Hey Wicked Hunters,

Excited to announce this week guest for The Art of Photography Podcast with John Weatherby.

 

John Weatherby, a skilled photographer from Tampa, embarked on his photographic journey while juggling waitering duties during his college years. His initial foray into photography began with managing social media accounts, which sparked an interest in enhancing his photographic skills. This newfound passion led Weatherby to invest in professional gear, including a DSLR camera and lighting equipment.

Breaking away from the hospitality sector, Weatherby turned his lens towards the scenic vistas of Tampa Bay. His unique captures of the city quickly garnered local admiration and underscored his potential to transform his hobby into a thriving career. In 2015, Weatherby established Weatherby Photography, a venture that has since collaborated with prominent names like Uber, the University of Tampa, and the Home Depot.

Renowned for his vibrant and innovative depictions of Tampa, Weatherby excels in presenting the city through a creative lens. His portfolio, however, is not limited to fine art; it also encompasses commercial and architectural photography. Weatherby's philosophy revolves around the gratification of turning a beloved hobby into a sustainable livelihood. He finds immense joy and fulfillment in not only pursuing his passion but also in adding value to the lives and businesses of others through his artistic talent.

 

You can connect and browse through more of John’s work below:

https://linktr.ee/whereisweatherby

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whereisweatherby/

Website and prints: https://johnweatherby.com/

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Transcription

 

John Weatherby  0:00  

It gets really confusing really fast. But having guidance from somebody who has experienced and who is like working professionally will help a lot. At the end of the day, you can price your art or your work at whatever you want.

Stanley Aryanto - The Wicked Hunt  0:25  

Hey, wicked hunters Welcome back to The Art of Photography podcast, where we share artists journey and show how we can give hope, purpose and happy and today we have someone special, someone who's been in the photography, travel and landscape photography scene for a long, long time, someone who's been very respected in this place. And today, I want to introduce John Weatherby. John, welcome to the podcast, very excited to have you here. How things on your end, I know you're in New York, and at the moment, what's going on? Not much. i Yeah, I'm in New York right now, I taking a break from Van life, I'm usually travelling in my Sprinter van, for the most part, but I like to take a break now and then and rent a place in a big city like New York, because it's just the opposite of Van life. You know, like, you know, Van life can be very remote and inconvenient sometimes, which can be good. But if you're, you know, trying to check out from the busy world, but yeah, New York is like the opposite of that. So just striking a balance, and usually take this time to get caught up on work and filming and stuff like that, where I need like a consistent space. And that's awesome. I know you got I know, you have a really nice backdrop there. And Ben van life is awesome. It's something that is in my bucket list. You know, before COVID I was a wanted to drive down to South America as actually it was literally a week before everything closed down. You know, before I was gonna go out, so yeah, man, I'm, I'm gonna make it, make it back there one day, but that's awesome. So before we get into, you know,

Stanley Aryanto - The Wicked Hunt  2:16  

depth into, you know, what are your journey, some of the things that you have been doing in the photography space, share with us a little bit about you? What got you into photography? Like, how do you fall in love with photography? And what make you stay? Yeah.

John Weatherby  2:32  

Okay. So when I was finishing school, I was working as a waiter. And I,

John Weatherby  2:40  

I've always been kind of entrepreneurial. So I made an arrangement with the restaurant that I worked at, to basically manage their social media, or not manage it, but posts on it periodically, and I would take photos of the food for the Instagram, basically. So I was taking photos of sushi at this restaurant. And then I worked out the tray basically, to where I could take photos of the food and then eat for free, basically. So

John Weatherby  3:09  

a professional photographer came into the restaurant one day, and he took photos for the menu. And he had this whole elaborate setup. He had, you know, professional gear, Nikon prime lenses. He had the flash with the umbrellas and all this stuff. So when I saw the photos that he took, compared to my iPhone photos, I was like, blown away. So that was my first I guess, like exposure to photography. And then when I realised that like, I wanted to step my own game up, I reached out to him and got advice on what kind of camera to buy. So I started taking photos at the restaurant first with, you know, a DSLR. And then I started getting curious, and I started going out and taking photos of the skyline around Tampa. I'm from Tampa, Florida. And then people started noticing the photos that I was sharing of this Tampa skyline and asking to buy prints of them. So that you know, set up a light bulb like oh, well I can money from this. And then people started reaching out to me asking me to do photo shoots. So I would get asked to do like headshots for people or take, you know, real estate photos, family photos and stuff like that. So I started doing that as like a side hustle. And through the advice of a mentor. He told me basically if you really like photography, you know continue to work at the restaurant, post graduation and just take on more and more clients until you get so busy that you could leave the restaurant and do photography for work. So that's what I did. And I started doing commercial photography around Tampa Bay and you know, I realised I can make pretty good money with that. So I had a little studio space for a while, and I was doing work with clients like commercial stuff and lifestyle stuff. And then I started using those funds to travel. And, you know, through travelling, I fell in love with travel and landscape photography. So, you know, one, the commercial stuff became a means to the end, I was, you know, flying home to Tampa, you know, booking multiple shoots back to back within a week or two so that I can make money, and then travel, as long as I could on that money, go back and repeat the cycle, until I eventually realised how I can make money through landscape and travel photography, right. So I started doing workshops, I started booking shoots, in different places for commercial clients, to where I can, you know, go to Iceland and take some photos, you know, for example, of a product or work with a company to use their product to take photos or, you know, create content for their marketing and stuff like that in different places. And then, eventually, I started teaching photography more doing workshops and creating courses and created a plugin for Photoshop. And that's kind of where I'm at today.

Stanley Aryanto - The Wicked Hunt  6:24  

Yeah, that's amazing. What What a journey it started with the Shushi you must have liked the shoe shoe there. Hey, started

John Weatherby  6:31  

off sushi. Now. We're here and

Stanley Aryanto - The Wicked Hunt  6:34  

fantastic. That is awesome. Honestly, I've heard a lot of stories how people started photography. Never ever I heard it started with a sushi. And that's just incredible how, you know, you go from taking photo with an iPhone at a sushi place to where you are today. Yeah, so

John Weatherby  6:51  

that's where things will lead. It's, it's, it's crazy looking back all the dots connected, you know? But yeah,

Stanley Aryanto - The Wicked Hunt  7:00  

and that's awesome. Because, you know, I think a lot of people are very impatient. And you know, when they're looking at, oh, man, I'm not there. And, you know, they just like, oh, I don't think I'm gonna make it or, you know, what's what's wrong with me? Or why? Why can I make it. But as you say, you know, looking back, connecting the dots and seeing how it all transpired to where it bring you today. I think that's a really powerful message. Now you say you were your post grad, you know, and you're working at the restaurant, and you are doing this as a side hustle. What, what were you studying back then?

John Weatherby  7:35  

I was studying advertising and public relations. So my original plan was to become like, an account manager for like an ad agency. So that was kind of my idea. I actually did an internship while I was in school, and then, you know, I realised through that it was at a marketing agency. And I realised that's not really what I was interested in, you know, like, sitting in a desk nine to five every day was pretty dreadful. So I, yeah, I'm, I love, you know, the change of scenery, I love, you know, taking on different projects, and, you know, switching things up and not necessarily having a routine. So photography definitely provide that for me versus, you know, sitting at a desk and doing the same stuff every single day. I gotta came in imagine, yeah, that's awesome. And

Episode ID: 1000636800528

GUID: thewickedhunt.podbean.com/fbcb5c42-5763-39d3-b050-081b769a272f

Release Date: 28/11/2023, 21:58:23