We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Brad Young. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Brad below.
Brad, appreciate you joining us today. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?
I am happy as a creative, but I do feel like its important to diversify your interests so that you don’t get burned out in one specific field or type of art. For example, if you make most of your money in Real Estate Photography and can thrive in that field because you are also good at it, keep at it, but go shoot portraits, landscapes, weddings, or whatever else on your own time so you don’t burn out and start to dislike it. Thats what I have found and experienced so far in my career. You have to make sure you keep the love alive and sometimes money ruins that. Thankfully i’m lucky enough to make money and create whatever else I want in my own free time.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I got into photography actually from shooting video. I majored in Media Production at the University of Alabama mainly because I didn’t want an office job. There I worked for the local news station, the University sports program shooting Basketball, Softball and Baseball. and local concerts. That propelled me from shooting The Alabama Shakes, John Mayer and St. Paul and The Broken Bones, to a job in Atlanta working the concert scene. The problem was I wasnt making much from the infrequent work and decided to use my camera for anything I could and started doing Real Estate Photography and Portraits. Its been 10 years since then and I love it. I never wanted to have one style like a lot of photographers even though there is nothing wrong with that, but instead wanted to try out and explore the entire field. There is a never ending list of different shots, angles, editing styles and setups that you can try. That may be a downside because I dont have 1 “look”, but the upside is flexibility and diversity. What im most proud of is that as much as I love working with people and want to create the best possible art for them, I essentially do this for me. That may sound selfish, but its not. It cant be. If you dont do art for my own love, then I may as well have just taken that office job.
Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
I wish more photographers and artist would find a supportive group… and youtube channels. I don’t think you even need to go to school to be an artist at all. All you need to do is find a group of people that push you out there to suck at what you do for a while until you don’t, and tell you to just keep going. Study YouTube, Instagram, magazines, anything you can until you don’t even have to think about a shot you know you like, it just happens with a click of the shutter while you’re taking the ridiculous 800 shots for your hour photo session :)
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
Like I stated in my description, I had to change from video to photography because I needed money to live. It may be a twisted way of finding a new passion, but it worked. All I knew was that I wanted to work in a creative field where I could use my imagination. Its cliché, but the people who keep at it succeed. The only difference is the amount of time it will be before your resiliency pays off.
Contact Info:
- Website: bradyoungmedia.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/friendly_troll_photography/
Image Credits
haileysunshinedesigns cici.whitney banethedragon tinytitanlife tessatakestokyo lil_mixed_girly