We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Clay Guthrie. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Clay below.

Hi Clay, thanks for joining us today. What’s the best or worst investment you’ve made (either in terms of time or money)? (Note, these responses are only intended as entertainment and shouldn’t be construed as investment advice)

This may sound a bit odd coming from someone who works in IT for their day job, but equipment is the worst investment you can make. Don’t get me wrong, I love cameras, lenses, tripods and all of the other techy stuff that makes us excited as photographers, but these things are tools. They don’t make the image, they don’t execute the idea, you do. You can give a professional a cheapo camera and they’ll create art. You can give a beginner top notch gear and they may not. So, what’s the best investment? Yourself. Your time and energy are the best investment you can make into whatever your passion is. I can personally tell you that I have spent far more time looking through a screen than a viewfinder. Better yet, much of that learning has been completely free on YouTube. Then take that money you want to spend on gear and invest it into photo trips and experiences. The cool thing is, as do this, you’ll better learn your gear, and you’ll soon be able to maximize what you can do with it. The best suggestion I ever heard was, don’t upgrade your gear until you can pinpoint one specific area in which your current gear is limiting you.

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

My name is Clay Guthrie, and I am a landscape and wildlife photographer from the little town of East Prairie Missouri. I spend a lot of time photographing the rural Missouri landscape and venturing into the Shawnee and Mark Twain National Forests. I also chase storms across the Midwest and midsouth when time allows. I began photography in roughly 2014, just killing time while my wife worked weekends. I started with trains but quickly got bored and started seeking out more creative opportunities around my area. I’ve bounced back and forth between landscapes and wildlife over the years, but I primarily stick to landscapes.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

Whether it’s getting up a stupid o’clock and driving two hours to a destination to be there for sunrise, driving 10 hours in a day to chase storms or going hiking in weather that the average person doesn’t want to leave the house in, for someone who doesn’t have a passion for creating, it likely doesn’t make a ton of sense why someone like me would want to dedicate that much time and energy to something that doesn’t produce a ton of money. Especially when there are things like portraiture that would be more lucrative. I enjoy the creative process, and while money does help me get to do more of that stuff, it’s not the driving factor in what I do. I’d much rather try and inspire other people by what I do than to make money doing something that doesn’t inspire me.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

I just want to keep getting better at the craft. One of the things you often hear is don’t compete with others, and that’s true. But I do believe you should compete with yourself. Every year I create a photo calendar and sell it. Not only is it a revenue source for me, but it also serves as a “best of the year” collection that I can use to try and gauge myself based on the year prior. You can do the same, if it’s not a calendar, make a folder of your favorite images, and each time you go out try and get something worthy of displacing something in that folder. It’s not always going to happen; not every image is a “banger” as they say. But if you can see noticeable improvements in your work, you’re on the right track.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://claygphoto.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/claygphoto
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/clayguthriephotography
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/claygphoto
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/clayguthrie86