We were lucky to catch up with Justin Snead recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Justin, thanks for joining us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

As an elementary student I often dabbled in art classes but never took them seriously. Although I was gifted in drawing, the use of pencils and brushes amongst a canvas never stirred my soul. It wasn’t until I picked up a camera in my mid-twenties that I had an inclination a new journey was about to unfold. I didn’t know what I would be shooting, but I knew that my calling was at my fingertips.

Justin, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

When I’m not chasing severe weather across the Midwest, you can find me working in Operating Rooms across the United States as a Travel Surgical Technologist. Ironically it is this job that helped me cross paths with severe weather and what is now my part time profession as a storm photographer. While heading to a hospital in rural Minnesota, I came across a supercell slowly traversing across the skyline. Hooked, I dove headfirst into learning how to forecast and read radar data. Weather can be fickle and even now I am constantly learning new things.

As a storm photographer, I offer prints on several types of mediums (paper, metal, canvas, etc) along with NFTs on several platforms. My work is often set apart from others due to the raw emotions I put into each edit. One of my core values as an artist is to have my work be a reflection of my own soul and in turn evoke emotions in those who view it. This is also part of the reason why my photography will never be “perfect”. As humans we are all fundamentally flawed, and it is within those flaws we often connect with art. Rather it inspires us or angers us, it makes us feel.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

If there is one thing I will constantly preach, it is to not put a focus on following, engagement and numbers. We live in a world where social media is gearing artists toward trending material that ultimately guide us away from our core values. As we stray from those values in search of gaining followers, likes and money, we begin to lose ourselves.

Instead of focusing on the numbers, I place my focus on creating intimate connections with those who view my work. Talk with those who appreciate your work. If you have a piece that evokes a certain emotion from a viewer and they express this to you, don’t be afraid to ask questions and dig deeper. Building these types of connections not only feels better for the soul, but also frees you from the chains of social media engagement numbers.

There is an old cliche that is tried and true….

“Slow and steady wins the race.”

Place your focus in creating quality bonds and perfecting your art. The rest will gravitate to you naturally.

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.

As an artist, one of the things non-creatives often struggle with is understanding the passion behind our journeys. This is due to most artists keeping their “why” close to themselves. I can attest to this as my “why” is something very few know about. It’s what gives us our drive. It’s why most artists often times forego a typical life in pursuit of something that doesn’t make sense to others, but in our mind, it consumes us. We live, breath and sleep this pursuit.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://thedreadlocktraveler.smugmug.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedreadlocktraveler/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thedreadlocktraveler/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/DreadlockTvlr
• Other: https://superrare.com/thedreadlocktraveler

Image Credits
Tim Baca- Portrait Photo