We were lucky to catch up with Tom Cocking recently and have shared our conversation below.

Tom, appreciate you joining us today. Looking back, do you think you started your business at the right time? Do you wish you had started sooner or later?

I wish I would have started earlier. I was so apprehensive and didn’t believe that you could make an actual living off of photography so I kept telling myself there’s no way this could be an actual business. The hardest part about running a creative business is the most boring part of it, the business itself. If you have the creativity and an eye thats great but you have to understand the in’s and outs of how a business works. Contracts, taxes, getting an LLC, all of this takes time and money and helps establish you as a legitimate business. Starting earlier would have given me a better chance at learning more about how to run the hardest parts of it. I am still learning something new every day that I wish I would have learned years ago.

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 am a product/fashion photographer and work mainly with food and beverage brands and clothing/shoe brands. I specialize in lifestyle imagery so I love working with people interacting with the product or wearing it. Initially, I had started as a portrait photographer but it’s a lot harder to make money doing so. After booking a few paid jobs with product companies that wanted me to incorporate people with product I realized it was something I really enjoyed. I got to shoot with people but also help sell a product and that felt like the best of both worlds. Working with people really does bring me joy, I am incredibly extroverted and being around others energizes me so much. Being able to get to know people, understand them. laugh with them, etc…makes shooting with them even more fun. Plus we get to shoot with fun products that we all get to enjoy after.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

“I can fix that in post” It’s the dumbest thing to say. When I get to a shoot, I get so excited to start shooting I always forgot about fixing the little details. Fixing a cord in the background or a part of the set that was out of place. Instead of taking hours to fix something in post, just fix it right f***ing then. Save yourself the stress. I remember I was shooting a wedding when I was first starting and we shot a lot of the images with this beautiful intricate brick laid backdrop. There were cords and some bags and things that I noticed after and figured I could just photoshop it later. It was so ridiculously hard to match all the lines and bricks up after removing the items in the background. I have learned now to take my time, make sure that everything in the image is perfect, or as perfect as I can make it before having to deal with it all in post. I have to constantly remind myself to take a breath, remember how you want the image to look and fix what needs to be fixed before you even take a picture.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

When things go even better than you imagined. There is no better feeling to me than when I have an idea or concept and can find a brand who also likes the concept and then it turns out better than I had ever imagined. When I take the first picture and go “oh shit, this is dope” I love that feeling so much and I get so excited my jaw and face muscles get so sore from smiling. Coming home and being so excited to upload the photos so I can edit is something so rewarding and only increases my love for what I do.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.fmtsphotography.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/fmtsphotography