something, I don't know, the Canon 30D, or maybe even the Canon 20D, it's like, you couldn't shoot over ISO. 800 without like having golf balls everywhere in your picture. Right. So like, you know, you had to really understand the technical side and because I was very technical in my thinking, I did learn that stuff quickly. Now I second shot weddings those first two years as I was doing the sports photography. So I learned a lot. Through that, I was basically working three full time jobs, right? Like running the photography business itself. I was still a student at the time still. And then also every weekend I was second shooting with a local photographer. So I was shooting, 20 weddings, every summer learning as a second shooter, as an assistant, just figuring out how things go. So by the time I did actually break out and do my own weddings, I had probably 50 weddings under my belt that I had second shot for. So learned through that,

Raymond Hatfield:

of course, experience. Yeah, that's, that's gotta be one of the best ways to learn. I think, you know, anybody can attest to that. We can read books all day on technicals and settings and whatnot, but it's not until you actually get behind the camera and you do these things that you realize, oh, either this works or this doesn't work. So when you had first went to those, few weddings as a second, was there anything that really caught you off guard and you struggled with as far as the photography goes?

Bryan Caporicci:

I would say the biggest challenge about weddings and anyone that's photographed weddings, can empathize with this. it's just like the fast moving, the fast pace of a wedding. that's not only photographically is that constantly changing, right? Like you're in a bride's house and you're in your bio window backlit, and then all of a sudden you're front lit. And then all of a sudden you're this, and then you turn around and there's a flower girl that looks cute and you need to get that shot. And then you go downstairs in the basement and it's pitch dark. And then you got to go up here and do it's like, you're constantly changing. So not only is there like. Continual technical challenges that you have to be able to think about, but it happens like lightning fast, right? Like it's, and then the pace and then the stress at the wedding and things are getting heated and dad's yelling and this is this and the little girl's crying and like all these things that kind of, for me, that was the biggest thing. It's like I could, and I see this even now when photographers, newer photographers, you know, like understanding the technical. Is obviously that's the first step like get getting over those things, but then from there, it's like, yeah, but now figure out that technical in a pressure cooker, right? Like figure those things out under that stress of it. So for me, that was the biggest because I admittedly, I kind of went in feeling really confident in myself as a technical photographer thinking like, Oh, I got this. This is no problem. Like I know the stuff off the back of my hand because I was technical. But then Yeah. Yeah. Adding the pressure to that, it changes the game. So that was probably the biggest change for me.

Raymond Hatfield:

I have a similar story. I went to film school, so I learned all the technicals of cinematography to learn to light for movies. And obviously in a production, you're going to have all the equipment that you need to be able to, light to, to film. Technically perfect settings, right? So when I transitioned into wedding photography, I thought it was easy. Like I've been, I know exactly what to do here. I know all the settings that I need to do if it's low light and all this stuff. And that first wedding, I still hate to share the story, but, the entire first dance, I shot it at half a second just to make sure, cause I was like, I gotta keep that ISO low, you gotta have, nice, beautiful grain, uh, yeah, they didn't use any of those photos. In fact, that couple used a photo of the first dance Another guest took on their cell phone. Oh, no. Yeah. Their first answer is their profile picture. And I knew at that moment, it was right then at that moment that I realized, Oh, man, settings are nowhere near as important as so many other factors. You know, like, Yeah. Like, moment, you know? So, In a time where new photographers are coming in right now, especially right after the holidays, lots of people get cameras, for the holidays and whatnot. There's a lot of things that we can be focusing on and it can be very overwhelming because quickly you realize, oh, this is really more than just pressing a button. So for those photographers who are worried, what are some of the things that they should be focusing on right now at this stage to kind of avoid potential overwhelm?

Bryan Caporicci:

I would say like take it a step at a time. I think that's probably the biggest mistake that I see photographers make, especially in those early days. actually, interestingly enough, anecdotally, I was in a clubhouse room last night, just kind of hanging out with, 60 or 70 other photographers, and there was a conversation that there was a newer photographer. She was, you know, I looked at her Instagram. Her work was beautiful on her Instagram. She was still a student and she was kind of going on about how she had just finished paying for like a styled shoot. to like, to participate in the styled shoot. And like, I was like, I kind of, I raised my hand and just started asking questions and discussing with her because genuinely, I don't quite understand it. get that. Like it's a thing, but like my biggest challenge was like, so what are you trying to show off and do it being something like this, because you're in this perfectly styled, expensive setup with zero pressure or timelines or limitations or anything like it doesn't really show off what you can do as a photographer. Photographer, it just shows that, you know, how to press the button and what settings to use and that, you know, how to edit a picture. that kind of comes back to what we're talking about here in my opinion. It's really easy to kind of let our ego. And again, I was there, so I I'm speaking from experience. I'm not criticizing to let our egos get ahead of us in the sense of like, Oh yeah, I know this stuff. Like I'm going to just start. It's like. You need to walk before you run. You need to crawl before you walk. You know what I'm saying? Like you need to kind of take it bit by bit. And I think to try and get into like, you know, the, and even I, I hear these conversations now where photographers who are so early in their career are talking about ideal client and that's not the kind of luxury wedding I want to have and this and that. And it's just like, guys, get a handful of seasons under your belt. Just like, Shooting weddings first, like you need to understand because not only there's a couple of paths that I see here, number one, like we talked about, you have to learn the technical, you need to be able to understand your camera, the technical, the settings, exposure, you need to get that stuff. Like flawlessly off the back of your hand with it. It needs to be second nature. That's the first part. As soon as you get over that, you're in a good place, right? Next, add the pressure to it. Right? now do that in the pressure cooker. So that's the next thing. And then once you can get over that, so you can show up to a wedding and you can technically. Get perfection. that is like the next step. Now you're into the milestone. You're into this next stage of your, growth as an artist, where now you need to stop looking at things as technical problems and start looking at things that have meaning. So how do you look, you talked about moment. How do you look for moment? How do you find nuance? How do you piece together details? How do you compose in a way that has the impact? Like there's all these things. those are so far away from the technical capabilities that we have as photographers. That's where you become a good wedding photographer. When you can look at things and go beyond the technical. So that would be like the path that I would recommend a photographer going through. And that's why I'm not a fan of the styled shoot concept, because I don't think that it teaches any of those things. It just teaches that, you know, how to press the button and get the right settings, And yes, you need to know that stuff, but that shouldn't be what you're presenting as your ability as a photographer, because that's not reproducible on a wedding day. So that would be kind of the path that I would recommend is like, number one, make sure that you get technically confident. number two, make sure that you can perform. In that technically confident way, under the pressure of a wedding day. And then number three, forget about all that stuff. As soon as it becomes second nature and it becomes habitual, then you need to just trust your mind and your body and like your muscle memory to do those things. And then now you need to be focusing on the things that actually make an impact in the work that we do, which is nuance and moment and storytelling and, cohesion and consistency and, all those kinds of things. And then once you figure that out, once you get beyond that, then it's all about, okay, great. So now you can tell a story, you can capture a moment, you can see these things, you can predict when like the, when their laugh is going to be the best, you can predict when this moment's going to happen, you can react, you can see, then now you need to take. The camera and everything away from it and make sure that you can integrate yourself on a wedding day in a way that is relatable, that you can connect with people, that you can create an environment that elicits real emotion. You can make people feel at ease. You can make interactions to orchestrate moments sometimes, or you can make interactions where you actually are invisible in the moment. So moments can happen without your interest. So there's, that's like the next step of growth. And I'm not sure what would come next, but like, those are like the few main steps that I would say it's a journey, right? Like it's a journey. it's a stepping ladder that you need to walk up. And so many photographers try and jump to that last rung. And it's like, you gotta do the work. You got to put the time in, you gotta do the work.

Raymond Hatfield:

I want to say to the whole, stylized shoot type deal right there. I'm torn on this because in the same sense, like, this is not something that I would do. I would never find myself, especially paying for a stylized shoot. I could see myself helping out other vendors doing some sort of stylized shoot, obviously with them, but we're talking about the sense of like, It's a new photographer and they're looking to gain experience, build a portfolio by doing this. And two things that I hear most from new photographers is that a, they don't have enough time to practice photography and B they don't have anybody to practice with. So when it comes to these stylized shoots, like I see where that comes from. I see the desire to go to these things, but you're right. They're missing like such this big step of, it's not just the technicals. It's, being able to replicate this under pressure in a real world environment. So for those who, are worried about time for those who are worried about not having the people to photograph. if doing, stylized shoots isn't the way to go. Is there anything else that you could recommend maybe to build practice and possibly grow their portfolio as well?

Bryan Caporicci:

Yeah, for sure. I think, this all sits in this foundation of slowing down. And again, like, I believe me, I've been there. So I understand. So I'm not criticizing, but I'm more trying to encourage through experience this idea that like, we all want to pick up the camera, we figure out this technical thing. And then we want to, again, we want to start running, but it's like, Success in this industry and growth and longevity and sustainability are not going to come overnight. every overnight success is an overnight success, 10 years in the making, it's never an overnight success. and so the pull to want those quick results is so, um, like we can feel it, it's there, but try to pause that feeling and slow yourself down and say, it's okay that it takes time. To build these things up. It's okay that you don't get this right away. It's okay that you can't pay 300, get a perfect portfolio and then book these luxury brides the next day. Like that's not going to happen. That's not a sustainable way to build a business. So my advice would be to get in and almost follow the similar path to what I just talked about with myself, where. Get in and figure out the technical, like you don't necessarily need to have a bride in front of your camera or a groom in front of your camera to figure out the technical. I mean, go out there and, and just shoot, shoot whatever you can around you, shoot, do self portraits, go out and photograph nature, like do whatever you can just to like, the camera needs to be an extension of your eyes, of your mind, of your vision. your hand almost needs to not even, like it needs to be again, like muscle memory. So whatever you can do just to like put in the hours, put in the time. That's fine. beyond that, now you, if you want to start understanding the nuances of applying those skills and applying that muscle memory to people, that's fine. Find people to photograph them like it that's that would be I don't think we need to have this like luxury boho bride with this beautiful barn wedding above a blind order for us to practice that because that's not when you want to practice, you want to make mistakes when you're photographing your kids or when you're photographing like the neighbor's kids or when you're out, you know, whatever you're doing to practice photographing people, that's when you want to make mistakes. Not when you're paying 500 to be at this bar. perfectly styled shoot. so do that. and then even once you've gotten that, now you need to start second shooting. am such an advocate for like the concept of interning. I think it's so important and it's so underutilized in our industry. It's almost utilized in a way that like, Hey, I want a second shoot for you so I can build a portfolio. No, the whole point of second shooting is not to build a portfolio. If you can, great. If you can build a relationship with a photographer and do that. Wonderful. But the point of it is to learn the ropes, to understand what it's like to put in your hours, to put in your hours, who is it that writes about the 10, 000 hour rule in order to get good at something, you've got to put in 10, 000 hours. That's what we got to do as photographers. If you want to photograph weddings, get out there and photograph weddings, but do it and learn and be humble about it and be hungry for it and be willing to make mistakes and be willing to carry someone else's bags. Cause you know that they did that 10 years ago. I did that 10 years ago, 15 years ago. Like, so you have to put in the time and I think that's the best way to do it. Are you going to be able to shoot luxury weddings next year? If you go that path? Absolutely not. But you're going to learn, you're going to get in there and you're going to practice, you're going to know what it's like, you're going to be able to talk with another photographer, you're going to see what you like, you're going to see what you don't like, you're going to have experience practicing with your camera, you're going to have experience engaging with a couple, engaging with family members, understanding the nuances of a wedding day, and you'll be able to go from there. It's a slower path, but it's a path that gives you success in the long term.

Raymond Hatfield:

I know, photographer Sam Hurd uses, just like posing, it's um, like sketch. Sketching dolls, you know, those wooden dolls that you use to practice sketching with to practice, posing and technicals at home, which I think it's a, it's a great tip. I wanted to ask because oftentimes photographers, they listen to us as we're just talking, sometimes we talk about gear and we talk about all these nice new things. And oftentimes new photographers just don't have the gear or the resources that most professional photographers do. Can you tell me maybe early on, in your career, maybe a time where you really just had to make do with what you had to get a job done, even though it wasn't maybe the best, possible way to do it. you still made it work.

Bryan Caporicci:

A hundred percent. So I, I will, say perfectly confidently that whatever gear you have right now to the listener, whatever gear you have is all that you need right now. and I say that with such, belief because It's so easy to be chasing the gear and look, I get it. I feel it too. and quite honestly, I love buying gear. I really do. But, and I say this with a huge, but huge caveat, I'm able to. Because I can afford it because photography and has been my career and my, and my livelihood. I've achieved the financial success in my photography business to be able to say, if I want to get that camera, I'm going to get it just because I want to play around. Now, as a side note, my passion and obsession is. So the cameras are much more affordable to get now, as opposed to buying like the latest Sony or Canada or Nikon or whatever, but, uh, I digress. whatever it is that you have, like cameras today, even the most like simple, the most basic of cameras, are so, so much more advanced than anything we had before. even top of the line five years ago, like the most, like 600 camera today is better than the 6, 000 camera five years ago. And if photographers were successful with like top of the line five years ago, damn well sure you can be successful with bottom line today. So I guess I, I say that to say like, Don't chase the gear. Don't look for more gear. Learn whatever you have. It doesn't matter what you have because the camera only does what you tell it to do. And so the camera itself is not going to make a difference in the photographs that you make. The most important part, and I forget who it was, it may have been Ansel that said this, but the most important part of the camera is the six inches behind it. Us, right? You. And so don't worry about whatever you have. If you have a kit lens, perfect. If you have a rebel, awesome. If you have whatever, whatever you have is perfect. If you don't have a flash, no problem. Like learn with what you have and it will probably bring you. A few years of growth as a creative, once you start to feel the actual limitation of that gear, when you're like, no, no, no, I, I literally couldn't get this without, just next lens or whatever it is, that's when you start to consider, but I'm, almost willing to bet that like, Most of us are not there, even myself. Like I'm right now I shoot food quick side note, I shoot Fuji. I've got the 56 F one, two, and I've got the 50 F two weather seal. And I have both for a reason. Cause I use them for different things. Now the 50 F one came out and it's like, Ooh, I'm thinking, Oh heck yeah. 50 F and it's weather sealed. I'm all about the 50 F1. I'm all about the F1. Um, it's weather sealed. Beautiful. Okay, Boca. All right. the Boca balls are like point 0.0 0, 0 0 1 millimeters bigger. So it looks a little bit more sexy if you do a direct side by side studio comparison, which we never do, by the way. So I'm trying to justify whether I just sell both those lenses and get the one and yeah, I mean like that's easy to justify. Wow. You know, I probably would save a little bit of money and I. And then we go through these stories. I don't need it. I'm not going to make a difference. I don't need it. Will I do it because I want it? Maybe. But I'll only do it because I can afford it. Not because I, you know, I'm not going to go and get a loan for it. I'm not going to go and like, you know, not pay myself this year because, because I need to make that, that move. And I, and I do see that. I see so many photographers that are like, they don't pay themselves. Because they just keep spending money on gear and it's like, man, if you look at your chart of accounts at the end of the year, and if you've spent more on care than you've paid yourself, there's something wrong. Um, I guess all that just to say, like, Don't worry about the gear, man. Like just do whatever you can shoot with whatever you have. If you have an iPhone, use that, learn on that. you can probably spend a few years mastering the art of photography on just your

Raymond Hatfield:

iPhone.

Bryan Caporicci:

Now I'm not saying you're going to go shoot a wedding with it, but it's like, we're talking about that, growth, right. As an artist, as a creative, and then as an entrepreneur, you can get pretty darn far with like the simplest gear. So don't chase gear.

Raymond Hatfield:

I was in the same boat as you with the 56 1. 2. And then I realized that just like the size of it I didn't want to use it like around the house and just photograph my kids because it was just kind of big and cumbersome and then I I played this game with myself that was like I could get the two but is it going to be as good you know how much light am I going to be losing but at the end of the day I mean none of that stuff matters it's like it's like what is it it's like two thirds of a stop that you're losing it's not much at all and then it's much smaller and the fact that now I can you. I just shoot more with that 50 millimeter F2. And even though on paper, 56 1. 2. It enables me to shoot more, which ultimately is what we want as photographers, right?

Bryan Caporicci:

A hundred percent. As long

Raymond Hatfield:

as you got what you need to shoot, that's all that you want. Now, I want to get back to this whole film thing that you're doing right now, because as you said, you know, you've been shooting for 15 years, you've been doing this now that you picked up this film camera, I want to know like, Is there a goal to it? Is it strictly a creativity thing? And if it is, what are you trying to express? Does any of this make sense? Cause, once again, on paper, there's no reason why we should be photographing

Bryan Caporicci:

this. Sure. No, 100%. 100%. I mean, and this, this is the funny part. Is like, my trajectory or the path has, if you follow all of it so far, I mean, I got into it because I wanted to be a business person, not because I wanted to be a photographer, right? Like, if you follow all of it, it's literally like ass backwards from what like you would typically do. That's true. so I, at the time when I first discovered film, which is about two years ago, I had never shot film before. Never. Like even, I mean, maybe when I was a kid, I'd grab my parents point and shoot, but it was never like shooting film. Never with

Raymond Hatfield:

intentional. I've

Bryan Caporicci:

never shot with film. So it's like, yet for at the time, for 13 years, every single time I had shot, every time I'd picked up my camera outside of like just documenting my kids. I'm being paid to do it. Like I'm being paid to be a photographer and I'm always shooting for other people. Now I built my business to a point where I got to shoot what I wanted to shoot and how I wanted to shoot and people paid me handsomely for it. So that's great. And I'm, and I'm very grateful and thankful for that, but I never had this opportunity to like explore photography for me. Never, never. I've always been a full time professional photographer. The camera is what puts food on the table. And so when I first got this like little intrigue of film, I was like, Oh, this is different. and then just like. having a camera and like being intentional by choosing a film stock and then physically loading it into a camera and just this whole like mechanical process with, winding the film and doing all these things. I develop all my film too. I do darkroom printing myself too. So doing all these things

Raymond Hatfield:

dove right in.

Bryan Caporicci:

Oh, I mean dove right in. Um, but like. Being involved in a very tactile way gives me a different way to see, learn, express through photography that I'd never have. I'd never had before. I'd never explored that before. and then even going beyond that, like the story, like the permanence, the story of shooting on film, you know, this idea that like when, when you press the shutter, this piece of emulsion, Changes forever. it forever is impact by the light that exists in this very, split second of a moment. It's one 500th of a second. This piece of film changes physically. Physically changes never to be undone. And then you can make something real out of that all the way up to like printing in a dark room and you see this thing appear in front of you and you're like, I made this like free of technology, free of computers and bits and bytes and zeros and ones. Like I made this with light with a piece of light and this will never ever be undone. Like, that is just a beautiful way of seeing what we do. so I'm not doing it for clients. I mean, I've done it. I've actually had quite a number of clients that have like seen my own exploration of it on the personal side. And they're like, yeah, we know, we want you to shoot film for us. which is like, cool. Cause it's now seeing spill into like my professional work. but I'm just doing it for fun and because I really enjoy it. and it gives, So many other ways to explore. I mean, you can buy cameras for like a couple hundred dollars, like really good film cameras for a couple hundred dollars. Um, and they're, they're a freaking blast to play with. So like, it's great. It fulfills a different side of me. that I otherwise just didn't have digitally.

Raymond Hatfield:

it's interesting hearing you say that because I hear new photographers speaking about their brand new entry level like digital cameras in that same way like this new creative passion because oftentimes, you know, when you get that camera, you're not coming from a world of creativity, right? You have. So I love hearing that passion come back into you and that excitement. 100% That is so much fun. That's it

Bryan Caporicci:

though, right? Raymond is like, it, reignited this fire that I have because I've been a full time professional photographer for 15 years. It reignited this fire that like, admittedly after 15 years, like not that I got tired of photography. It's not that I felt uninspired because I love what I do. And I love to photograph for my clients, but like, For my own, my own creative pursuit. It reignited that amateur mindset again in me. Yeah. And, and I haven't had that in 15 years. So it was just, it's been such a joy to continue to explore that.

Raymond Hatfield:

Very cool. Well, Brian, Oh, side note. When I was doing research for this episode, I realized that you're the only Brian who's ever been on the beginner photography podcast. So on top of the like this huge list of accolades that you have yourself now you can add that to it as well. But before I let you go, can you let those listening right now know where they can find you because as you said, photographer, you also host a podcast 450 episodes. Congratulations on that as well as running sprout studio. So can you just let people know where they can learn more about you and everything that you do.

Bryan Caporicci:

Yeah, for sure. Thank you, Raymond. a couple places, I guess, if you want to learn more about Sprout, then you can go to get Sprout studio. com or just Google Sprout studio. You'll find us. if you want to dive more into the business education that we have, if you go to that same website, we have a community button at the top of the page. You can dive into podcasts. We have courses, we have pricing calculators. We have hundreds of articles on anything you can think of to do with the business of photography. So you can hop in there. if you like podcasts, which, uh, you do, you're listening to a podcast right now, um, then you can just find us. It's called the business of photography. You can find us pretty much wherever you listen to podcasts. That's, I guess, mostly if you want to connect on clubhouse, if you're on clubhouse, that's like the coolest and latest obsession. So come find me over there.

Raymond Hatfield:

All right, huge, huge thank you to Brian for coming on the podcast. I want to share one action item with you. One thing from today's episode that will get you shooting and become a better photographer. So Brian talked a lot about the importance of story, right? We all love story, telling a story with an image, I think is one of the major reasons why we get into photography. Maybe we saw an image that had a powerful story. Or maybe we see stories that we just want to capture. So, today's action item is to create a photographic story. Don't worry, this isn't going to take like, 6 month project. This could take 15, 20 minutes. I want you to tell the story of your dog playing with their toy. Tell the story of your morning routine. Tell the story of you mowing your lawn. Don't overthink this. Quickly brainstorm like ten photos or so that would tell that story and then go out and shoot it. Generally afterwards you're gonna have one to two photos that you really love and that is what I want you to share in the free and amazing beginner photography podcast community so that we can talk about it. You can join right now for free by heading over to beginnerphotopod. com forward slash group. And I hope to see your story there. So that is it for today. Until next week, remember the more that you shoot today, the better of a photographer you will be tomorrow. Talk soon.