Photographic Connections
Photographic Connections
Ep50 - Cody Schultz: Slowing Down and Connecting With Nature Through Large Format Photography
Join Kim Grant as she speaks with Cody Schultz, an American photographer with a love for black and white large format photography. Cody shares his journey into photography and how he was deeply inspired by other photographers, such as Ben Horne and Simon Baxter. He discusses his connection with nature and interest in black and white photography, as well as the challenges and rewards it brings. He also talks about his transition to large format photography and the impact it had on his creative process, before ending by emphasising the healing power of nature photography.
Topics covered
- Photography can serve as a powerful creative outlet during difficult times.
- Connecting with nature can provide healing and inspiration for photographers.
- Black and white photography offers unique challenges and opportunities for creative expression.
- Transitioning to large format photography can slow down the creative process and deepen the connection with the subject matter.
- Reaching out to others and building genuine connections can lead to unexpected opportunities and collaborations.
- Creating a community and sharing resources can enhance the photography experience for both creators and viewers.
- Nature has a profound healing power that should be appreciated and prioritized in photography.
- The future of photography should focus on authenticity, genuine connections, and a slower, more intentional approach.
- Taking risks and reaching out to others can lead to personal and professional growth in the photography world.
Connect with Cody
Website: codyschultz.com
Nature Photographers Network: naturephotographers.network
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Website: https://www.photographicconnections.com/
5 Senses Activation: https://www.photographicconnections.com/five-senses-activation
Immersive Photography Weekends in Scotland:
https://www.photographicconnections.com/photographyweekends
Follow the journey
Instagram: http:/www.instagram.com/photographicconnections
Follow Kim's photography journey and offerings
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/@kimgrantphotography
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/kimgrantphotography
Music by Mark Robinson
Song: A Thousand Lifetimes
Website: http:/www.markrobinsonmusic.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MarkRobinsonMusic
Kim (00:00.11)
Well, welcome to episode 50 of the Photographic Connections podcast. Episode 50, can you believe it? I didn't quite realize the significance of this milestone until Julian Baird left a lovely comment on the last podcast episodes to say, wow, next episode's episode 50. And then it just kind of hit me. It is. What a fantastic milestone. Before I introduce today's guests, I just wanted to say thank you for listening to this podcast over the past year.
It's been such an incredible journey and one that I've thoroughly enjoyed being a part of and creating. So thank you so much for your support over the last 50 episodes. Now, for those of you who listen to podcasts regularly, you're probably aware that most podcast hosts will do their podcasts in series. And I wasn't intending for this to be a series type thing. I was going to continue releasing one episode a week. But to be honest, I've been feeling a little bit burnt out the last few weeks. And with us now coming up,
to the year anniversary as well as this being episode 50, I thought it would be a nice time to take a little break. And by a little break, I just mean taking a few weeks off so I can rest and recuperate as I prepare for some things that are happening mid -month, such as going down to Birmingham to speak at the photography and video show and also do the last bits of preparation for the beginning of this year's Immersive Photography Weekends. So I feel it's a good time, you know, to take that break. But don't worry.
I have a number of episodes already recorded with some fantastic photographers with very inspiring stories from around the world that I fully intend to edit and release in the very near future. I think this break will be nice for us all. For those of you who are new to the podcast, it will give you an opportunity to catch up on any episodes you may have missed. And for those of you who have been here since day one, it will give you a chance to think about...
everything you've learned over this past year and all the incredible inspiring stories that you've heard. It just gives us all a chance, doesn't it, to take that little bit of a break, a bit of breathing space so we can come back with renewed energy in the very near future. So thank you for listening to the last 50 episodes and I'm really excited to see where the next 50 take us. So with that in mind, let me introduce the final guest of season one of the Photographic Connections podcast.
Kim (02:22.03)
I would get five minutes into it and I'd just say, how could you do this? Landscapes are boring. They're just, there's nothing exciting about them. There's no connection there. And then all of a sudden something just clicked in me and I don't, I really can't think of what exactly it was, but right between 2016 and 17, something clicked in my head. I'm like, wait a minute, like no.
There's so much here to be explored and so much to learn from nature that we can't necessarily learn from each other or any other type of photography. Hello and welcome to episode 50 of the Photographic Connections podcast. My name is Kim Grant, the founder of Photographic Connections, and this week it gives me great pleasure to welcome Caldy Schultz onto the podcast.
Cody is an American photographer who does explicitly large format black and white photography. He loves the slow process that this brings him and he also finds that this process is fantastic at helping to slow him down and connect him with nature, which in turn really helps him with his battles with depression and anxiety. Cody's story is really inspiring in many respects because he literally will go after whatever he wants in life.
If he has an idea, he will reach out to whoever he thinks may be able to help him make that dream a reality. Or he may be able to support in their own projects. I feel he's got a very interesting future ahead of him and some beautiful thought provoking stories to share with us today. So without further ado, please join me in welcoming Cody Schulz.
Kim (04:08.75)
Hi Cody, thank you so much for coming on the podcast this week. Yeah, thank you for having me. I firstly want to say a huge thank you to you for reaching out to me and letting me know about what you do. I really feel some of what you're going to share today will be of great benefit to the listeners. So I'm really looking forward to diving into those things. But before we do, I wondered if you could go back to the beginning of your journey and share the story of what got you into photography in the first place. Yeah, I mean...
So I started with photography back in, let's see, June of 2014. It really came at a time where I needed a creative outlet. I was going through a lot. I was in freshman year of high school and I was just recently diagnosed with depression and anxiety and I needed some sort of way to deal with all the negative emotions that I was going through. So I kind of
I had a little bit of past experience with photography, not much, a class or two, something just that I was thrown into and decided to go out, bought my first DSLR and initially started playing around with portraits. But then I realized that teenagers are notoriously unreliable for subject matter and for getting together for any of that kind of stuff. They are.
particularly self -conscious individuals. And so I turned to nature, and which trees really don't talk back to you and they're always around. So that turned out to be much better for me. And yeah, that's really my start of everything and I've just grown since then.
That's brilliant. And what do you think it was? I mean, you'd mentioned there, of course, that the trees don't talk back to you. So it almost seemed like a natural subject maybe to go into nature. But did you have any connection with nature when you were a child or was it something that you discovered through this period of your life? I've absolutely had a connection with nature since I was very young. I'm very fortunate that my family bought property up in northern Pennsylvania, where we're living here.
Kim (06:24.014)
it back in the 19 late 1980s, I think that it was. And it was really just so my my family owns their own little business for repairing like frigerators and appliances, household appliances. And my grandparents wanted a place where they could get away for the weekend. Wasn't too far from the house. They could leave on a Saturday and spend the Saturday Sunday.
and then come home. And so they found property about 100 acres up north. And I grew up there in a sense. I mean, we spent like that was where I spent all my vacations. That's where I learned to ride dirt bikes and to hunt and to fish and do all this outdoor activity. And really what it comes down to is it's where I learned to appreciate nature for what it is and to sort of find the healing power in it. So.
That was definitely something that it's a place that I've continued to go back to and learn more about not only myself, but it's about nature. It's really nice that you had that connection from a young age. I find from a number of people I speak to that it almost seems natural if you were brought up in nature to keep that connection going throughout your life and to particularly turn to it when you really are maybe struggling with something in life, which...
I guess we all go through our ups and downs. So it's really good that when you were a teenager, you were able to connect with that and get out into nature a little bit more and, I guess, develop a deeper connection to it through photography. And you said you'd kind of had a little bit of experience with photography growing up, you know, before your mental health struggles. But I guess what do you think it is about photography compared to any other creative form that interested you so much? I think it...
In truth, I think it was just one of those things that like, it's so easy to pick up a camera and learn, which isn't saying anything to take away from it. But when it comes to like drawing or painting or anything, it takes a lot of time to learn those techniques to get a grasp on all of those concepts. But with a camera, I mean, we see it every day. The number of people who go on with their phones and take beautiful pictures.
Kim (08:48.59)
It's not something that has a very major learning curve. It's not until later on with it that you need to start learning more about creative vision and that kind of thing. So the techniques around it are relatively easy to learn, especially these days with YouTube tutorials and the like. And so for me, it was just something that I could pick up, I could start playing around with. And in a sense, it kind of came naturally to me.
I definitely resonate with that. I think photography is so accessible and we also have the choice, don't we, about how much we delve into it. You know, many people will simply just take photographs on their phones and then maybe start doing something more creative with them. And equally, there's thousands of people that want to take things further and learn all the techniques. But the beautiful thing, I think, is that
no matter what your interests are and no matter how much you want to learn about the different forms of photography, you know, it is accessible to everybody, as you say, and I know black and white photography is for your main interests. So what do you think it is about black and white compared to coloured photos? So the my whole beginning with black and white started in 2017 and it started as a sort of like a New Year's resolution, like a challenge to myself.
I wanted to just kind of... I'd always struggled with color photography for one reason or another. Nothing really turned out exactly how I wanted it to. And so I just took on this challenge and I said, I'm gonna, for as long as I can this year, I'm just gonna photograph strictly in black and white. And for one reason or another, it stuck around. And I'm not quite sure exactly if there's anything...
particular about black and white that draws me to it more than what color does. Perhaps the there's more of a reliance on tonality on texture than there is on subjects just screaming at you because they're pretty and colorful. It's much more of a challenge and has remained as such because you can't rely on the say fall colors to
Kim (11:10.478)
carry the image. You have to be relying on so many other different things with it. And I've just enjoyed working with that. And even, what is it now, seven years later, it's still just as difficult for me as it was in the beginning. And I just, for one reason or another, I just love that.
It's really interesting. When I speak to people who enjoy black and white photography particularly, I think everyone, of course, has got their own story and their own take on things. And some people say black and white photography to them simplifies things, you know, because you're stripping away the colour, you've got one less thing to think about and you're focusing more on the textures and the patterns and that contrast and that highlights. Whereas other people like yourself have almost said it's a bit more challenging, which is quite interesting because...
I guess maybe that challenge is what keeps your passion for it alive. Yeah, I definitely agree with that. And it does, I would agree with the others that it does simplify things, but especially because you can, you have a lot more latitude when it comes to editing the work or when it comes to the type of work that you can create because black and white is already an abstraction. So you can go much further with your edits and play around with the image a lot.
a lot more than you would be able to with color because people aren't going to look at a black and white image and say, oh, that's not realistic. Oh, the sky wasn't that deep of a blue or et cetera, because it's already not realistic. We already don't see that way. So it's tough for most people to realize yes or no to something like that.
That's one of the things I love about photography is the fact that it can change our perspective on the world and allow us to see different things. Because no matter what form of photography you like, whether it's black and white, whether it's macro, whether it's zooming into things, we get to see different perspectives of the world that we can't easily see with the human eye, which allows us to delve into different places, to see more, to uncover more, and especially a form like black and white.
Kim (13:28.364)
You know, I'd never thought about the editing side, the beauty of the editing side of black and white imagery and being able to push things more to extremes and to limits and to replay around more until I spoke to a photographer called Adrian Beasley last year, who does explicitly black and white as well. And he spoke about that too, because the editing is what he loves so much. So I guess you get as much enjoyment out of what you do at home on the computer as what you do when you're out there in nature. Yeah, I mean,
For me, I try to stay away from the computer. In 2019, I went away from digital photography because I found that I was taking far too many pictures of lackluster subjects. I wasn't really focused. I still had that beginner's mindset, whereas I'm going to photograph everything and anything in nature and not really focus on anything in particular.
And so I started playing around with large format photography, mainly inspired by a photographer who I do a podcast with, Ben Horn. And it slowed me down massively, which is like the stereotype for when you get into film. It's like, oh, it's all about the process and it's all about slowing down and all of that. But it really was for me. And I began seeing my subject matter differently.
And it also helped because I wasn't sat in front of the computer for hours calling through hundreds of photographs from a weekend trip. It was more I would get home from a trip and I'd develop the three or four photos that I had taken and out of those maybe two or three would be like keepers, be worthy of being in the portfolio. And that majorly helped with my vision for photography.
And with my mental health too, because staring at a computer screen, staring at a screen all day long is not exactly the most beneficial thing in the world. It's much better for me to be out in nature as much as I can be. So as much as I enjoy the editing process and being able to play around with these images to extremes, it's much more for me about getting
Kim (15:54.382)
everything as close as I can in camera and then making my life as simple as possible on a computer. I love hearing everybody's process and how it's all so different because, you know, while, as we said, you know, with black and white, you can do so much in editing. I love that you have stripped things back quite a lot there so that you are only maybe working on a handful of images rather than, like you say, hundreds of images like you were with digital.
Who was it or what was it that introduced you to the medium format style of photography? So it was Ben Horn who kind of introduced everything to me and the power of large format. He's been, he was one of the first YouTube landscape photographers kind of sharing his journey on there with using his eight by 10 and.
Yeah, I mean, at first I thought his videos were beyond boring and slow. But I've since come to really enjoy that methodical process, that more thought out way of working and have really resonated with it. So he introduced me to working with large format film and what it brings to the table that digital didn't at the time.
It's really interesting something you said there about how you find his videos quite boring and very slow in the beginning and how you've almost shifted, well quite considerably shifted your mindset now. I think there's a good words of wisdom there and showing that we're always growing and evolving, you know, and in life sometimes something that, you know, a few months ago or a few years ago just, we were just like, no, that's just not of interest to me.
you know, as we grow and evolve, suddenly the things that we once found boring and disinteresting can become much more exciting than the thing that we end up pursuing. And we can say that for all aspects of our life, but it was just really interesting to hear you say that about, about his style and about medium format and how now it's, you know, all you photograph with. Yeah. I mean, what's right along those lines too is so before
Kim (18:15.694)
When I first started out with photography, from about 2014 to 2016, if I have my years right there, I was all about portraits and focused on that. And anytime that I try to watch his videos or the videos of other landscape photographers that were coming onto the scene on YouTube, I just, I would get five minutes into it and I'd just say, how could you do this? Landscapes are boring. They're just...
There's nothing exciting about them. There's no connection there. And then all of a sudden something just clicked in me and I don't I really can't think of what exactly it was, but right between 2016 and 17, something clicked in my head. I'm like, wait a minute. Like, no, there's so much here to be explored and so much to learn from nature that we can't necessarily learn from.
each other or any other type of photography. And I've had a number of those experiences over the years since just learning more and more about my local woodlands and nature that is close to me and close to my heart now. Like I, when I first started out, I was all about waterfalls to the point where anyone I brought with me would be like, why are you constantly going to waterfalls when they are the same exact thing?
over and over again. And then I started looking at the trees and seeing the more intimate details in the woodlands. And again, something clicked that has stuck with me ever since then that is just again learning more about the local subjects where I no longer feel the need to go out west to Colorado or
any of these magnificent places in the US or fly out to Iceland or to Patagonia to find subjects. I'd much rather stay in my little niche that I've built up of photographing the woods and the leaves and the ice and that kind of deal because of having built that personal connection that I've since forged in a sense. So it...
Kim (20:42.414)
It definitely is amazing how we are able to change and to grow so rapidly, but it can often feel like a very slow process at the same time. It can, but it's always interesting, isn't it, to look back. And I think what's really interesting about that is, you know, quite often in life, if we come across something that we find boring or disinteresting, we'll just switch off and get on with our lives and do the things that we're interested in. But...
It's really interesting that despite you seeing these videos from people like Ben and Thomas Heaton and everybody else that does the landscape stuff, you just kept coming back to them for some reason. Even though you were finding them boring, it's almost like you were curious. You wanted to learn more. There was something inside of you that was maybe yearning potentially to get back to that connection to nature that you had as a child, but you maybe didn't quite deepen it enough. And suddenly photography gave you that gift. And...
I think it really shows the power of those who are creating content online and doing the things that they love, how it can shift minds. You know, if people are doing something positive, how it can shift people's minds and open them up to things. And now having this love for your local area, it's almost like, as you say, you don't have to fork out to travel to these grand places. It's like it's on your doorstep, which means you can access it whenever you want. Yeah. I mean, in particular, that was Simon Baxter that
majorly changed that mindset of mine just because seeing him take away these magnificent photographs of his local woodlands and the fact that he so infrequently traveled anywhere else and it just it was something it is it is something that has continued to inspire me to find the small parks around me that are within
a 30 minute to an hour long drive that I am able to glean something more from that I wouldn't have been able to last year, let alone 10 years ago. Yeah, it's fantastic. I love it when we can open up to those worlds. And I guess the more time we can get out and explore our local area, the more time we're actually practicing photography and you're getting that nature time, which you love so much.
Kim (23:00.654)
You'd mentioned that you do a podcast with Ben Horn and it's called Creative Banter, isn't it? So how did that come about? So that came about...
Let's see when it was. So I graduated from my master's in 2023. We had been doing it a year at that point. So it was 2022, around May of 2022, I want to say. I had been taking a class in college for...
It was some multimedia sort of class. And one of the assignments was to create a website or to create a podcast or YouTube video series. We had to do some work in that realm of things. And I wanted to try something different. I wanted to give myself a little bit of a challenge because I, of course, already had my website built. So the last thing that I needed was to play around on Squarespace even more and
build another website that I didn't need. It kind of felt like cheating a little bit too much because I had that prior experience. And so I decided I'm going to try making a podcast. I hated the sound of my voice. I couldn't stand editing any of that stuff. I really wasn't much a fan of talking about anything to anyone else, especially strangers, somebody that I wasn't really comfortable or familiar with.
But I reached out to Ben because him and I have had a ongoing relationship since I found his YouTube series back in 2016 or 17. A couple email exchanges and all of that. And I reached out to him and I just pretty much said, hey, I have this idea. I need to do this assignment for class. Would you at least entertain doing it? Because he had, I think the year prior to this,
Kim (25:01.582)
He had mentioned about possibly doing his own podcast as well. Something focused kind of like how we are now, less on interviewing others, more on the creative side of things. And initially he was kind of like, yeah, we'll give it a shot. We'll see, like, because I need it for this assignment about three episodes. And so he said, we'll give it a shot. We'll see what happens. But I don't really know that it's going to stick. I don't know that.
I have the time for this. And so I'm like, OK, that's fine. We recorded the three episodes. And again, just like in past experience, things just clicked. And we have been going at it ever since that, recording pretty much every week and for the past going on two years now. Again, focused on that slow growth of things and just going with the flow of everything.
I can't say that it's something that we will continue to do forever, but him and I have both gained so much from those weekly talks because now it's just like talking to a friend of, hey, how has XYZ project been going for you and how are our thoughts evolving? And it's been great just for that aspect alone. Wow. That is amazing. You know, there's two things there, Cody. There's firstly the thing about how
you really push yourself to do things that you're uncomfortable with. Whether it's delving into the world of nature photography because you thought it was boring and now you love it. Whether it was recording this podcast because you hate the sound of your own voice and you knew it would be a challenge. Because often the things that make us uncomfortable in life are the things that we're maybe self -conscious about or have low self -esteem over.
They're often the things that we shy away from, but actually when we go towards them and really try and work through them, that's where often the growth happens. And secondly, I think it's incredible that you felt confident enough to reach out to, you know, we're all human. I don't see anybody as being well known or this, that and the next thing. We're all human beings. But I think it's fantastic that you in college felt able to reach out to Ben and just say, hey,
Kim (27:20.236)
you know, would you be interested in doing this? And it's a bit like what you did with this podcast as well. You know, you've reached out to me. It's almost like you have this ability to just put what you want out there and just see what happens, you know? And it really shows that if we want to do something or we have a drive to do something, sometimes we just have to ask and you never know what may come our way. I mean, that was really sparked by, so a couple of years ago, I,
A couple years ago, I got into a conversation, a real brief one with another landscape photographer. And it wasn't necessarily the most friendly conversation, but it was nonetheless a conversation that he ended up telling me to just continue doing my work and to that things will come to me. That by putting out my work, putting my work out into the world,
things will eventually happen for me. That just didn't sit right for me. It didn't make sense as to knowing what little I did of how the world works, something there didn't add up. And so I've since kind of taken the opposite approach. I have reached out to different people for various reasons and sometimes I've gotten responses, sometimes I haven't. Sometimes things have...
great things have come out of it, and other times not. But the number of times where amazing connections have been made, like this one with Ben, like the connection that I made with David Kingham over at Nature Photographers Network, where we have now built this online quarterly magazine that neither of us could have imagined building, there is such a power in...
I mean, an email is so easy to send. Like, just take the risk. The worst thing that they can do is, on the receiving end, is ignore it or say, hey, no thanks. Like, there's no harm in trying. And so I encourage anyone to reach out to the people who inspire you, to reach out for opportunities such as this podcast, and see what happens. Because, again, there's really no harm in trying any of this. Yeah.
Kim (29:46.19)
It's very true, you know, it's about getting that balance right, isn't it? Of just putting the right things out there and seeing what comes. But you also have to have that incentive to actually go after the things that you want to do. And you never know, as you say, what opportunity will come out of it. And yeah, you're quite right there. You know, the worst thing that will happen is you'll be ignored or you'll get a no. But even then, it's not the end of the world. You just don't know what opportunities could come your way by simply asking a very quick question.
It's amazing. I just think there's something really deep in that that some people will find of some inspiration, you know, and you never know who's going to say yes to you. And like I said earlier, we're all human beings. Like I don't see anybody as being like, you know, people say all these well -known photographers and stuff, you know, and how do you feel like for me reaching out to certain people for the podcast? And I'm like, well, they're just fellow human beings, you know, they're no different to me. They're no different to you, you know, and...
Yeah, the worst thing they can say is no, but then you just ask other people and you never know where that'll take you. Yeah, and you'd mentioned there about your connection with creating the Nature's Photographers Network and the magazine there. So I wondered if you could delve a little bit deeper into this, because I know you've also got a community connected with this project as well, don't you? Yeah, we do. So right around the same time that I reached out to Ben for...
making this podcast for making creative banter. A little bit prior, I had to do a sort of, I think it was a, it was a study on a community that we were able to choose whether it was in person or online. And this was for a different class that I was taking. But nonetheless, I decided to check out Nature Photographers Network, which originally came to the scene, I think it was in the 90s.
And then it was revitalized when David Kingham and Jennifer Renwick bought it in 2018. And so I started looking at the network, the community, and to be honest, I've told David this before too. It just seemed dead. It just, it didn't seem like it was as popular as it could have been or as it should be. And...
Kim (32:09.23)
I interviewed both Ben and one other community member for this paper that I had to write, just asking what their perceptions of it was, why they thought it might not be as revitalized as it could have been at the time, and the sort of impact that social media has had on such a community, a forum -based community as this.
and submitted that paper, didn't really think much of it. I think around that same time I sent an article of my own to be published on the site just to make a little bit of money. And then around May or so I reached out to David and I was just with the simple question of, is there anything that I can do to help? Because this seems like a great resource for photographers of all ages, of all experience levels.
And it's a shame that in 2018, they had been putting out so many monthly articles and it really seemed to be alive. And then since then, it kind of dwindled down a little bit when I reached out and he was like, yeah, let's work together. Let's see what we can do. And it became, like I said, so much more than what either of us could have imagined in terms of.
Last year we started talking about making this magazine, NatureVision magazine, as a way to instead of relying on the blog for all of our articles, just consolidating a lot of really good writing, some interviews, some photography coffee table, monographs, reviews, all that kind of stuff, all into one source for different photographers.
and
Kim (34:36.724)
they're all just as excited to participate as someone who is fresh in the scene. There's, again, no harm in that. It's just, we're all human. We're all just trying to find ways of making this work as best as we can. So, yeah, that's been another great experience that all stemmed from taking a risk on an email and seeing what happened.
That's incredible. And I know something you love to do as well as photography is writing too. So this ties in very well with your passion for writing. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, my writing began right around when I started reading or when I found the work of Guy Taw and his writings because he majorly changed my perspective on photography, on the creative life in particular. And I wanted to...
and have since continued to want to do something quite similar to what he does, wherein I'm writing to help other people. And how I go about doing that has shifted, especially in the past few months. But it's nonetheless, it's still there. And while I still struggle to find the motivation to write more than I probably should, it's still there. I still love to write and share the things that I've learned in the past.
10 years of being behind the camera and all that. So do you also write for the magazine or is writing mostly for blog posts and things on your website? What sort of outlets do you use for your writing and photography? Mainly through different publications. Like I said, because of my depression and anxiety and all of that, mental health.
I have a very poor relationship with motivation and with procrastination and so I have not been writing nearly as much as I or as often as I should be. But it's kind of a mix of writing for my own website as well as writing for Naturevision magazine maybe twice a year and then a couple other publications here or there. This year I'm trying to get more
Kim (36:58.158)
make more of a push towards being published in different places and just getting more of my written work out there. Yeah. And it's really nice as well that you really want to be able to help people with your writing and bringing that together with your photography. And I think, you know, we all have stories as you've rightly shared with us today, you know, in sharing your own story so, so openly and honestly, you know, and being able to then put that out there into the world in whatever format and be able to.
inspire or give other people hope or ideas and also just to help us formulate in our own minds, you know, what life means and how we feel and how we're connecting with the world. And I guess, you know, you'd mentioned that slowing down with the medium format really helps you in so many ways, not just in getting you out into nature, but I guess in slowing down your mind and everything as well. So one thing I like to ask people who do battle with mental health struggles is,
What do you feel when you're out there with your camera and how do you feel that it really does help you? I think, and this is something that I want to focus on very heavily in the coming years with my photography and my writing, there is such an overlooked yet very powerful healing factor to simply being out in nature. And...
Especially in this world we get so caught up in constantly doing something in constantly being productive in one way or another Where when we do go out into nature, it's about seeing the waterfall. It's about seeing the grand vista getting to a destination or doing something like Skydiving or riding a bike in nature Where we miss out on all these little intimate moments?
all of these just enjoying simply being in nature as we once were so often. And I think that's really what it comes down to for me is when I'm out in nature, I'm my happiest. I'm my most relaxed. I'm not thinking anymore about the photographs that I want to take or about doing anything. I'm just thinking about the
Kim (39:18.722)
slight breeze that's pushing the leaves and the sound of the leaves as they quake in the wind. I'm thinking about the chirping of the birds and the rustling of the leaves from the squirrels running around. It's so much more calming of an experience when you're doing, when you are just being in nature rather than it is when you are constantly thinking, oh, how can I best benefit from X, Y, or Z or how am I going to get to the vista?
look at it for 10 minutes, if that, take a photo to share on social media that I was there, and then go home. So there is a major healing power in nature that, again, like I said, it's overlooked, and it's unfortunate that it is overlooked, but I think a lot of us need to get back to it. Yeah, definitely. I totally resonate with what you said there. I think...
My vision for the future of the photography world is less of this exploitation and of this almost like ticking places off and just, you know, I guess, travelling for the sake of travelling and not actually really immersing ourselves. You know, you'd mentioned Simon Baxter earlier and I just, I love how he will not just get to know his local woodlands so intimately, but when he comes up here to Scotland, you know, he won't just be here for a weekend or a flying visit, you know, he'll often stay for...
at least two weeks because it takes him usually four or five days just to immerse himself in his new location before he'll even consider taking photographs. So I just find that beautiful because then we work in real relationship with nature and not only are we able to feel more and be there in that state of being rather than doing, but we also, I think, just we develop that deeper connection with it and it allows us to give something back to nature as well and really
not just appreciate its beauty for ourselves, but then for those of us who go out there and share it with others, it's giving us the opportunity to then share that beauty with others and potentially inspire them to get out and, and really immerse themselves in nature as well, which I guess is the gift that people like Ben and Thomas gave you through their videos. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. It's coming in full circle, isn't it? So I think you've kind of maybe answered the last question that I wanted to ask you, which,
Kim (41:38.638)
Which was, you what is your vision for the future of the photography world? Like you, it's, I would definitely agree. It's about being more connected with our subjects, learning more about our subjects and taking a slower approach to everything. I think with how the world is going when you look at recent social media trends where people are so focused on
these quick hacks to get hundreds or thousands of millions of followers to get eyes on their work. But while that's all well and good, there's something so much more powerful about just taking the moment, taking a longer, a long tail approach to everything and enjoying the process of slowly building up an audience that is
fully dedicated to you because of what you're able to share with them, because of the inspiration you're able to give them, and the mindset that you were able to pass on to them by appreciating your subject matter, whether it's nature, whether it's other people, portraiture, whatever you want to be focused on, just slowing down and enjoying.
everything for what it is rather than focused on such heavy growth. So that's kind of my my sort of vision for the future of photography. But again, that's always growing as well as I challenge myself in newfound ways and learn more about not only the photographic and natural world around me, but also myself.
Of course, and the world is always changing as well, but that's a beautiful vision to have for the future. And I personally am really interested to see where things like the Instagram and TikTok and YouTube world is going to go in the future, because I think people are really starting to fall out of love with the content that's really just being created for views and for followers. And I'm finding personally in my own work and also through speaking to other people that...
Kim (43:58.734)
Most people now are wanting genuine authenticity and human connection and the numbers just aren't mattering anymore. And I think that's so beautiful because it's like, you know, we need that genuine authenticity in the world, a lot more of that than we do just content going out for the sake of it. And I think it's beautiful what you're doing, Cody, and what you're hoping to create along with the people you're working with, because yeah.
I think the more of us have this mindset, the more beautiful the future for the photography world will be. Yeah, there's something... In recent months, I've kind of shifted my focus over towards less of looking on social media and what other photographers are doing on there, and more towards personal blogs. There's a writer, Manuel Morial, and...
He has this beautiful website and he builds websites for a living, freelance -wise. His whole goal that he recently wrote about is building free personal websites for people because he finds that social media, in a sense, is a disease. I can't help but agree with that, with how it is because of the constant competition. I kind of think that...
wouldn't it be so lovely if we sort of went back, maybe not, it definitely won't be all of us doing it. Social media will still continue to exist for the masses, but to have this niche community where we go back to RSS feeds and to personal websites and blogs, and we're sharing our content, not for the sake of likes and for views or for followers or any of that, but
For the simple sake of sharing what we love about the world and sharing what we enjoy and the thoughts that we have in a very sort of unsolicited, uncensored manner, it would be, I think, a much nicer place where you don't have to worry about the trolls. You don't have to worry about the incessant competition and being inundated by constant content that...
Kim (46:22.434)
ultimately is going to disappear and people aren't going to care about in the next four months, let alone the next four minutes. I think that's definitely, that's something that I am focused more on that I am working towards and I look forward to the day that I get off of social media as I had for the past two years or so prior to getting back on it in September.
and it's just building a genuine connection because that alone is what I yearn for more than anything else is a true genuine connection with a small handful of people that we just can't seem to access on social media anymore because it has grown to be much too large of a beast to handle. Yeah, it's so true. I mean, I've consciously unfollowed every account as much as I can that I just don't want to necessarily follow anymore. And
Everything I follow now is inspiring stuff, whether it's things about personal growth and development or inspiring creators that I just think are sharing beautiful things. And I'm just, yeah, I'm becoming very sensitive to so much. And I came off Facebook last year. The only thing I'm still on is Instagram, but even then, you know, I use it just to post my own thing now and again. And I also use it to reach out to photography, you know, podcast guests. I find it a really good directory.
but I don't use it to consume content very much at all anymore. And I've never been on TikTok and, you know, very briefly, but I think I was on it for like a month and I just hated it. You know, it's just, it's not real. You're just pushing, pushing, pushing and try to follow an algorithm. But as you rightly say, having that deeper connection with a smaller group of people, it's, that's what it's about. Genuine human connection and authenticity. And, you know, if you watch a video about how to do something or, or...
I don't know, 10 steps to something. You might gain something from it, but you're not necessarily going to feel an emotional connection to that. But if you read a beautiful blog post or a beautiful book coupled with some lovely images or go to a nice exhibition that has been created from a place of emotion, that's going to stay with you forever, as is that photographer's work. And that's where we touch, I think, people's hearts. You know, not from a selfish place, but from a place of...
Kim (48:39.854)
I want to share the creation of everything I'm seeing and everything I'm creating to inspire and connect you with these things as well. And yeah, it's lovely. It's really lovely. Yeah. I couldn't have said it better myself. Brilliant. Well, I think that's a lovely place to end on Cody. So I firstly just want to say thank you so much for your time today and again for reaching out to me. There's a number of things you've shared today that that's really made me think a little bit more and.
I'm sure there's some inspiring things in there as well. I think about this idea of, you know, maybe facing the things that we feel uncomfortable doing and also, you know, reaching out to people if we have a particular vision or we feel we could help them out. You know, there's a lot of interest in what you've said today. So for those who have resonated with you and would like to connect with you further, where can they go to do so? I would say just go right to my website. Connect with me through that. CodySchultz .com.
that's where you'll find anything that you need to find about me. And for anyone who wants to just start a conversation for about anything or wants to ask questions or whatever, my email is always open and I will always respond to genuine desires for connection. So. That's brilliant.
Great, I'll put a link to your website in the show notes below and I'll also link to the Nature Photographers Network as well for those who are maybe interested in looking into their magazine and community. But yeah, for now, Cody, it's been an absolute pleasure. Thank you so much once again. Yeah, thank you. Well, I certainly found speaking to Cody really insightful. I think he gave me this real sense of how fantastic it is when we come up with an idea or we feel like we may be able to support somebody and simply just messaging them.
As he says, the worst thing they can do is say no or not respond but you just never know where that's going to take you in life. So that was the biggest thing that I took out of speaking with him and I'm sure some of you will have found great inspiration in that as well as well as all the other incredible things that he shared with us. Just a reminder that this will be the final episode for season one. We will return with a new season in the very near future. So please enjoy the coming weeks, rest, relax.
Kim (51:00.174)
catch up on any episodes you may have missed and really begin to ground yourself I guess and all the inspiring things you've learned with the amazing guests we've had in the last 50 episodes as you continue forwards on your journey. And of course in this little mini break if you'd still like to connect with me and be inspired and become a bigger part of Photographic Connections we of course have our worldwide online community
It's only £10 a month to join and that gives you access to our safe private online sharing space where we have monthly photography themes, a live webinar in combination with a theme, as well as weekly catch -ups with community members. And of course, everybody's sharing their images and stories, which is a fantastic inspiration. And if you'd like to physically come up to the North East of Scotland and come on one of my immersive photography weekends, I've just released new dates in June, September and October.
It would be an absolute pleasure to welcome you here and share some time with you while teaching you many exercises that will invite you to connect more deeply with nature, yourself and the other participants in the process. So now that this podcast has come to an end, there's only one thing left for you to do. It's time to pick up your camera and head outdoors. There's so many incredible photographic opportunities just waiting for you to discover.
