J-P visual Voices
Getting Started
Ever wondered how a simple Walmart trip could kickstart a photography career? Join me, Ouija, on JP Visual Voices as I share my unconventional journey from social event snapper to professional photographer. Learn how a spontaneous maternity shoot for my best friend taught me the ropes and discover the invaluable role YouTube played in my education. From navigating the early days of gear acquisition to mastering Lightroom and Photoshop, this episode is all about embracing the chaos and turning it into creative fuel.
Starting on a budget? We’ve got you covered. This episode is packed with practical advice for novice photographers, including the perks of a nifty 50 lens and a budget-friendly external flash. Whether you’re capturing memories with a smartphone or a beginner camera, I’ll guide you through the ups and downs of low-light photography and the importance of making wise financial decisions on gear. Plus, get a sneak peek into future episodes where we’ll explore offbeat places to find photography equipment. Tune in for an inspiring, candid conversation about starting with what you have and growing your skills along the way.
Ever wondered how a simple Walmart trip could kickstart a photography career? Join me, Ouija, on JP Visual Voices as I share my unconventional journey from social event snapper to professional photographer. Learn how a spontaneous maternity shoot for my best friend taught me the ropes and discover the invaluable role YouTube played in my education. From navigating the early days of gear acquisition to mastering Lightroom and Photoshop, this episode is all about embracing the chaos and turning it into creative fuel.
Starting on a budget? We’ve got you covered. This episode is packed with practical advice for novice photographers, including the perks of a nifty 50 lens and a budget-friendly external flash. Whether you’re capturing memories with a smartphone or a beginner camera, I’ll guide you through the ups and downs of low-light photography and the importance of making wise financial decisions on gear. Plus, get a sneak peek into future episodes where we’ll explore offbeat places to find photography equipment. Tune in for an inspiring, candid conversation about starting with what you have and growing your skills along the way.
What's going on. You guys, welcome back. Welcome back to JP Visual Voices. That's right, that's JP Visual Voices and I'm your host, weeg. So welcome back.
Speaker 1:And for the people that's just joining us today, welcome to this new episode, to our second episode of this podcast. To the people that actually listened to the intro, I appreciate it and welcome back. So you know, like I said on the intro on a previous video, basically, um, you know, this is mainly a photography podcast for, uh, like, beginners, for anybody who's looking into getting started into the photography world. So this post, this blah, this podcast, is the right place for you to be, uh, and then the. The ideal of this podcast is not necessarily for for me to like let you know about the cameras, the gears. Like you know, regular I would do regular youtube videos, but the ideal of this podcast is to exactly let you know what's going on behind the scenes, like the stuff they don't tell you about, the amount of money that you know you have to keep in mind that you might be, you know, spending the time that you will not have with your loved ones. You get what I'm saying. So you know, just keep all that in mind and then also in the future I will be having vendors um, you know, other photographers, videographers, you know to let y'all know the journey into this photography world.
Speaker 1:All right, so again, welcome back. Y'all really know the name? Well, not really. I'm sure soon enough you guys will know the name, but for now it's Ouija. Remember? Ouija, like a Ouija board, w-i-d-j-y, like a Ouija board. Every time I tell people my name, they're like like a Ouija board. I'm like, yeah, yeah, we'll just go with that. It spells different, which would surprise me actually. But you know we'll get into that conversation. But yeah, the name is wedgie for the people that cares.
Speaker 1:So, basically, the question of today is how to get started with photography. That's the million dollar question, like the people said. No, not really million, that's the maybe four or five thousand dollar questions. Right, how do you get started in photography? Well, the answer is simple you just start. But after a few days, after a few months, it's not that simple. All right, let me give you a backstory real quick.
Speaker 1:So the way that I got started in my photography journey is um, people used to always call me to take pictures for them. Wherever we go. We had a party. Wherever we go, you know they'll ask me hey, can you take a few pictures for us? And then, the way I would take it, people always like, oh man, you good, are you a photographer, are you a professional? I'm like, nah, just, you know, with a cell phone I didn't have no camera or nothing like that.
Speaker 1:Until you know, fast forward, until one day, uh, my best friend was pregnant and then, um, she asked me to to do her maternity photos. When I asked her like why? And she said you know she got a. She called a few photographers around the town. Mind you, we're in florida, so you know it's expensive. She called a few people and they telling her, like it's gonna be a good, uh, maybe like 350, 500 for some maternity shoot. And then she was not having it. So she said, nah, hell, no, she ain't gonna. You know she ain't gonna book with this people.
Speaker 1:So she said, since you good at taking photos, how about we go to walmart and we buy a camera, we, we take the photos, we keep the memory card and then we return the camera? I told her wait, is that even okay? Is that a legal thing to do, or something like that? She said, listen, people do it. They buy the camera. If they don't like it, they return it. I'm like you know what, you're right. So we went to Walmart and we bought the camera uh, it was a regular, I think it was a samsung point and shoot camera, right? So we took it out, we took a few photos here and there, you know, and then, um, we didn't like, I guess we didn't like the camera, so we returned it. We kept the memory card, because the memory card that's why we really needed, you know, in the first place. But we took the photos.
Speaker 1:I took the photos as best as I could, right, it was at the beach, there was no setup, there was no, nothing. I didn't know nothing about Golden Hour. I didn't know nothing about nothing hour. I didn't know nothing about nothing, right? So we took the camera, we take the pictures. So now it's time to edit them. Mind you, I'm brand new to photography, so I don't have a way for me to edit these photos, so I just have them there, just sitting there on the computer, right? So until one day, I'm like you know what, let me go to youtube, which I call u college, right? So let me go to youtube, let me see how can I edit these photos to make it look a little better, because at that time filters wasn't all popping and crazy like that. There was no. I think snapchat was probably just coming out, maybe five, six years ago, I don't remember. But um, so, yeah, we went in there and then, um, I went online.
Speaker 1:I went on youtube at first, look, looked it up, some software to edit and then I find out about Lightroom. I was heard about Photoshop, but I never knew. It was like a photography application, right, a lot of people you hear about Photoshop, you don't, unless you. Well, now you might know, but you don't really think it's a photography thing because you think it's like you can do whatever with photoshop as long as you know. Back then it was all about the coding and this and that. So I learned from youtube about lightroom and um, so I decided to sign up. I think they had a 15 day or 30 day um free trial.
Speaker 1:So I signed up with lightroom and then, you know, I put the pictures in there again. There were jpeg. There's no raw files, there's no, nothing like this. It was just, you know, something that you would normally do.
Speaker 1:So I started playing around with the photos, right, mind you, the way that I learned is that when, um, the best way for you to know how to to edit, you have to put the push the slider all the way to the right and then all the way to the left and then see what it does. So what I did is I went to Lightroom, I put all the files, I put all the slider to the right and then I see the exposure, like, it got super bright. I push it down, it got super dark. So now I have an idea. Okay, this is what exposure do, and I'm not going to lie to you guys, I did not know the difference between the highlight and the white. I couldn't see what exactly it was doing, because when I push it down, I couldn't really tell it was doing something to the photo. You know what I'm saying. So basically, I played around it and I did the best that I could, and then I you know, I deliver the photos.
Speaker 1:Now, the few people that seen these pictures, they was like, oh man, these photos, this files, are they good? They look good, blah, blah. You know you should be a photographer. I was like, ah, I don't know. They're like yeah, you good, you did this. You know you can make money off of it. You know I'm like you know what, let me look into it. So, again, I went back to u college. You know youtube. That's where you know, that's where we learn everything we're gonna be wrong. That's where we learn every single thing we know. So I went back to youtube and I started learning about photography, learning about gears, to start with, as I'm learning about Lightroom with the files that I have. I'm just, you know, moving around doing different things, learning about presets and all of that.
Speaker 1:So I got to a conclusion where I decided that I'm going to just go ahead and get a camera and, mind you, I was working a minimum wage job at the moment, and so I had to save up everything, dollar per dollar, for me to get it. So I ended up going to Brandsmart one day and then I was looking. There was a guy that was working in the camera department. I ended up going to Brandsmart one day and then I was looking. There was a guy that was working in the camera department. You know I was telling him. He was telling me this is what he's shooting with. He was shooting at a Nikon at the moment. You know he's telling me yeah, this is a good camera. To start. This is a good camera.
Speaker 1:So I don't have any money, nor did I have any credit, right, yeah, I missed money. Nor I do. Nor did I have any credit, right. Yeah, I missed on my credit early on, but that's not the podcast for this. So at brand smart they had a program I don't know if they still have it, but they had a program where you can buy it and then make payments, and then it's not based on your credit, it's based on you having a job and they making sure that you can pay them every two weeks. So I applied for the program and then I got approved.
Speaker 1:Now, if any of you guys can guess what I bought as my first camera, which a lot of people start with, then I have a prize for you in one of these future episodes. So that's your homework right now. If you're interested, if you made it so far, I mean you're interested, right. So make a guess, leave a comment, let me know or DM me or whatever. Let me know your guess and then in the next few episodes I'll let you know if you got it right or not.
Speaker 1:So, basically, I got my first camera with a kit lens. Now I have a camera with a kit lens, right? So, mind you, I don't know, I don't have any experience, I don't know anybody, I don't know nothing, I don't know nothing. So I'm just moving around, just you know, just doing what I think is best. So I'm, I'm taking pictures of cars, uh, trees, animals I'm taking pictures of, um, I'm taking pictures of squirrels, or that. I couldn't get no birds, obviously, but I'm taking pictures of squirrels and all that. So I'm like, okay, they nice, they nice. The lenses that I had was like a 3.5 to 6 point, something I forgot For the aperture. We'll get to aperture, you know, know, shutter speed, iso and all that, but for now it doesn't matter for you guys, for some of you guys, um, so yeah, I'm taking pictures, I'm taking pictures of everything.
Speaker 1:And then I realized at night I can't really take the pictures that I like, because it's too dark or it looks weird, or it looks grainy, you feel me? So, because the only thing I had was the little pop-up flash on top of the camera. That's another clue, so you guys can make a guess right there. So yeah, I only had the pop-up flash on top of the camera, and at night excuse me, at at night. They don't look the same and, especially according to youtube. I'm looking at the shadows on the wall. I'm looking at how the light is hitting them on their faces. I'm like that's not what youtube said they're supposed to look like. So I'm still doing research and doing research and doing research right.
Speaker 1:So I got my first camera on the budget and then a few months go by, I'm starting to do free gigs and all of that and eventually somebody paid me like 25 for a photo shoot, which I thought was good because you know I'm making money. Now somebody else paid me 50 for another one. I'm like I bet you know, I see it coming through. You know, I mean that person referring another person and I got another gig. So, again according to youtube, I bought my first lens, which is the nifty 50 from canon. So I bought the first lens, which is the 50 millimeter f 1.8, and now I'm like, okay, now I'm doing the thing. You know what I mean? I'm doing my thing right now because I got a good lens.
Speaker 1:I got a in my mind, I got a good camera. So we're good, we, you know, we're rolling and daytime I'm taking banger photos, man. Everything looks nice, background, blurry, everything. Man, I'm like, okay, this is what it's supposed to look like, I'm getting happy, and all that until it comes to nighttime again I can't do nothing because I still got the little pop-up flash on top of the camera. So, upon doing all of the research, then everybody was saying that, oh, this is what you need. You need an actual flash to put on top of the camera. The flash can communicate with the camera and then now you can bounce it up on the ceiling or you can bounce it, you know, to the side or behind you. It looks better. So I was like bet. And then I saved some more money. I got my first new where I don't know how to say newer, newer, newer flashlight, new word, flashlight um, for like maybe what? Fifty dollars at the moment, fifty seventy five dollars or something like that. And then now I'm like, okay, you know what I got? The nifty, fifty. I got a, a flash. So I'm good, you know. And then you know, long story short, that's how my story started. You know what I'm saying. I'm not necessarily saying that's how you will start, but that's how I started.
Speaker 1:Again, going back to the question, from the beginning, you know how to start well. The very first thing is is to start with whatever you have. The phones nowadays look a lot better than the phones back then and, um, a lot of you guys have iphones and you know samsungs and all of that. They take good photos. I will start with that now.
Speaker 1:If you're one of them people that, like you, know what I want a more professional there's a few cameras to start with, there's a few brands to start with, and you know there's a few things I feel like it's cheaper now than it was for me when I started my journey, but again, you know it could be me because I probably, you know, have a better job or better paying and whatnot. I feel like it's cheaper, but I think it's cheaper, right? So the answer to your question is to start from what you have, whatever you have, and then eventually get you a low budget beginner camera right. It all depends on your budget, but again, we'll talk about that on the next episode. To you know, depends on your budget what you can get, but start with something low-key. The very first thing I would really really focus on, which is something that that, if you purchase a good one one time once, you never have to worry about that ever again.
Speaker 1:Which is a flashlight? The one that you put on top of the camera. You invest in a good one. You set you good, a normal grade, unless it's broken or is not working. But that's it right now.
Speaker 1:Start with whatever you can. You get a cheap camera. There's so many places to get cheaper cameras. You don't need to have it brand new. Like everybody else, you can buy used lenses. You don't need to have them brand new like everybody else, trying to look like oh yeah, I got all my gears brand new, you know I mean. So you start with whatever you have and then you eventually you will upgrade, because one thing I have learned in this journey is you will upgrade every time. Every time you will update and upgrade. There's only one thing I haven't upgraded from is adobe. When I started, I started with adobe, with lightroom, photoshop. Now I'm just paying for all the apps because I do videos. Um, so it's better for me to pay for everything. So I'm paying for everything and ever since I started with them, I never left them. It's been five, six years now since I've been doing photos and videos. I haven't left them, um, not once. So you know, those are the things once you spend some money on, you'll be good again.
Speaker 1:The biggest focus is start. It's the start, which for me, I know it's easier said than done. I was been supposed to start this podcast for years and years different podcast ideas in mind, and I have all the gears. I have this camera, I have that camera, I have a backup camera, I have this mic, I have another mic, I have this light, I got I got all the stuff for me to been started a podcast. But it's not that easy to just start because there's all the things I do on the side. I'm a businessman let's just put it like this legal businessman. All right, there's a few things I do here and there, but it's just a start and right now this is my.
Speaker 1:This is the second episode of this podcast, which I'm sure there's a lot more to come, all right, and there's a lot more conversations to be, to be have or to be having, I guess. And you know, we'll sit right here. We're gonna be sitting right here with the same setup and we're gonna talk. We're gonna talk some of you guys. Sometimes we're gonna do a one-on-one video call or, you know, one-on-one live or something like that, but we're gonna talk, we're gonna chat and, um, I wish, when I was starting my part, my journey, my photography journey I had somebody who would tell me the reality of starting a photography business and I think I would look at it in a different light.
Speaker 1:You get it. Photography, different light you get it, but, um, yeah, I would definitely look at it in a different light. Um, because there's a lot of gears, there's a lot of stuff that I bought on my beginner days that I'm no longer using now and it, you know, cost money. I spent some money. It felt like it feels like every little penny, every dime that I have, I spent it on on this, on photography, and this is gonna be you. That is definitely to be you soon. Whatever you have, that's one tip to take from this right now. Whatever you think you're spending right now, if you're just getting started in photography, you're gonna spend a lot more. You're gonna spend a lot more until you get to a spot where you're comfortable. Right now, I can say I'm comfortable. Reason I'm saying I'm comfortable is because I don't have the biggest gears, the the most expensive ones, but I got the ones that I like. I'll tell you right now.
Speaker 1:This is the uh a7IV right, which is a great photography, videography camera. This is which, with the lens that I'm currently using, is the same yang um, 35 to 150. Listen, this, this is a whole conversation by itself. This lens is a whole entire episode by itself. We'll get to it, but this is a, you know, perfect combination for me for whatever I need 35 for my group shots, for my wide shots I know it's not wide enough, but 35 is plenty and 150 is portraits 85, 150, you know, portraits. And then, right here, this is one of the cameras that I bought, which is my a7c, and right now I'm currently using a sony lens, the sony 50 millimeter f 1.8. So, yes, I left, I traded the canon. Well, I sold the canon one because I moved from canon to sony and then now I purchased the sony version. So that's the 50, that's the 35 to 135 from um samyang, but so, um, but this is what it is. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:This is it's fun, I can tell you this. It's fun, I can tell you this it's fun, I have fun. Every time I go do a gig to me, I feel like I'm having fun. These people are just paying me to do what I like to do. Some people do it for the money. I'm not saying I don't do it's fun, I have fun, like I can go a whole day talking about photography. I can go a whole day just teaching somebody how to you know to do this, to do that. It's, it's. You know, I don't gatekeep, that's, that's. I guess that should be the middle name of this podcast, because I don't get keep. I'm more of a here.
Speaker 1:Whatever I learn, whatever I think I know, I'm willing to share with y'all. If y'all down with me, I'm willing to share with y'all. With that being said, if you made it this far, especially you if you made it this far, right, just, there's not much to do. Give me a five star. This is a. I don't even have to tell you this is a small podcast. This is the second episode, so it's definitely nothing compared to anything. This is the second episode, but if you made it this far, that means you probably gained something or you probably Enjoy something from here. Let me know, give it a rating so the algorithm can know and possibly you know, push it, put it somewhere, because this conversation is, it is Photography based. But. But once we get further down, you will realize.
Speaker 1:The rest of the conversations is still have photography related, but it's more expanded. Expanded is that even a word basically gets wider. You know what I'm saying? An example could be um, you know how do you deal with spending all your money on gears when you have a family, so you stuff like this. So, yeah, I feel like I've been, just I don't know how long this thing been going. That's the good thing about getting better gears. I don't know how long this camera's been rolling. This camera, that camera they both been rolling at the same time. I don't know for how long now.
Speaker 1:But I'm here. I'm trying to refrain myself from talking about different subjects that when we're not there yet, but I'm trying to focus to give you guys some good, you know, some good little tips on how to get started and how you know what to get. Again, I'm not gonna give you, unless you know you text or you want to know specifically. But I'm not here to tell you hey, get the canon, get the sony, get this lens, get that lens, you know, get this flash and that flash. No, that that's not the main goal for this podcast. The main thing is for me to tell you start however you want, because eventually it don't matter what I tell you. Eventually you will learn and YouTube will help you pick out the best gears.
Speaker 1:I'm not here to know. Listen, I don't have that type of money. I only know the gears that I know and eventually I'll let you know which ones that I had and which ones I have now. You already know two of them, but I already know the ones that I know. I don't have the money for me to Buy this one. Try this one out. It doesn't work out and then talk about it. Buy the other one. It doesn't work out, talk about it. I don't have that type of money and it's not gonna work out. Talk about it. I don't have that type of money and it's not gonna work out.
Speaker 1:Once you, you will start with one. Eventually and a lot of times you will switch to the other one. You can start with canon, switch to sony. You can start with nikon. Switch to canon and sony. You can start with whoever, eventually probably switch to the next one.
Speaker 1:So, whatever I'll tell you to buy now, to start, it's not gonna help you out. Just buy the cheapest one. That's what I can tell you. Buy the cheapest one. Look at your pocket, figure it out, can you afford this? And then you know, don't, don't go in debt like I did. You know, paying this camera double, triple the price, because I paid it month to month and uh, yeah, I paid the price, but you know, I don't like I do. There's, there's too many ways. If you want to know the ways, some of the ways you can purchase your first gears, watch, watch the next episode.
Speaker 1:And, for my audio listeners, make sure, as soon as this one is done, click on the next one, because I will tell you this is where I bought some of my gears. You know what I mean, and some of them is places that you probably not even thinking of, right around your house. But again, thank you for listen. Sitting here, whatever you're doing, probably bored listening to this, you know, big-headed dude just rambling about photography, and that's what this thing is, that's what this whole thing is. So I appreciate you for that. I will always tell you. I appreciate you even at zero subscribers, zero listeners, to thousands of listeners and subscribers and viewers, or you know whatever you want to call it. So I appreciate y'all.
Speaker 1:Well, this is the end of this episode. I would love to say this episode is brought to you by, but we ain't there yet. I have one sponsorship, but I'm going to get a few videos in before I started doing that. But yeah, this episode is brought to you by me, yeah, me, me. Yeah, this episode is brought to you by me, yeah, me, me. Well, this camera, that camera, I appreciate y'all and I will see y'all on the next one. Peace.