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

Mike, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you think your parents have had a meaningful impact on you and your journey?

Growing up in a single parent household, time wasn’t always something that was widely available. My mother had to work a lot. That meant a lot of time spent with grandparents, especially in the summers when school was out. Looking back on that experience growing up and how my mother handled it really instilled in me a sense of determination and work ethic. A number of times as I’ve grown and matured, there have been similar instances in which I had to act (and work) in a similar manner – longer, harder hours and/or multiple jobs. But whether it was one job or three, always giving your best effort and pushing through were important. Be honest, don’t be late, and treat others with respect. So far it’s helped me in my various career paths and sadly is something is often lacking these days.

Mike, 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?

I’ve always been into photography though it was an unrealized desire earlier on. In my late teens and early 20’s, I did a lot of writing in the consumer electronic space, reviewing gadgets, etc. And in those reviews I found early on that I really appreciated the photo taking part of the whole review process. As time went on, I started getting more interested in the act of taking photos for the purposes of editing and sharing with others. At that time, I didn’t have money for gear so I started with the one thing I did have – a smartphone. For the first few years, that was my camera. And even then (~5-10 years ago) it was still doable for a decent array of photography. And then a few years ago I borrowed a camera from work and pretty much jumped all in, which quickly started transforming photography from merely a hobby to something I could see (and want) to turn into a business. That was ~2018/2019. Since then, it’s been non-stop.

I think one of the main things that makes the photography space a bit different for me amongst many people is that I don’t really “need” to compete in the day-to-day business of it all. Yes — I want the business side to continue growing as I do enjoy it. However, I have a career already in the Cloud Security industry. Because of this, it affords me a bit more liberty with a number of things as far as which jobs I take, how I price them, how much I can afford to focus on a particular job or client, etc. At the end of the day, I deeply care about the work I create and the people I work with, but I also don’t have to worry about it putting food on the table for my family. There’s something a bit more freeing with that.

As time has gone on, what I shoot has morphed to include just about anything and everything. That said, I definitely have two primary areas:
– 1) Real state / product
– 2) Prints (landscape / wildlife / etc)

In the purest form, the business side has been growing around things such as real state photography. There’s a never ending supply of properties that need bought and sold, and in turn, updated pictures taken. I’ve found this to be both easier to find work in as well as more enjoyable for me to shoot, as you’re often alone on shoots of different properties. And to what I mentioned previously, my unique place in life now allows me to do some things or support some jobs that may be more difficult or unprofitable for somebody who has to live off of the art itself. That’s neither good nor bad, and is merely a difference in where I’m at in life and how the hobby has morphed over time.

To the second aspect of photography (prints / sales), I find it the most enjoyable to chase if that makes sense. While the realities of day-to-day business meaning looking for certain types of work, the purest form of the art, and selling that art, is what drew me in in the beginning. And at the end of the day, isn’t that what we’re all doing this for anyway?

When all is said and done, I think my ability to be a very laid back, easy person to communicate and work with along with the flexibilities of my job offer up a unique opportunity that isn’t quite as common in this space.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

This question is really a multi-faceted answer.

First, you have the artistic and creative outlet. I’ve always been a creative person. And while early on in elementary school that outlet was more towards the drawing side of things, I’ve never drifted from that realm – merely changed vehicles along the journey.

The second is a bit more long term planning. As I mentioned before, I already have a stable career in Cloud Security. I enjoy it a lot. And I see myself being in that industry for quite a while still. But…. what if I could retire from that some day, early, and continue just living off of my photography business at that point? That is ultimately a pretty powerful concept for me and something that I look forward to building, albeit maybe at a slower pace than most in the field. And I’m ok with that. I’m not in any hurry and am merely along for the ride, seeing where it takes me.

Can you share your view on NFTs? (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

This is an interesting one. Being in the tech field already kinda makes the concept of these seem like a slam dunk emerging in the art space. And, in talking with a number of artists over the last few years, it similarly seems like this is a modern “thing” that will have a net positive impact.

But as time has gone on, I am less convinced that there is any real, long term benefit to NFT’s specifically for the act of selling digital art. Now to be clear, that’s not saying there’s not any benefit whatsoever — I think there are for specific use cases where proper ownership or validity of a digital file needs to be verified and proven. However, for mainstream art sales in the digital realm, I don’t think it really matters at the end of the day whether the digital file you have is “original” or not. Because outside of a hash or some other marker denoting “originality”, it’s all indiscernible to most anyway. And if it looks, sounds, or functions the same marker aside, who cares? Increasingly, the only people really benefiting are not individual mom and pop artists. It’s a few big fish buying and selling (pumping and dumping) money into NFT’s for a quick profit. It’s really about the art at that point and more-so the art of the game (of NFT’s).

Contact Info:

• Website: https://betapixels.photography
• Instagram: @betapixels
• Facebook: @betapixels.photography
• Twitter: @betapixel
• Other: Vero: @betapixels Mastodon: https://photog.social/@betapixels Bluesky / bsky: @betapixels.photography

Image Credits
na – all owned by me