The Beginner Photography Podcast

Are Photo Meetups The Key To Master Photography with Richard Brodowski

• Raymond Hatfield

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#546 Richard Brodowski is member of the Beginner Photography Podcast Community and innovative equestrian and portrait photographer who shares how he transitioned from taking photos at his daughter's barn to mastering equestrian portraits. He began his photography path in April 2021, initially purchasing a camera for filming barbecue videos for a YouTube channel. However, his interests shifted towards equestrian photography as he began capturing images during his daughter's horseback riding lessons. Richard shares his learning experience, from being voluntold to take portraits at a barn to experimenting with equipment and techniques.

KEY TOPICS COVERED

  1. Getting Started in Photography - Richard recounts his initial motivation for purchasing a camera, which evolved from a focus on video to a passion for equestrian photography during his daughter's lessons. Key takeaways include the importance of experimentation and being open to new opportunities.
  2. Learning Equestrian Photography - Richard discusses the nuances of equestrian photography, covering technical aspects like focal lengths and equipment, as well as learning to pose subjects around horses safely. He highlights his journey of gaining confidence and skills through research and practice.
  3. Community and Continuous Learning - Richard emphasizes the role of community in developing his skills. Participation in local photo meetups allowed him to interact with other photographers and models, fostering a supportive environment that facilitated learning and experimentation.

IMPORTANT DEFINITIONS & CONCEPTS

  • Community in Photography: Involvement in groups that enhance learning, skill-sharing, and collaboration among photographers.

DISCUSSION & REFLECTION QUESTIONS

  1. How can community involvement enhance your learning in photography?
  2. What are the challenges and rewards of transitioning from hobby photography to professional portrait sessions?

RESOURCES:
Visit Richard Brodowski's Website - https://www.barn33photography.com/
Follow Richard Brodowski on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/barn33photography/
Check out "Set a Light 3D" (for lighting setups) - https://www.elixxier.com/en/set-a-light-3d/

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!

Richard Brodowski:

I didn't grow up around horses and getting comfortable around the horses and learning their mannerisms and their body language was a big thing. When can you put a girl on a horse? Which horses can you go and just move

Raymond Hatfield:

and not

Richard Brodowski:

worry about getting kicked? Yeah, it's a learning process, so you kinda have learn the body language. It's a big safety thing too.

Raymond Hatfield:

Hey, welcome to the beginner photography podcast. I'm your host, Raymond Hadfield. And today we're chatting with community member portrait and equestrian photographer, Richard Berdowski. But first the beginner photography podcast is brought to you by CloudSpot. Impress your clients with a beautiful gallery that is easy to view, share and download on any device. You can control image size at a watermark and download limits. So grab your free forever account today over at deliver photos. com and only upgrade when you are ready. You know, one thing that I love about photography is that there's no one way to get into it. And there's no path that will take you further. And that couldn't be truer for today's guest and beginner photography podcast, community member, Richard. As you'll hear, Richard kind of fell into photography and just kept the momentum going. He went from, no experience with light to now creating works that are pretty complex light setups. And it seems like he's having a blast along the way. So in today's interview with Richard, you're going to learn how to go deeper into your niche and become more than just a jack of all trades. How to overcome lighting challenges and build the shot that you envision. And lastly, the importance of photography meetups and how they have made such a massive impact on Richard's growth. So there's a ton here that I know you're going to appreciate. And, honestly, after hearing Richard, it got me really excited for our first beginner photography podcast workshop coming up here in May. Because photography can feel like such a lonely hobby, or business at times, you know? When you struggle, you're unsure exactly where to turn to for a multitude of reasons. You know, be it you don't want to have your work criticized because you're just starting out, or you're unsure of how to properly explain the issue that you may have when shooting. Or you just don't want to be made to feel dumb by others who we all know have the exact same questions that you have when they were getting started to. So creating this first workshop here, I'm so excited about. We're going to learn all about camera settings. We're going to learn to see light. And then we have a model who we're going to go out on a fun photo walk with. And we're going to be able to shoot and I'm going to be able to answer all of those questions that seem to only come up when you're shooting. So again, I'm beyond excited for this and I know it's going to be an amazing experience, but if you're listening and you're thinking, wow, I didn't know anything about this workshop, that's probably because there's a good chance that you're not a part of the free and amazing beginner photography podcast community, just like today's guest, Richard is. You can join for yourself by heading over to beginner photopod. com forward slash group. Again, that's beginnerphotopod. com forward slash group. I'm speaking for Richard here, but myself and Richard would love to have you come join us in a safe space where you can ask questions, share photos, in the most helpful place on the internet for new photographers. So again, come join us, beginnerphotopod. com forward slash group. With that, let's go ahead and get on into today's Community Spotlight interview with Richard Berdowski. Richard, when did you know that photography was first gonna play an important role in your life?

Richard Brodowski:

April, 2021.

Raymond Hatfield:

Very specific. Love it.

Richard Brodowski:

specific. Yep. I initially bought a camera, because I wanted to actually do YouTube videos, for barbecue. I like to barbecue. I, I, the old adage where you turn 40. You get into Barbecue World War II or, or I, I can't remember the other one,

Raymond Hatfield:

I think it's lawn care.

Richard Brodowski:

yeah. Long, long care. Yeah. but I got into barbecue and everyone liked it. They're like, you need to do a YouTube channel. so I'm like, okay, lemme go get a camera. did a lot of research. I'm a research junkie. Picked up a Sony A seven C because it had the flip around screen, so I could watch myself, I watched myself, didn't like looking at myself. so, then decided to take my camera to my daughter's horseback riding lessons, and started taking pictures there. And from there I was

Raymond Hatfield:

Why, what was it about, the equestrian photography that hooked you

Richard Brodowski:

I really don't know. I mean, I, I bought a Rebel XT when my daughter was born. Um. A

Raymond Hatfield:

time ago?

Richard Brodowski:

long time ago, I like taking pictures then. And I prior, to my current career, I was in law enforcement, so I used the camera, there for crime scene stuff. And just whenever I was on scene, with the fire department, I would take pictures of them working if I was just sitting there with the police car blocking traffic.

Raymond Hatfield:

I can't imagine what that memory card looks like. Full of half crime scene photos and half photos of fellow firefighters just hanging out and having a good time.

Richard Brodowski:

that, that memory card of the crime scene is long gone. Um, yeah, I just kinda lost interest. then it was just fun. I mean, the, the pictures look good. I was like, aren't half bad. then my daughter went to horse shows and started taking pictures of, her and the, and the girls at the barn and started learning more and. they're like, Hey, these are better than the official photographer that's taking pictures. And I started taking, pictures of the barrel races, at the barn and so on and so on. And then, I think it all came to head in no, that November, so just a couple months after I got my camera. the at the barn, the barn owner, who I actually knew from high school, she's an old high school friend. like, Hey, we want you to take the fall portraits. I mean, we're talking, all the girls at the barn portraits with her favorite horses. never thought about doing that. I'm like, I have never done this before. and I was kind of voluntold to do

Raymond Hatfield:

Sure. Sure.

Richard Brodowski:

so again, being a research junkie, I just jumped into it found out what I had to do. got on Facebook forums, a ton of equestrian boards, and groups and just learned and yeah, just kinda went from there.

Raymond Hatfield:

Tell me what that means. You learned what you had to do. Like, do you mean in terms of posing? Do you mean in terms of camera settings? What do you mean?

Richard Brodowski:

well, it's more of equipment'cause horses are shaped

Raymond Hatfield:

Mm-hmm.

Richard Brodowski:

differently and you have to use certain focal lengths. If you go too wide, the head is much larger than than the body. And, so all I had at the time was, I mean, I, I had the nifty 50, I had, um, a, a Tamron 28 to 200. I think it was 2, 2 8 to five six variable aperture. But really from the research it was like the 1 35 was the sweet spot. So I'm like, okay, I need to get that 1 35. So I picked up the Sigma 1 35 1 8,

Raymond Hatfield:

It hasn't left your camera since then.

Richard Brodowski:

Well, I, yeah, I mean, I picked up other lenses since then, but

Raymond Hatfield:

Yeah.

Richard Brodowski:

all of my equestrian portraits, that's my go-to. I,

Raymond Hatfield:

That's a beautiful lens. Yeah.

Richard Brodowski:

it is great. I mean, it's a little, only complaint is you have to shout. Um,

Raymond Hatfield:

Yeah. You're a little too far away.

Richard Brodowski:

you're a little, you're a little far away. but I had no clue about posing either. But thankfully the barn owner was there to help me, because I, I didn't know. I was very uncomfortable. people.

Raymond Hatfield:

because you hadn't done it before

Richard Brodowski:

never done it. Yeah. So I don't know. know what to do. And, I mean, and you're, you're opposing essentially around thousand pound animals?

Raymond Hatfield:

Yeah. Monsters. Yeah.

Richard Brodowski:

Yeah.

Raymond Hatfield:

Yeah. Yeah. I would imagine that that's difficult, especially'cause like, I mean, maybe you have more working knowledge of horses than, than what I do, but, I would think, this is an animal, how do you tell it exactly what to do and where to pose? I would, I think by default, want to move myself before having the animal move. But sometimes when light is really important, like I've seen some of your photos, like you do, you have, got this really good eye for like backlight, right? Like especially when the sun is nice and low and. I would think that that would make it very difficult in those times for you to move'cause then you could use that light. So how did you start to get over that? How did you start to, learn to pose these animals and pose their rider?

Richard Brodowski:

Well, well, I've incorporated, off-camera flash now,

Raymond Hatfield:

Beautiful.

Richard Brodowski:

yeah. So I kind of cheat now, but,

Raymond Hatfield:

That's not cheating.

Richard Brodowski:

yeah. But, early on, so that the first portrait session, I lucked out, early on. so the first I did 35 portrait sessions over two days,

Raymond Hatfield:

Wow.

Richard Brodowski:

15 minutes each.

Raymond Hatfield:

Day, day one. Yeah. That's

Richard Brodowski:

yeah,

Raymond Hatfield:

wild.

Richard Brodowski:

my very first portrait session, and I think I posted this in the Facebook group, I can't remember if I did, if I didn't, I will. was, a young lady with her five horses

Raymond Hatfield:

Wow.

Richard Brodowski:

and yeah, first thing, so five horses, and I've never done this before, so I, I had no clue. I'm

Raymond Hatfield:

Yeah.

Richard Brodowski:

and there's, now looking back at it, there's a lot of things technically wrong, but what worked in my favor was it was overcast,

Raymond Hatfield:

Mm-hmm.

Richard Brodowski:

so I didn't really have to worry about harsh light, later on during the day, yeah, there I got harsh light, later on during the day and had to make adjustments and I, I made a lot of mistakes looking back. yeah, but you learn,

Raymond Hatfield:

Yeah. Yeah. let's go a little bit deeper into that. You said that, you know, let's talk about those mistakes. When you look at those photos now, from that first session where you had to do so many portraits in, you know, your first time out, which is crazy to think about when you look at those photos, what are some of the biggest, changes that you've made in your photography as far as like improvements go.

Richard Brodowski:

Extending the session, so it's now 15 minutes anymore. So I still do the full portraits there. we've incorporated spring portraits as well. and they're usually 30, 45 minutes. We've even done an hour long portrait where we can take our time.

Raymond Hatfield:

With a single horse and rider.

Richard Brodowski:

yeah.

Raymond Hatfield:

Wow.

Richard Brodowski:

and for some of the girls that I've photographed more than once, they'll have multiple horses. So it's a process. Now. I know how they work, they know how I work, and the poses are a lot of the same poses. So it's more of the newer riders that take a little bit longer to

Raymond Hatfield:

Mm-hmm.

Richard Brodowski:

and I'm more comfortable around the horses too. Early on, I wasn't, I didn't grow up around horses. and getting comfortable around the horses and learning their mannerisms and their body language was a big thing. when can you put a girl on a horse? which horses, can you go and just move

Raymond Hatfield:

and not

Richard Brodowski:

worry about getting kicked? yeah, it's a learning process, so you kinda have to learn the, body language. it's a big safety thing too.

Raymond Hatfield:

That makes sense. Again, I don't know how much I feel like I would default a lot of that information to somebody else, especially because, well, I guess, let me ask this question. you were kind of voluntold to do this in the beginning, but a question, photography is something that is, sought after. It's something that can, you can be paid very well for. Is this something that, I guess where do you see this going? Is this something that you want to turn into a business or is you enjoying the, the weakened, warrior side of it? What do you think?

Richard Brodowski:

Yeah, I mean, right now I enjoy the, I guess the side hustle of it. makes me enough money to buy more camera stuff.

Raymond Hatfield:

Nothing wrong with that.

Richard Brodowski:

yeah. I'll say there's a lot of equestrian photographers. I don't wanna say the market is super saturated, but every barn kind of has someone with a camera, and so it's really hard to kind of break into a new barn unless you know somebody so it, it's really, it's not territorial, but it's, kind of who you know.

Raymond Hatfield:

I see. I see. So then, you're taking these portraits.

Richard Brodowski:

Mm-hmm.

Raymond Hatfield:

With the intention to, to sell them, right? Like the, the intention is not like I'm just going out, to the park and I'm gonna take some photos for my own personal pleasure. these photos are gonna be delivered to somebody.

Richard Brodowski:

Mm-hmm.

Raymond Hatfield:

So, when you had first started, what were some of the feedback that you were getting? Like, how did you know what sorts of things you needed to work on to become better at this?

Richard Brodowski:

I really didn't get too much feedback. I mean, I, I got a lot

Raymond Hatfield:

Grand Slam, knocked it outta the park first try.

Richard Brodowski:

and, and I know well, and I guess the blessing and the curse of that was I knew a lot of these parents, I knew a lot of the riders because they all rode with my daughter. They rode at the same barn. The girl with the, the five horses, she printed, 16 by 20 of one of those, pictures. And when she told me she was going to order a 16 by 20, I took it into Photoshop and blew it up to 16 by 20 to see if it would look good.'cause I, I was nervous.

Raymond Hatfield:

Yeah.

Richard Brodowski:

know if it would look good at 16 by 20. but looking at other established photographers work, I could compare myself to their work to kind of see where I needed to go and where I needed to be.

Raymond Hatfield:

Was that a challenge for you or do you think that you were pretty easy? Okay, so you look at the images of, say a professional, right, When you look at your images today and then the images of a a professional equestrian photographer, where do you think is the biggest gap between yours and their work? Like, where could you improve?

Richard Brodowski:

I think, really the setting. Maybe because, a lot of the professional work, you see a lot of the equestrian, photography and in like, the, like beautiful forest of Norway

Raymond Hatfield:

Mm-hmm.

Richard Brodowski:

along the beach. and here in, Metro Atlanta, We don't have that. I mean, unless I'm gonna travel four to six hours to the beach and we don't have the, that look of the Norwegian forest or mountainside.

Raymond Hatfield:

that be nice though?

Richard Brodowski:

it, it would be nice. I mean, they, there's some great equestrian photographers out there. I really wanna do some, some of the black background. Work that, the photographers do. and also there's, there's certain breeds of horses that, and don't quote me on it, like, like I said, I haven't grown up on around horses, there are just some beautiful horses out there that are a hundred thousand,$150,000 horses that I don't have access to.

Raymond Hatfield:

Sure, sure. Yeah. I would imagine for somebody who has invested in something like$150,000 horse, suddenly the idea of like even like a three to$5,000 portrait session is not, does not seem like an unnecessary expense, right? Like it would fit within, the budget, which is something why something like this. seems like such a great idea. but let's, let's go back a little bit. I want to talk a little bit more about, the technicals, about the learning of photography. because as we all know, you pick up the camera and if you just leave it in auto or whatever and you just start shooting, it's not gonna be creating anything amazing. You're just gonna be taking snapshots. Talk to me about the technical process of you learning photography. What did you struggle with the most?

Richard Brodowski:

I mean, your, your listeners are gonna hate me, but, the exposed triangle made sense to me.

Raymond Hatfield:

Uh, it did.

Richard Brodowski:

it

Raymond Hatfield:

Yeah.

Richard Brodowski:

now my settings were probably all outta whack. I mean, you may have, I may have been at like one, 1000th of a second and 5,000 ISO at two

Raymond Hatfield:

Oh, I see. Yeah. Yeah.

Richard Brodowski:

but, but I knew if I moved one, I had to move something else to get it properly exposed. now I did, have the advantage of, of having a mirrorless camera right off the bat.

Raymond Hatfield:

So you could see your exposure

Richard Brodowski:

I could see my exposure, but I did know that I had to move of those settings to get it properly exposed.

Raymond Hatfield:

how did you know that? Like what sorts of education were you doing?

Richard Brodowski:

university's YouTube.

Raymond Hatfield:

Yeah. Yeah. I see. okay. So then, let's, the other side of the coin there, are the things that you did struggle with?

Richard Brodowski:

Opposing people that, I

Raymond Hatfield:

Just the posing.

Richard Brodowski:

the interaction, and not, not feeling weird about it. I mentioned before, I was prior law enforcement, kind of been really of closed off and in, in the group. I mean, I don't use my last name on Facebook, my real last name'cause it's an uncommon last name.

Raymond Hatfield:

Mm-hmm.

Richard Brodowski:

from in, law enforcement, it was very easy to find me. So like, I'm trying to put myself out there more and really kind of being more extroverted with, with people and, and it's like, okay, well what's appropriate? What? What can I say? how can I tell someone to move? How can I tell someone to pose? and I guess I was being overly cautious with being appropriate with people.

Raymond Hatfield:

Would you say that that's still your biggest struggle?

Richard Brodowski:

I think so. I mean, I'm getting better with

Raymond Hatfield:

Yeah.

Richard Brodowski:

and, in learning the differences in, in posing like men and women. because I've shot with a lot of men, but not, not as much as women now. so posing men is a lot different to

Raymond Hatfield:

Are.

Richard Brodowski:

more masculine poses. Yeah.

Raymond Hatfield:

Isn't that funny? Isn't that funny how like, um, it's interesting when you look at. Portraits of say just professional headshots, of a man and a woman, how differently their bodies are, a post and how much that can really influence the feel of the photo. And I know that like once you get that down, understanding that does feel like some sort of superpower because suddenly all the things that you didn't see before that you didn't understand because it just looks natural. You suddenly realize, oh, the photographer's actually building this, and that is, that is really cool to know inside that like, you know how to do this. so I'm assuming that that's where you want to get to, right.

Richard Brodowski:

percent.

Raymond Hatfield:

So, I guess now we should kind of talk about the other side of your photography, because just by you being in the group, I've seen your equestrian photography, but I also know that you are doing some work with models. So tell me about how this came to be and what's kind of the, the goal for that. Are you trying to get into portraits or what's there?

Richard Brodowski:

yeah. So, I'll start with the goal. right now the goal is for fun. will say Atlanta has a, a incredible photography community. I kind of got started with that, by going to photo meetups there's a great, group called, a TL Shooters. I don't know how I ran across them. I I should thank the Instagram algorithm, I guess for once. Um, I think that's how I came across them. but I went to, I found one of their meetups, November of 2022, and went out there and, uh, just on a whim and was. like, okay. it was along the land belt line, which is kind of like a multi-use trail, a lot of

Raymond Hatfield:

Mm-hmm.

Richard Brodowski:

alongside the trail. and we were out there with maybe about 25 or 30 photographers

Raymond Hatfield:

Wow.

Richard Brodowski:

well, I should say 25, 30 photographers and videographers maybe about 10 models.

Raymond Hatfield:

Wow. That's a really good meetup.

Richard Brodowski:

well, that's on the small side.

Raymond Hatfield:

Geez.

Richard Brodowski:

of what the meetups were. and I was obviously one of the older ones that was out there. but it was interesting. I just, I went off with a group and a model we started shooting. I got a watch how other experienced photographers shop with models and I mean, I. If you had to do the part two, when did you know photography was gonna be an important part of your life? that would be like part two?'cause I was like, oh wow, this is, this is fun.

Raymond Hatfield:

yeah. What was different? what stood out to you so much?

Richard Brodowski:

there's more creativity I mean, there's only so much you can do with a horse. And, and, uh, well, I, and be safe, I

Raymond Hatfield:

Yeah.

Richard Brodowski:

when you're doing portraits with a horse, you have someone's child there a thousand pound animal, you can't do anything too crazy.

Raymond Hatfield:

Sure.

Richard Brodowski:

but when you have a model there and you have an environment, there's really not too much that's off limits. we go to, whenever the meetups happen, it's at a variety of different, studios and, different scenes. Sometimes it's just the plane studio where. You have, plane backdrops, occasionally there's a guy that, I guess you'd call him a professional gaffer. He owns his own company.

Raymond Hatfield:

Oh yeah.

Richard Brodowski:

he'll bring a hundred thousand dollars plus worth of lighting gear and

Raymond Hatfield:

All right. Brought, brought the small truck.

Richard Brodowski:

Yeah. And sometimes we'll have, 80 people out there.

Raymond Hatfield:

Geez.

Richard Brodowski:

at times you'll have like two to one photographer to model ratios.

Raymond Hatfield:

Wow. How cool. How cool. So, you participating in these, I wanna explore that a little bit more. So obviously, it's fun. Like it's a fun thing to do, but why go back? what is it that you're getting out of it?

Richard Brodowski:

Community. I mean, I, I think that's the main thing. everyone helps everyone. I know photography's a competitive market, but when you go to these meetups, it's everyone helps everyone. I have a little bit of gear acquisition syndrome that kind of calmed down a little bit, but I bring all my stuff and

Raymond Hatfield:

you bring like a suitcase full of stuff?

Richard Brodowski:

I, I bring my wagon, of lighting gear and V flats and everything and say, Hey, here's my wagon. If you wanna use something, just use it. Please don't break it and put it back when you're done. And because there are photographers there that are new, that don't have that stuff, and they've never got a chance to shoot with a tube LED light or V Flats, or it's like, Hey, do you have a Sony, I have a OX trigger. Do you want to, do you wanna in and, and use my strobes?

Raymond Hatfield:

Why is that so important to you to be able to do that?

Richard Brodowski:

It's just giving back. So, I mean, fortunate enough to be able to have this stuff and I know some people aren't

Raymond Hatfield:

Mm.

Richard Brodowski:

so, and it, it just helps teach people.

Raymond Hatfield:

It is hard to know what gear to buy when there's so much out there. Right. A lot of cool stuff. Yeah. I would imagine that you are the uh, or for lack of a better term, the bell of the ball when you show up with a whole wagon full of stuff.

Richard Brodowski:

I mean, not at all. I mean, there, there's still people out there that are, I mean, really the guy who organizes it

Raymond Hatfield:

Mm-hmm.

Richard Brodowski:

he's the MVP, uh, I

Raymond Hatfield:

Sure. I feel like with these meetups, one thing that, that I love every time I've participated in one is, I think first and foremost, like you said, it's the community. because when you're at home and you're looking either at your Instagram feed or you're looking at the websites of your quote unquote competitors, it feels like a competition and it feels like, Especially when you're struggling with things like bookings or whatever. if you're in the business side of it, like why can't I get the traction that these people are getting.

Richard Brodowski:

Mm-hmm.

Raymond Hatfield:

when you go and you actually meet these people in person and you can put a face to the name or a face to the website or the Instagram profile, it does feel like the community is a lot smaller. It feels like it's a lot closer together and that makes it a whole lot more enjoyable.'cause suddenly you're not just a lonely, you know, a photographer behind the camera, but now you have other people to work with. and for me. I would think, honestly, every time I've participated in one, like I take photos, but at the end of the day, like I almost don't even care about those photos.'cause to me it's usually about the community as well. but I know that obviously the photography is a very important part for, for others as well. So, I guess how do you view that, that side of it, the photography portion of it, and what are you doing, with the photos afterwards?

Richard Brodowski:

Yeah, so I mean, it's all, it's all TFP. So I deliver the photos, to all the models, afterward. because a lot of the models out there, some are aspiring models, trying to build portfolios. some are established models, through agencies. We have a lot of actors and musicians that will show up as well. I mean, my favorite, photo, which is actually, won me a, smoke genie from a, a photo contest. he's a actor, musician and, that every time he sees me he's like, Hey, come on, let's shoot. whenever he goes to these meetups.

Raymond Hatfield:

Tell me about this photo. Like how did this image come to be?

Richard Brodowski:

Yeah. So it's a wall light, it's a stereotypical, the circular wall or the circular lights, on the wall, with the black, painted black. and he's just leaning up against the wall. it was at a meetup. It was just a. A bunch of us taking pictures of them.

Raymond Hatfield:

So why do you think your image stands out?

Richard Brodowski:

really, I think it was the way I, I processed it in post. it was just a little bit different. I can't even remember how I did it or what I did. but, it is easily my be, it's my best image date. Yeah, I think I submitted it to, Kelby Won Blind Critique and did it, made his Instagram as something,

Raymond Hatfield:

Congrats.

Richard Brodowski:

Yeah. So I think I've overused it and have to retire it now.

Raymond Hatfield:

No, no, you don't. Like, there's so many people who, we always feel that so many people see our portfolio, but truly like they don't like, however many followers you have such a fraction of those people actually see the photos, like, keep using it if you love it.

Richard Brodowski:

Yeah.

Raymond Hatfield:

Post it every single day. In fact, like I, I bet people's at the end of 30 days would still be like, oh, this is a great photo.'cause it'll be the first time that they saw it. So, so what can you take from that photo? Like what elements of that photo do you think really stand out and how can you apply them to your future photos?

Richard Brodowski:

Yeah. really, I wanna say it's from the, the that kind of made me think about it differently. one, the way he was posed, he was interacting with the lights.'cause he was leaning sideways, his arm was resting on the light and he was kind of side profile shot. And it was the fact that he was interacting with the light that was kind of standing out, that was different because I mean, I, I've seen dozens of photos along those light walls, that are just, I mean, they're good, they're good photos, I'm, I don't think I've ever seen anyone like interacting with the lights themselves.

Raymond Hatfield:

Hmm. So going forward, does that mean for your work?

Richard Brodowski:

more interacting with the environment. if you're in a good spot, see how the subject can interact with the environment. and not just leave it as is. like for example, There's a scene that we were at, or a studio we were at. They had, like a money, it was like a money themed, like a bank vault. But the wallpaper was money and they had, blo bricks of money. Which are like painted blocks I mean, actually same model up the different shoot, but same model. I mean, picked up the of money and was just posing with them instead of just leaving them there as

Raymond Hatfield:

Uh, I see, When it comes to equestrian photography, what do you think that that would look like?

Richard Brodowski:

That's a little different. That old, uh, stems. It all comes down to safety.

Raymond Hatfield:

Sure.

Richard Brodowski:

So, really it'd be safety. I mean, like the most, elaborate equestrian portrait that I've taken was one of my daughter. it ended up being like a five light setup at night. she had like a nice dress on, smoke machine and everything. I couldn't really interact with the environment too much. But it was different. So you really, it's experimenting with light, I think would be the best. and really again, it comes down to the horse. make sure the horse doesn't spook.'cause again, a thousand pound animal,

Raymond Hatfield:

You don't want that.

Richard Brodowski:

You don't want that. and everything had to come together'cause I had to guess where everything was because if I tried to adjust mid shoot, if the horse spooked. It would knock over all my lights and if we

Raymond Hatfield:

be a bad day. Yeah, it'd be a bad day to be a photographer.

Richard Brodowski:

would've been a waste. so I lucked out and guessed right. so we shot, we took minutes, got bunch of shots off and yeah. Called it a day. So I, I think experimenting with it, with light and, scenery, but not really interacting would

Raymond Hatfield:

I gotcha.

Richard Brodowski:

Yeah.

Raymond Hatfield:

where do you get the time and the space to practice with? Five lights. I mean, a lot of the people in the beginner photography podcast Facebook group would think just getting into flash and one light is an overwhelming idea. Tell me how you get to the point to where now you're using five I.

Richard Brodowski:

I see something in my head. And think I know how it's supposed to work. and I test with people, so I mean, she's out there for, lessons. I'll bring my lights out and like, I'll know how like two of the lights were LEDs, I know how the LEDs are gonna behave. I'll bring my strobes out during her lessons and while she's doing her lessons, I'm setting up and again, I know, I know the riders there. It's like, you come stand here really quick. And it's like, okay, nope. take five steps back. Okay. I know this is about where, they need to be standing for this to. Possibly work,

Raymond Hatfield:

When it comes to, light, like I said, it can be, complicated. It can be hard for a lot of people to wrap their heads around. If you could go back to, that first session where you were voluntold, that you had to do it. If you could go back and tell that version of Richard one thing about light, like what piece of advice would you give?

Richard Brodowski:

Do not face the subject and the horse toward the harsh sunlight

Raymond Hatfield:

Hmm.

Richard Brodowski:

clouds disappeared. my biggest regret about that shoot was, as the afternoon session was ending, all the clouds disappeared. And the final shoot the first afternoon, I had no clue what to do because

Raymond Hatfield:

Right, right.

Richard Brodowski:

a cloud in the sky it was, it was noon. And it was either back lit and her face would've been full shade or face, the sun and her face would've been lit.

Raymond Hatfield:

Mm-hmm.

Richard Brodowski:

And I, I faced her toward the sun.

Raymond Hatfield:

And when, when you think about those photos, those photos, you're not happy with.

Richard Brodowski:

Oh, no, not at all.

Raymond Hatfield:

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. That's another one of those hard lessons that you gotta learn. And one of the, the hardest parts about it is that you can look at examples on YouTube, you can look at examples, on a screen or whatever. But until you're in that situation, it's so hard to comprehend because kind of like you had said there, at times you could feel helpless. You're like, what do I do? Like I can't just block the sun, you know? the clouds are really helpful here. Now in that situation, if you could go back to that, What would you have done differently? You would've turned him around.

Richard Brodowski:

so there's a path a little bit further away. I would've just moved him to that path. It's in full shade. and I would've, used masking in Lightroom and. And increased the exposure. It wouldn't have looked great, but it would've looked better.

Raymond Hatfield:

Right, right. When it comes to, and I'm asking this because you talked about YouTube University, I know that you're in, the group as well. You obviously listen to the podcast. So you take in education. what does it take for you to take what it is that you hear and. Actually apply it. Like do you set up a time to work on one specific thing at a time and see how you can grow, or, or what would you say is, is that path for you?

Richard Brodowski:

I have to credit the meetups a lot. Really just saying, Hey, I, I remember seeing this and let's try it. and, actually, the young lady with the five horses, she's trying to grow her portfolio, so she's always, I wanna try something. She's always down to shoot and it's like, Hey, I saw this. Do you wanna go shoot? she'd be like, okay.

Raymond Hatfield:

Yeah.

Richard Brodowski:

So, but sometimes, I mean, sometimes I'll go weeks without shooting and it, me. I mean, I have a day job, so day job and family, and that comes first.

Raymond Hatfield:

Comes first. Yeah. what do you. Thinking about right now, What is the next thing that you want to work on?

Richard Brodowski:

Oh, there's so much. I have a studio shoot planned. well, well in advance, not anytime soon. I'm, do some black and white studio shoots. I really haven't had a chance to do that, where I can actually sit and take my time. one of the downsides of the photo meetups is. It's boom, boom, boom. It is. it's fast paced. You may have 10 minutes with a model, and then another photographer's, vying for her attention and you move on. but I really want to take some time and do some, like Peter Lindbergh type and white some. Yeah. And which takes some planning. And, I think that's next on the horizon.

Raymond Hatfield:

In what way? In what ways are you planning?

Richard Brodowski:

I'm big into tech, so I, I work in tech industry now. I like using technology. I use the program called Satellite 3D.

Raymond Hatfield:

Oh, what is that?

Richard Brodowski:

so essentially has 3D models and you, set up, you can set up lighting in there and it actually. you what the lighting will look like

Raymond Hatfield:

Really.

Richard Brodowski:

and yeah, and you set the power, lighting power and everything. and that way you could pre-set up your light, you could pre-set up your lighting setups and print'em out before you actually get there.

Raymond Hatfield:

You said that set a light

Richard Brodowski:

yeah, set a light 3D.

Raymond Hatfield:

is that like a, an application to download or is that web-based?

Richard Brodowski:

do you have to download it? it's

Raymond Hatfield:

Oh.

Richard Brodowski:

to pay for it and download it?

Raymond Hatfield:

Mm-hmm.

Richard Brodowski:

I picked it up. I picked it up on a Black Friday sale a couple years ago.

Raymond Hatfield:

yeah, talk to me about that for a minute.'cause that seems like how helpful is this as a, is it more overwhelming to use the tech than it is beneficial as a teaching tool? Does that question make sense?

Richard Brodowski:

No, I mean it really, the overwhelming part is learning it. It's not the most user friendly program, but

Raymond Hatfield:

Uh huh.

Richard Brodowski:

it down, it is incredibly helpful. you can go in and set your light. let's say you're using a single, single light setup and you angle it camera right, slightly above head level, angle down how, and you, you have it at like three quarters power and you can put in like the Gold Docs 8,600 Pro

Raymond Hatfield:

Mm-hmm. So it knows.

Richard Brodowski:

Yeah.

Raymond Hatfield:

Yeah.

Richard Brodowski:

it knows, and it, and you actually put in a model of a a 3D model of a person. And it hits the subject and you're like, okay, this is what it's probably gonna look like at full power.

Raymond Hatfield:

Mm.

Richard Brodowski:

I can't use it at full power. Let me

Raymond Hatfield:

Yeah.

Richard Brodowski:

to half power. Okay, that's still too strong. Okay. Three quarter power, or not three quarter power, but quarter power.

Raymond Hatfield:

Mm-hmm.

Richard Brodowski:

Okay. that looks about right now. Will it be a hundred percent? No. But you know, that's a starting place. So

Raymond Hatfield:

Sure.

Richard Brodowski:

your shoot. can go there and set it at a quarter power, and if you're not using light meter, you can, make small adjustments.

Raymond Hatfield:

That is very cool. I am gonna have to look into that. yeah.'cause I would imagine if your time is limited with a model, and obviously the goal is. Production right to get a number of looks and a number of images, to them. you want to be as efficient as possible, and it's hard to practice without somebody right in front of you. So to have this, seems like a pretty cool tool to be able to test that out. I'm definitely gonna check that out. So I appreciate the, uh, the recommendation there. That's awesome.

Richard Brodowski:

anytime.

Raymond Hatfield:

Yeah. I wanna ask about the Beginner Photography podcast a little bit. Tell me how did you find the podcast and how did you find the group?

Richard Brodowski:

I probably found the podcast like everyone else does, and just typing in photography podcast, I think initially because I, I started in 2021, and I don't think I started listening until later in 2021, probably early 2022, because I didn't think there would be any photography podcast because it's a visual art form.

Raymond Hatfield:

I know right.

Richard Brodowski:

And then. I was looking to listen to something and, tired of the typical podcasts that were out there. And, it was like, oh, wait a sec. And, and I think I came across, an interview, wanna say it was a Seth Miranda interview.

Raymond Hatfield:

Oh, he's great.

Richard Brodowski:

Yeah. and then I was like, oh. I guess there are photography podcasts out there. And then I just, I started listening to all the interviews that you did, just going through and I've discovered so many great photographers from the interview. I mean, like Johnny Edward,

Raymond Hatfield:

Oh yeah.

Richard Brodowski:

yeah. I mean, I didn't know he existed until your interview and now like, he's one of my favorite photographers and, yeah.

Raymond Hatfield:

It is so hard when you're just like scrolling Instagram or something. You just almost are at the, the will of the algorithm of who is gonna show up. So being able to have another place like a podcast, that is how I've found some of my favorite photographers as well. Just hearing them on other podcasts and hearing.'cause it, there's always so much more after an image, right? Like, you can look at the images and have an idea and say, I visually like this. But when you get an idea of who that person is and why they're shooting the way that they're shooting, I love that so much. It is so great. It is so great. so then when did you come into the group and I guess why

Richard Brodowski:

maybe it was 2022. because I, I, I went back and looked at my first post, prior to this interview I was looking for, I guess, a, a non-toxic place to share images. because I was in, a beginner, group that where yeah, it was pretty nasty. or it wasn't helpful at all, I wanted somewhere where it's like, hey, I could share my knowledge, or that I've found, or somebody else could impart their knowledge on me, or I can get honest feedback if I post something and. I have thick skin. If something's bad, me it's bad. Tell me how, how I can improve. and there, I haven't found any place else like that.

Raymond Hatfield:

Really the Beginner Photography podcast group has been one of your favorite places to participate on Facebook?

Richard Brodowski:

Oh, yeah, definitely. Um, and algorithms, it's fallen off, but I've made a point to physically go there.

Raymond Hatfield:

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Richard Brodowski:

to make sure I, I participate. and that way the more I participate, the more likely it's gonna show up in my feed,

Raymond Hatfield:

Right.

Richard Brodowski:

organically. And that way I don't have to, I'm not missing anything.

Raymond Hatfield:

Yeah, you're taking the action to make sure that you get the content that it is, that you want to see. That can be hard. when Facebook can be just so passive by just allowing it to show you whatever. is there something that you've learned inside the group, that maybe you've taken and put to work in your own photography that's made a difference?

Richard Brodowski:

Yeah. I think, Jim's latest post, about his, uh, what did he call it?

Raymond Hatfield:

Uh, it was like, yeah, I forgot what the word was, but I thought it Right, right. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Richard Brodowski:

Yeah, I didn't know what a content day was.

Raymond Hatfield:

Neither did I.

Richard Brodowski:

and that seems interesting. it's like a meetup, but it's more selective and they bring'em, hair and makeup artists and it's more controlled than a meetup. the thoughts were the, how he approached his shoots there. So I thought that was really interesting.

Raymond Hatfield:

Yeah. Yeah, I agree. I saw that and I thought that was pretty cool. is that something that you would try to bring to your, your meetups?

Richard Brodowski:

possibly, I mean I know we've had stylists, show up and hair and makeup artists, show up before. I know it's more, I think we're just, that meetup particular is too large at this point

Raymond Hatfield:

Hmm.

Richard Brodowski:

to incorporate something like that. There are other meetup groups, that wanted to try, but just schedules haven't aligned, that are a little bit smaller and more, controlled

Raymond Hatfield:

why not start your own

Richard Brodowski:

time.

Raymond Hatfield:

Mm damn time. Always time.

Richard Brodowski:

time.

Raymond Hatfield:

Yeah. Yeah. It is nice when it's already taken care of for you and all you gotta do is just show up.'cause I would imagine it's a lot of moving pieces to get all the people together. Obviously a location, as well as the models and then.

Richard Brodowski:

Mm-hmm.

Raymond Hatfield:

and makeup or, or styling as well. So I totally get that. But, um. Yeah. Yeah. I, I saw Jim's post. I thought that was a really cool idea as well. the content day. That was interesting. well, Richard, I gotta say, we are at the end of our time and this flew by, like, I was not expecting this to go as, as quick as it did, but, I know that we can find you in the group, but for those who are listening, and wondering where else they can find you, where they can see more of your work, why don't you share with them, where they can do so?

Richard Brodowski:

Yeah. I am Barn 33 photography on Instagram and Facebook, and barn 33 photography.com. so feel free to reach out. I answer dms, so, just gimme a moment.'cause like I said, I have a day job.

Raymond Hatfield:

Yeah, time.

Richard Brodowski:

Yep. Time. so if you have any questions or you wanna chat, just let me know.

Raymond Hatfield:

Perfect. Well, Richard, man, I gotta say, thank you not only for taking the time to be here, but, thank you for being a contributing member of the community. Obviously, I went back and looked at your post and what I like about you is that you don't just post an image and say, what do you think? You share a lesson with almost every post that you create. And I can tell that you're coming at this, genuinely trying to help others through the knowledge that you have, found yourself. So again, man, thank you so much.

Richard Brodowski:

Well, I appreciate it and, and it's truly an honor. Thank you.

Raymond Hatfield:

Huge, huge, huge thank you to our own Richard for sharing his journey with us today. I got one action item that I want you to take away from today's interview. And that is to make one connection with a local photographer. Richard spent a lot of time talking about how beneficial these meetups are for him. Being able to meet up with others, being able to talk in person, being able to see how others shoot is a huge help. So if you are friends with a local photographer on either Facebook or Instagram, great. if you're not, then I want you to search Instagram for the hashtag something like your city photographer. Find somebody whose work that you like, add them as a friend, and then shoot them a message. Ask them if they want to meet up, see if they're part of any photographs themselves, and just start a connection, start a friendship. You don't have to learn photography alone. Honestly, you live in like a really small town or you would just feel more comfortable again, we would love to have you in the free and amazing beginner photography podcast community as well, which again, you can join by heading over to beginner photopod. com forward slash group, make one connection. That's your action item today. That's all you got to do. Make one connection with a local photographer. That's it for today until next time. Remember the more that you shoot today, the better of a photographer. You will be tomorrow. Talk soon.