From Trading Airbnb Stays to Shooting Pro Sports with Shane Wilkie

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Shane Wilkie (00:02):
The host could come in with their cell phone
and shoot a pretty decent photoof just the property, the rooms,
the kitchen, What I've alwaystried to do with the images is
to make images where the viewerwould kind of see themselves in
the image.
You can picture yourself therehaving breakfast.
And maybe if you're there, youmight want a fancy breakfast

(00:23):
because you're at a fancy place.
It's almost like that weirdmarketing psychology.
Hey photo friends.
Raymond here and welcome to theBeginner Photography Podcast
where every Tuesday I drop abrand new episode to help you
capture better photos bylearning from some of the
world's most creativephotographers.
And here on Thursdays, I share arewind episode, a past

(00:44):
conversation handpicked justbecause it is as valuable today
as of when it first aired.
So whether you're brand new tophotography or you are
revisiting with fresh ears, thisone is packed with timeless
photo wisdom to help you growbehind the lens.
In today's rewind episode, weare chatting with community
member Shane Wilkie about how tobuild confidence and express

(01:06):
emotion in your sports andcommercial photography.
But first, the BeginnerPhotography Podcast is brought
to you by Cloud Spot.
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ready.
Shane has been a member of theBeginner Photography podcast
community for a few years, andhis growth as a photographer
from both a skill level andconfidence level has just
exploded since he joined thegroup, and it has been amazing
to witness.

(01:48):
In fact, this is his secondtime.
I've interviewed him on thepodcast because of his growth.
So in this episode, we cover alot from the pivot he made that
helped to give him a lane togrow into full time, to
photographing meaningfulpersonal projects and the one
photography skill that has madethe biggest impact, and got

(02:08):
people to take notice of hiswork.
Spoiler alert, it's learningflash.
We also talk a lot about gainingconfidence when you're so new in
your journey and trying to kindof figure it all out when you're
working around photographers whohave been doing it for years, I.
And remember, Shane is a part ofthe beginner photography podcast
community along with more than6,000 other photographers just

(02:29):
like you, who are learning togrow their skills in the safest
place on the internet for newphotographers.
So come join us, won't you?
It is free to join.
So just head over to beginnerphoto pod.com/group.
That's it, and I hope to see youthere.
So with that, let's go ahead andget on into today's rewind
interview with Shane Wilke.

Raymond Hatfield (02:48):
Shane, last time you and I, spoke, you were
like, Doing this interview froma drum set and today it looks
like you're in like a properoffice or something like this is
a big upgrade.
So also last time we chatted itwas 2021 And I recently went
back and listened to theinterview.
I don't know if you did as well.
Did you

I haven't heard it since then.

good call good call?
I think you're shooting withlike a rebel t7 or something
like

Yeah,

Uh, The T5, man, even older.
This is great.
watching you grow over the pastfew years has been, incredible
to see.
So I'm really excited to chattoday more about kind of what
you've been up to.
So I guess first question, areyou still shooting with a T5?

I am not.
I've since

No?
What happened?

Ah, well, I, put aside some money with all the
shoots I was doing with thatRebel T5 and, eventually
upgraded to a Canon R6.

My gosh, that's a massive upgrade to go
from, such an entry level cameraone, you jumped right into that,
I guess we're not even likereally into it yet, but like,
was that a big transition foryou or, or did that come pretty
natural for you?

It honestly came really natural for me.
the big reason for the upgrade,I mean, aside from the crop
sensor versus full frame.
Kind of, I just wanted that fullframe look, but I have really
bad eyes.
You might notice me squint a lotthrough this, but yeah, so I was
having a lot of trouble with theviewfinder in the rebel and just

(04:13):
going to the EVF really made ita lot easier for me.
And I mean, that autofocussystem kind of speaks for
itself.
The newer Canon cameras.

Yeah.
This is something that I hope,maybe people who are still maybe
shooting with the entry levelcamera.
Did you notice that the qualityof your images?
Got better, or was it justsimply the quality of the
camera?
what was more noticeable for youwhen you upgraded?

I honestly feel like the quality of the camera.
it was an easier tool to use.
I think I had learned a lotabout the camera I was using.
So there was still things like,I noticed that it's full frame.
I, I definitely noticed I didn'thave as much reach.
You know, that, the 1.
6 crop.
So

ha ha ha.

yeah, my lenses weren't as long.
honestly, yeah, just the, cameraitself.
It felt nicer, like, you usedCanon for a bit, right?

yeah.

Did you use the mirrorless ones or were you,

No, I switched, away from the Canon 5D
Mark III when I switched toFuji.
So, still a DSLR.

oh, okay, yeah, yeah, I was, the reason I ask is
I find that they're reallylight, the Canon mirrorless.
They're just a joy to, joy touse.

That's funny, that's exactly how I describe
using my Fuji cameras.
It really is, personalpreference, obviously.
it's good to hear that it hasbeen an easy transition for you.
So, again, last time we spoke,you had talked about staying T5
for a while because you wantedto start, you wanted to earn
whatever your next camera wasgoing to be.
You wanted to earn it throughyour photography.

(05:44):
you obviously upgraded.
tell me how you earned itthrough your photography.
What have you been shootingsince then?

it was a lot of the same stuff, honestly.
I branched out a little bit, butat the time I was doing, I
think, mostly just events.
The odd little couple's familyshoot then.
I think in the last time wespoke on the podcast, I think I
was really aspiring to do somewedding photographer thing or
portraits.
I don't even really know wheremy mindset was.

(06:13):
I don't think I knew as muchabout myself then and how I work
as a photographer.
And like, you learn yourstrengths and your weaknesses
over time.
So yeah, I guess I was doing abit of everything then.
And then, get the R6, mostlyevents.
And now I've kind of branched alittle further out into

(06:33):
photojournalism and then doingsome commercial work for like
Airbnb's in the area andrestaurants and other local
businesses.

So, just obviously following you for the
past few years.
and seeing your growth.
That was one of the big thingsthat, I've noticed a lot.
Is, one, Your commercial work, Icould point it out, like just
when looking at your images, andI'm just gonna let you describe
it.
Tell me about, because I guesswhen I first started seeing it,
it was you and your wife goingto like Airbnbs and stuff.

(07:02):
tell me, I guess, are youworking for Airbnb, or like,
what is this setup, what isthis, system that you got going
on working with Airbnbs?

So I don't work with Airbnb themselves.
It's just with the individual,operators, like tourism
operators here, the hosts, Iguess they're called super
hosts.

yeah, yeah.

Um,

are the people who own the homes?

Yeah, these are the people who own the
properties and it started out asI was doing a lot of it like
portfolio building so it was atrade of services for
accommodations Yeah, I was justreached out to some of them
explained that Hey, I reallywant to do this Here's some work
I've done and you know for asmany yeses as I got there was a

(07:44):
lot more no's and you just rollwith it and Then I just started
doing it a little more and otherhosts started noticing and
reaching out to me and that'swhen it started to transition
into paid work and I really tookthe approach of I don't want to
say this in like a negative waybecause I definitely don't look

(08:06):
down on influencers But I tookthe influencer approach to it
where I was in a lot of thephotos And that was, different,
Yeah you were shooting

a lot of, like, just landscapes and stuff
at that point, right?

Yeah.
you're essentially just settingup a landscape shot and you're
getting in it, or setting up ashot where you want to show a
nice breakfast, so you're itlook like you're just enjoying
yourself.
Well, I mean, we laugh, we haveso much fun doing this, we laugh
at ourselves.
It's hard to take your own photoin that context.

You mean just simply from, a technical
perspective?
Or something

Yeah, like, well you know what, from a technical
perspective it was like, alittle bit to figure out at
first.
okay, do I want to use the appon my phone and control the
camera that way?
Or do I want it to fire a photoevery couple seconds?
So it was a little bit of a, howdo I do this technically and
then how do we make the bestphoto possible?

(09:03):
Which like, We kind of figuredout early on was just like have
as much fun as possible.
And like the good photos, theytend to come.

So what did you do?
Did you decide to, did you justuse your phone to snap the
photos?
Or did you use the, I guess wasthat the intervalometer?
Is that

Yeah.
That's what I was using.
That's what ultimately workedbetter because then you're not
three to one pose.
It's, we could sit, have aconversation and kind of forget
that the camera was across theroom, just clicking away.

Oh, wow.
Yeah, that's a good idea.
That's a good idea because Ifeel like, it's funny whenever I
look at, like commercial work,whenever I look through a
magazine and I see people likelaughing and sometimes there's
this tendency to like gooverboard, maybe it's that the
models feel like they have toearn their money or, the photo
editor is like, we have tochoose something that really
says, You're having a blast,like this is the best moment of

(09:52):
your life.
But like, with your photos, Inever feel that way.
I look at them, and they feelvery natural.
But there's also still thisreally clean, polished look to
them.
that feels, well, professional.
professional and natural.
Like, it's a good blend of thetwo.
I'm glad that you shared how yougot that with the
intervalometer.
That's a good trick right there.
tell me how you would set upsome of these photos.

(10:13):
let's take this breakfastexample.
let's run a little bit withthis.
how would you set up a goodbreakfast shot?
And I guess, two.
why did you need that for theAirbnb when the people weren't,
maybe the next guess wouldn'tnecessarily make that same
breakfast, I would think, lookat the views, look at the house
itself.
Look at the amenities.
But you're focusing onbreakfast, so tell me why you
did that as well.

Yeah.
Yeah.
So the idea that I kind of gowith there is that I mean,
really the host could come inwith their cell phone and shoot
a pretty decent photo of justthe property, the rooms, the
kitchen, like in this case ofbeing breakfast.
what I've always tried to dowith the images is to make
images where the viewer wouldkind of see themselves in the

(10:56):
image.
You can picture yourself therehaving breakfast.
And maybe if you're there, youmight want a fancy breakfast
because you're at a fancy place.
It's almost like that weirdmarketing psychology.
And that you always want to makeit look bright and happy.
And that's like kind of whereyou mentioned the really clean
look.
So yeah, just that thought of,well, you could have breakfast

(11:20):
here and enjoy yourself likethis, you know?

It works.
I mean, when I look at it.
I think, I want to have thatmuch fun.
Like, this looks like a blast.
This is great.
but I also think about like someof your, earlier photos, cause
again, in the last time wespoke, you told me your entrance
into all of this was throughvideo, through skateboard

It

which turned into skateboard photos.
And, when I think of,skateboarding photos.
There's like this grittiness,like do whatever it takes to get
the shot type feel to theimages, whether it's high ISO,
whether it's low light, whetherit's, slow shutter speed,
whatever it is.
And then guess the word polishedisn't what I would necessarily

(12:01):
use to describe the world ofskateboarding images, but that's
kind of where you're at now.
so was that a by product of.
seeing where you wanted to go?
Or was this more of the stylethat was within you?
Does that question make

no, you know what it does because it's something
that like i've been really kindof seeing in my work lately And
like i've started to reallyaccept and then take that and
run with it is that I think itwas just always inside me from
the years of Like film andskateboarding watching
skateboard videos just consumingthat much content because i've
been really seeing lately Howit's influenced how I see the

(12:40):
world how I shoot and that likeone little example I get low no
matter what and I shoot up Icaught myself at a wedding last
weekend.
I just was shooting up doing alot of the shots thinking like
oh, no No, this isn't reallywhat's working right now But
it's just the go to And the goto is to lay down on the ground

(13:00):
or squat on the ground whereit's like Skateboarding you
always want to look up at theskater

Yeah.

And

Makes them look much higher in the air.

exactly.
Yeah.
And you know what though?
It's been really fun to shootcertain things like sports and
even pro wrestling to take thatexperience from skateboarding.
And you're kind of looking at ita little bit different than
maybe someone who just onlylooked at sports photography, if
they only shot soccer or hockey,baseball, et cetera.

Yeah.
Yeah.
okay.
let's kind of go in thatdirection because, as you just
mentioned, you're also shootinghockey.
You're also shooting prowrestling.
you got some new projects comingup.
you also just mentioned that youwere at a wedding.
So give me like this 50, 000foot or 30, 000 foot overview of
what is Shane Wilkie shootingtogether?
Right.
what are all the things thatyou're currently shooting right

(13:49):
now?
Cause it's a lot.

You know what?
it's hard to keep track ofcommercially.
I re like, I said, I'm reallylike trying to narrow it into
photojournalism, events, thatsort of thing.
But, I mean, I'm still like, Ido a wedding, but I don't
necessarily advertise weddingphotography.
sports is kind of new.
But that kind of came throughphotojournalism.

(14:11):
My first gig, for the Canadianpress was to cover a university
basketball championship.
there's kind of a bit ofeverything going on,

That makes it fun,

yeah, but with the projects, it's something
completely different because Iknew I needed something for
myself and I like film was thatit still is, but I would just
post my shots.
At will, whereas now I'm beenworking towards something all
year pretty much that I'm goingto release in December so

(14:41):
between that and the commercialwork, it's been really uh,
draining, but very uh, Rewardinglike it's kind of not like I
don't want it to sound like Idislike it.
It's a labor of love for sure

of course, I feel like there's 19 different
directions that we can go in.
but first, let's start wherekinda, you went right there,
which was talking about, doingsome photojournalism work.
how did this come about?
where was this on the timelineof you getting into, shooting
Airbnbs as well?
Or was this?
Sometime around there.
I kind of want to build like aprogression of how you got to

(15:15):
where you are today

Yeah, so I guess if we pull back just a little
bit before that You To likegetting the Canon R6.
I got that it was like Decemberone year.
And then that next year I barelydid any paid work.
More honestly, my first year Idid more than my second year
because I just took that yearand really just focused on the
photography itself, but I stillwas doing events and

(15:39):
coincidentally, it was theuniversity here, Cape Breton
university that was consistentlyhiring me at events, always
sports.
And I wouldn't shoot the game,they would hire me to shoot
everything around the game.
But I started to be around,like, a lot of sports and, like,
kind of, I don't want to say gotknown as, someone who shot
sports, but, it kind of wentthat way.

(15:59):
And then, because of that,that's where the photojournalism
came up.
Canadian press needed someonefor a U sports basketball
championship.
So I took that opportunitythere, and that would have been,
Maybe a little bit before theAirbnb stuff, kind of right
around when it was just startingto be an idea.

Why do you think that the university wanted
you to shoot all the stuffaround?
Sports and not necessarily theaction itself

So the idea there was because they have a team
photographer for the various,varsity teams.
But it's kind of what we talkedabout, with the Airbnb
photography is that it'sphotography for marketing
purposes, where the goal for mewas to get.
people wearing the colors of theuniversity as well as enjoying

(16:47):
themselves at the event.
So then you're looking formoments and you're almost
exclusively at that point, atthat point, I was exclusively
looking for photos of peoplesmiling wearing orange.
And then it just like somethingclicked of like, okay, if the
photo doesn't have someone'sface smiling, Telling a story.
It's not really what I'm lookingfor.
And those photos I was getting,the school started, they were

(17:10):
really happy with them becauseit was just shots of people
enjoying themselves.
I think I just had this knackfor being able to walk around a
crowd and just observe and justsee moments or you know, hear a
conversation and know what's alittle loud so all those people
might, they might laugh.
Anything, they might smile.

(17:31):
And it really snowballed fromthere.
But yeah, that was essentiallyit, was to have photos of the
game experience to make thatappeal to fans that might want
to come.

Yeah, I see.
so before we move on, I want tostick with this for just a
moment because, I want to know,were you nervous before you
showed up to something likethis?
Because I think any,photographer who's never taken a
camera into a crowd tophotograph people, the idea is
terrifying.
And you think that everybody'sgoing to get mad at you and say,
why are you taking a photo ofme?

(18:01):
And get like argumentative.
Were you worried about that?
And did any of that happen?

I don't think I was like scared beyond belief,
but I was a little bit unnervedby it.
And it went really well thatfirst time in those first few
times.
And I've been admittedly prettylucky as far as interactions
with people not wanting theirphoto taken, or just awkward
interactions in general.

(18:28):
You know, we all have a coupleof them.

Of course.

yeah, pretty lucky with it.
But I wasn't that scared.
And I'll tell you, it hits me onthe ones when I'm least
expecting it.

What do you mean?

if it's maybe an event kind of like the CBU one
shooting crowd stuff every nowand then it's one where it's
like Oh, I've done this exact aroom this exact type of event so
many times, but for whateverreason today I'm my nerves are
up and it's just kind ofsometimes it happens.
Sometimes it doesn't I'm sureyou might have felt that with

(19:01):
weddings sometimes.
Like sometimes you might roll upwith a little more confidence
than others.
did you ever find that?

no, I was always on my game, ready to go,
perfect gentleman, tons ofconfidence, every single time.
No, of course I did, yeah, no,it was difficult, yeah.
No, it sucks, especially causesome weddings you'd go to, this
is what I would find.
The bigger the wedding, I wouldget more self conscious, and I
think that it was because, ninetimes out of ten, I would just

(19:27):
shoot by myself.
So it's like with a smallerwedding, Mm hmm.
Everybody knew that I was aphotographer.
Everybody knows that there'stypically a photographer at a
wedding.
and like in their brain itmatched, but at these larger
weddings, where I wasn't asvisible throughout the entire
day, maybe I was over here witha couple while people were over
there when I would go to takephotos, I wouldn't have this.

(19:48):
Instant bond with people justbecause we were in the same
place at the same time at thesame event, if that makes sense.
So, yeah, I totally get that.
So does that mean that you'dwalk around with like a jersey
or like a media pass or howwould you start to build that

no, you're exactly right.
every time I had one of thoseuniversity events, they had free
shirts.
I just grabbed a shirt and Iwould just accumulate CBU
shirts.
And what I learned was how tolike how to blend into a crowd
is to wear the dress like Thepeople.
And I mean, having a mediacredential helps so much.
It's something that certaintypes of events now, I, I either

(20:24):
request it or I just bring myown, like,

You mean like from another event?
Like just, that says

it's just a blank one.
I'll just put business cards in

Uh

anything for that little, like we talked about,
like that confidence, I guess,because, I would rather have it
than not, if it's just going tomean that I feel like I'm on my
game,

right.
Yeah, and a random creepy dudewith a camera probably isn't
gonna have a media pass badgewith that with information
inside.
So yeah, that's.
a that is a great tip rightthere I don't know if I ever
would have thought

you know what, too, just to go off on that with
the random creepy doo with thecamera thing, that's a good
point because, it's kind of oneof those things where, like, if
you're a little nervous, butyou're standing back with a
telephoto lens really far away,that looks creepy.
But if you walk point blank with35mm, 50mm, and you get right in
someone's face, they know youtook that photo.

(21:19):
you had the courage to go up andtake the photo.
You're probably there to as thephotographer because it's an
event.
And then it's funny because overtime with that confidence, doing
that at events, it's kind oflike gave me more confidence.
The odd time.
If I'm out in public, I wannaphotograph in the street.
If I just want to take a photo,I'm a little used to it now.

Yeah.
You know what's funny, kind of aside story here, I just went up
to Milwaukee to watch a BrewersDodgers game with Jim in the
group, and we were doing likethis little photo walk
beforehand, right?
I'm working on this project.
It's nothing official yet, butit's Dodger fans at other
stadiums, right?
So what I'm looking for isDodger fans with whatever the

(22:04):
home team, so, somebody wearinga Dodgers jersey, and then in
this case, somebody wearing aBrewers jersey as well.
And there was this couple, andthey were a good looking couple.
The guy had a, on a Dodgersjersey, which I'm pretty sure
that he just like, I don't thinkthat he was really a fan, but he
just like had all the stuff.
And then, his girlfriend had, Onall the brewers stuff.
And I was like, this is great.
They're a young couple.
I'm going to ask to take theirphoto.

(22:24):
So I said, Hey, can I take yourphoto?
Like you guys look greattogether.
And obviously like the two teamsand they're like, yeah, of
course.
But what I forgot to mentionhere is that I was just taking
all these photos with just myphone.
So at this moment, I was just soused to like being in that mode
of asking people to take theirphoto and then using say my Fuji
camera, like a proper camera,that I didn't even think that it
would be weird if I just pulledup my phone to take a photo of

(22:48):
these two random people.
And they looked at me almostimmediately like, wait, what is
going on here?
And then I took the photo, and Ileft, and I thought, wow, that
was, uh, super weird.
Uh, but that just speaks to yourpoint that, the more that you do
it, the more you get comfortablewith it.
And, I do think that you're ontosomething where, like, the
confidence of just going up andbeing like, Hey, this is what

(23:08):
I'm doing.
Can I take your photo?
it does say something, and Idon't know if you found this.
Do people get lessargumentative?
The closer you are to themtaking their photo, the more
obvious that you are takingtheir photo, do they become less
weird about you taking thephoto.
Does that make sense?

Yeah, I find if I'm closer, it's generally, it
goes over better.

That's weird,

yeah, and you would think it's the opposite,
but almost depends on if theysee me as I'm about to take the
photo or if I just took thephoto.
do they see me when the camera'scoming up to the face or down
from the face?
That kind of will be thetelltale if it's going to be,
hey, you just took my photo,

yay! We just got a photo! Yay! Yeah.

but you know what?
It either, in that case it goesone of two ways.
They either just look at you andsmile because they want, yeah,
you're gonna take my photo.
Or they give you that, what theheck is this person doing?
Look.

Yeah, and then you just probably just end up
deleting those photos anyway,so.
let's move on from there, right?
So you were doing the sports.
and then what came next in yourprogression?
Because I also know, we want totalk about curling a little bit.
is that kind of the nextprogression or was that later
on?

so, curling came from a bit of sports and, other,
like, commercial experience.
the World Women's CurlingChampionships came here this
March past.
And, Curling Canada had beenlooking for photographers for
it, so myself and a couple otherlocal photographers were all,
picked by them to come and shootthe event.

real quick?
I gotta know in Canada, is thislike a big sport?
Is curling like a big sport?
Cause in the Olympics, it alwayslooks like a major sport, but is
it like in real life?
Is this like a big sport inCanada?

I'll start by saying this was the first time
I've attended a curling game oryou know what I mean?
So but it I don't want to sayit's not big because I don't
want to like throw shade atcurlers or like

No, no, no, of course, I just didn't know if
you and your buddies would allget together and like, Hey,
let's go watch curling likemaybe we do for football or
baseball here in America, oreven

Oh, yeah.
Yeah, it's

So, clearly okay, it's no hockey.
Okay, that's all that I neededto know.
Yeah, not that there's novalidity in it, that's not what
I was getting at, but, I gotcha.
Okay, so curling, go on.

I guess I had a bit of hockey experience like
shooting hockey too like justnot just doing university sports
sideline stuff.
I eventually got a bit of,experience shooting like in game
stuff.
And then, yeah, like I said,because of that and the
commercial experience, I wasreached out to about the World

(25:43):
Curling Championships here.
And really they wanted us toshoot everything around it.
Kind of like I mentioned, likethe action around the games, the
crowd experience.
for marketing purposes forfuture events.
And

is like right up your alley.

exactly.
But at the end of the day too, Iknew how big of an opportunity
this was.
And I'm going to preface this bysaying I was a volunteer
photographer for it.
I did not get paid a dime forit.
So I knew that.
I wanted to get as much out ofit as I could because I won't, I
might not get that chance, evenif it's, not paid, like the ego

(26:21):
got put completely aside for it,and it was how can I learn, how
can I be better?
And so, what I would do forthat, once I got there, and
having never shot curling, isokay, Get there, go a little
early, stay a little late, justso you can get all the shots you
need.
But then watch the game closely.

(26:41):
I mean, I kind of knew how therules and how it worked, but
mainly it was watch the otherphotographers.
You know, world curlingphotographers, the other curling
Canada, photographers, then theones from like the wire
services, watch how they dress,how they move, where they go,
how they shoot, when they shoot.
and I really like all week wentevery single day.

(27:03):
and was paying really closeattention to the other
photographers and how could I dothat?
So then midweek I made thispitch to my contact.
They're like, Hey, I've beenhere every day.
this seems to be going reallygood.
What do you think?
I get out on the ice for halfthe game later tonight for the
Canada game.
I'd love to get one shot.

(27:24):
And I was like, shocked.
They were like, yeah, noproblem.
And then, so I got to go outfor, through the rest of the
event that week.
I had to still fulfill mycommitments of shooting around
the rink.
But then, yeah, I was gettingout to shoot during a live TSM
broadcast.
Which like, yeah, that was, thatwas cool.

(27:46):
And then like, you know, you getoff the ice and then you're
getting all the messages from,it's the photos of you from like
people around the building.
So yeah, like, It was a lot ofprogression through that week,
and I'm sorry if I strayed awayfrom your question with

Not at all.
In fact, this is great.
The idea of taking a gig forfree, but then using it, to
better yourself, learn fromothers, see how this is done
professionally, network, andthen even ask, for more
opportunity for you to grow yourportfolio is phenomenal.
And that's something that Idon't think that enough people,

(28:21):
do.
So I think that you sharing thisis extremely helpful.
And I don't even rememberexactly what my question was,
but like, whatever it was,whatever you shared was much
better than that for sure.

happy to talk about it, because I think that
that's one thing that, for me, Ididn't hear enough of, and when
I was learning photography andtrying to consume as much media
as possible, I didn't reallyever hear anyone say, like, ask
questions and And the takingcalculated risks side, and
taking chances, cause the end ofthe curling story, long story
short, I used my access to getout onto the ice during the gold

(28:55):
medal celebration, which Canadawon in Canada.
So that was huge.
And funny enough, I got a photofrom the celebration that ended
up being published in amagazine.

Really?

so it kind of goes back to what you said about
taking the gig for free to, kindof better yourself.
Cause.
I can honestly say that was likethe single most rewarding thing
I've done in photography.

Mm why do you think your photo was chosen
rather than, you said that therewas other, official
photographers and, photographersfrom wire services.
why yours do you think?

you know what, I really don't know because of the
one that got chosen of Canadiancurler, Rachel Homan, like
lifting up the trophy andkissing it.
I think there was four otherphotographers and we were all
shoulder to shoulder, all tookthe shot.
And maybe I just was standing inthe right spot.
I don't know.
Maybe the magazine had.
Access to only my photo,

yours was chosen.

I shouldn't have got that photo because I made
such an amateur mistake I was soworried about being where I
needed to be to run out at theright time Raymond I went out
both my camera bodies hadblinking red batteries

Shane!

And you know what?
I'm pleased to say I made itthrough got all the shots and
neither of them died

Oh my gosh.

Like, how does that

Just you saying that, my anxiety is like,
oh no.
Oh no, that's the worst.
that's only happened to me once.
And

it's Horrible cuz I was all cool guy when the
first one was blinking red likewhatever I got another one here
And then like, oh no

Not both of them.
Okay, so, you learn from that?
Did you buy more batteries ordid you buy a grip?
or are you shooting less?
Like, how are you going to avoidthat ever happening again?

I always Even if I have a full battery, I have a
full one in my pocket, too Likeone of my spares is always in my
pocket.

Good call, good call.
That's like, a pro tip forwedding photographers is always
carry an extra pair of pants inyour car.
Just in case.
Because there's nothing worse.

do you know what's funny?
Where I mentioned I shot awedding last week?
I totally, because I've heardyou mention it on the podcast, I
had a pair of pants and a shirtin a bag, in the back

Yes! Yes! Go Shane, yes.
Did you have to use them?

Oh, no, no, I

you have to use them?
thank goodness they were there,yeah.

gear malfunctions.
It's not always just your cameragear,

always just your camera gear, exactly.
Exactly.
No, I had a wedding a few yearsago and this couple like already
were kind of like, it's not thatthey were on the fence about me.
But they originally wanted tobook another photographer who
was booked for their date.
And then that photographerreferred them to me.
And just in talking to them, Iwas like, Oh, okay.

(31:45):
They want a little bit more ofwhat this other photographer
does than what I do.
But it's not so wildly off thatI can't deliver.
I will do my best here, right?
so I always felt like I wasbattling this uphill battle,
like the entire engagementshoot, the entire wedding, all
of it.
And then at the end of thenight, they were doing this like
sparkler exit and like they werethrowing rice or whatever.

(32:06):
And I was like, all right, I'mgood to go.
Like.
I promise you, I had checked allof my stuff before, waiting for
them to come out.
And then once they opened upthose doors and started walking
out, yeah, my camera did thesame thing.
It was like, oh, uh, flashingbattery, you only have, like,
one photo.
I got one shot.
I only got one shot them walkingout.
Actually died.
Yeah, actually died.

(32:27):
I would turn it off, pull thebattery real quick, put it back
in, turn it back on, hoping thatmaybe it would cool it down just
enough to give it one more shot,and it never did, so I only got
one shot, and surprisingly, theynever said anything about only
having one shot of this, hundredfoot, sparkler exit, where you'd
think that they would have atleast, like, a dozen photos, but
they never said anything, and itwas their, like, profile photo

(32:48):
for a while, still to this day,I have nightmares of that
moment, I have no idea whathappened, but, Terrifying for
sure.
So yeah, I got home and orderedlike seven more official Fuji
batteries online and I had totake out a second mortgage
because as you know likeofficial batteries are like so
expensive but And I never wantto find myself in that position
again.
So Anyway, I want to move on andtalk about, your upcoming

(33:08):
projects as well, because youtold me about this, in your
email that you've been workingon this for a while.
This is a big project and youeven kind of alluded to it
there.
Tell me what it is that you gotgoing on.
And I already have some morequestions, but I'll wait until
we get kind of a scope of whatthis is.
What are you working on?

I'm doing a project that focuses on A couple
things kind of like myupbringing.
i'm adopted I was adopted when Iwas three months old, and I've
kind of just, all my life like,I've always held that as part of
my identity.
It was very special to me, and Iwas very open about it.
And then in through my 20s andwhatnot, it became a little more

(33:48):
of a sensitive topic, and Icould never figure out why.
And I avoided it.
It led to a bad alcoholaddiction all through my 20s.
And then, when I got sober andwhen I was 30, Something
happened where I really had totackle these emotions head on.
And this project has kind ofbeen my way of doing that, to

(34:10):
represent these feelings with myphotos.
yeah, it's like, I applied forfunding from a grant that the
city here in city, Nova Scotiawas offering through the
creative catalyst program and Igot approved for 2500 dollars.
Towards this project to coverjust certain costs.
I mean mainly printing to doExhibition towards the end of

(34:34):
the year in December there, butyeah, so doubling back there
There's a big focus on like theadoption side of it But also how
I never felt like I fit in withpeers My community as well as
how I use skateboarding as thatoutlet and I found skateboarding
at a time in my life where I'venever My parents had separated,

(34:56):
like, sports.
I loved them, but it wasn'treally working, for me at the
time.
I should say it wasn't workingfor me.
That's a weird way to say it, Iguess.
But it, almost like, I wasn'tgetting out of it what I
could've.
Because I wasn't putting enoughin.
And then skating was thissomething completely new thing
for me.
And eventually through skatingis how I, found a camera which

(35:18):
kind of is why we're here so Ialmost think of it as like
that's the perfect focus forlike a first project is
Depicting these feelings thatkind of led me to get to
photography.

Wow.
Thank you for sharing that.
it's a very open thing to shareand obviously your, your
struggles as well.
how do you plan to showcase thisemotion?
Is there even a word for theemotion that you're trying to
capture, I guess.
Walk me through how you plan tocreate this project where you're

(35:50):
putting so much feeling andemotion into visual images.

So How I went about it really was I had to
just learn how to seedifferently and That sounds kind
of funny to say but like I hadto learn how to see feeling
through my camera And like howto convey that and that Looking
at other photo projects andphoto books became pretty vital

(36:16):
and learning about newphotographers just because, it's
different than trying to take aphoto of someone having
breakfast to try to portray thisnice warm feeling of, Hey, look
how gorgeous this Airbnb is.
where I have to say like, oh,how do I portray that?
This was what my home life feltlike versus this is what it was
like, or this is how I didn'tknow why I was angry towards, I

(36:42):
don't want to say everythingbecause that's just like a
stereotypical teenage thing, Iguess.
But like, you know what I mean?
Like it was, Looking at photoprojects as well as I was very
fortunate to become really goodpals with a local photographer
who more or less has been amentor to me and really opened
my eyes to like seeing differenttypes of photography and showing

(37:05):
me photographers who could belike, Hey, check this guy's
workout.
Maybe this is kind of whatyou're going to be after.
Or, Oh, Hey, she does reallygood black and white work.
Look at this.
he really would kind of likequestion things, I would say.
And I think that's just huge inphotography.
honestly, I listened to yourepisode this morning your newest

(37:26):
one about criticism with the,

Mm hmm.

I forgot the guy's name.
I was listening to it at work,so apologies to the, guest.
Your episode was great.
but anyways, just how, likeseeking proper criticism in
photography, doing it in person.
the value of going over a phototogether.
And it was a lot of that wentinto like approaching the
project.
And then it was, pulling thestrings of using connections to

(37:52):
get an in somewhere because Ineed a photo of this type of
thing.

How would you know that you need a photo of
this type of thing?
what is this type of thing?

so that's a good question because that was a
really hard challenge ofknowing.
Almost like the checklist ofwhat I need and what I kind of
did with it was I picked Okay,this is where I want the project
to kind of end.
How do I work backwards storywise and I would think Okay,
well, I need a photo to kind ofcapture, certain things.

(38:21):
I would write them down.
Then I would research that typeof photo.
And then maybe go out and try tolook for something that felt to
me like it represented that.

you have an example that you could share?
I'm just trying to paint avisual picture in my head of
what this looks like.

Yeah, totally.
so there's a photo in theproject where I shot it actually
at a wrestling show.
I really wanted to showinnocence.
in anger, but you don't knowwhy, like you're just a kid and
you're just mad.
And you're trying to process allthese feelings of growing up
where in my case, it wasfeelings of growing up mixed
with just other emotional andmental struggles.

(38:59):
And I noticed there was thesekids at this one wrestling show
and they were giving the middlefinger to every wrestler, good
guy or bad guy, didn't matter.
They were so happy to just yelland participate.
And I got this one photo of thiskid and the innocence in his
eyes and his face.
And he's two hands up, givingthe middle finger.

(39:20):
And it almost looks like he'sgiving it to no one or he's not
looking at anyone in particular.
And it's that feeling of, youknow, you don't know what you're
looking at.
And coincidentally framed behindhim is someone holding a sign
that says, shut up on it.
Just kind of adding to thatanger and that.

Yeah, right, yeah.
before this person even showedup, they had the mind, the peace
of mind to get a poster boardand write, Shut.
Up.
Yeah, yeah, that fits that.
So when you describing thatsounds to me like you saw the
scene and you thought, Wow, Thisperfectly encapsulates something

(40:00):
within me.
was it like that?
Or did you think to yourself, Ineed a photo of, childlike
anger.
Now I'm going to just look atthe world through that lens.

So I kind of knew I needed innocence.
I needed it in positive andnegative.
Like kids angry, kids just beingkids enjoying themselves.
And in that moment, when I tookthe photo and I saw those kids,
I didn't kind of jump to that'sthe one I need, as much as I
jumped to there's somethingthere.
And it's kind of about, I feltlike it was more about knowing

(40:33):
To go with your gut and when youknow there's something in front
of you.
And to wait and be patient.

Hmm.

it was kind of from there, just a matter of
waiting for the right moment.

Tell me more about what you're going to do
with this photo.
Cause this is a grant.
Is it by the city?
Is that right?

Yeah, it's, by the city.

So, are you going to put that image, like,
are you going to print that upbig?
Some kid, you know, doublemiddle fingers with a sign that
says shut up behind it.
Like, where is this going to go?
Does that make sense?
are you thinking to yourself,this is a personal project for
me, maybe that's not going to beone that gets printed, I guess
walk me through that decisionprocess or fill me in on what

(41:15):
I'm missing.

So do you mean where within the sequencing of
project or where the image willlive afterwards, like print

Yeah.
where's this photo going to go?
Yeah.

you know what?
I'm printing them all, and I'mgonna have a gallery exhibition,
but outside of that, I reallydon't know yet

So there was no stipulations by the city,
like your art is going to haveto be put on billboards or,
buses or anything like that.
There was no, nothing like that.
You could do whatever you decideto do with your images.

Yeah, that's correct, for the most part, as
long as you're not using fundingfor monetary gain, to create a
product, essentially.
So yeah, but, kind of to touchon, too, where it fits, kind of,
within the sequencing, is Ithink it's, really that early on
stage within the project, which,Kind of where I talked about

(42:04):
earlier, about workingbackwards, which, that's
interesting, is you can go outand take all these photos and
think, these are all just reallypretty photos, but isn't it when
you go put them next to eachother you think oh, that doesn't
fit, or, oh, those two look goodtogether.

hmm.
So you're physically printingout all these photos, what,
small and then just trying tolike arrange them on, the floor,
on a table?
Is that what you're

I haven't physically printed anything yet,
but it's all, often just likearranging them on a screen, or
just like, even shufflingthrough them in my phone.
but even just like the thoughtof thinking of like if I have
one image, what might look goodnext to it kind of thing.
For instance, like what colorcould look good next to it?
what tones are going to lookgood?

(42:46):
if I have a really crunchy highcontrast on one side, I maybe
want to complement it withsomething on the other and just
be conscious of that.

Yeah.
Yeah.
So, let's say, it's the end ofthe year, it's opening night of
your gallery, right?
People are walking through.
What do you want them to say toyou?
What's the feeling that you wantthem to walk away with?

Definitely the feeling that, This can happen
to, people where they have thesefeelings, I guess, but can't
vocalize them because for me, Ihaven't really been able to
vocalize them until recently,but I would really want people
to know that you may havecertain types of feelings that
you're harboring, but, oremotions or other, but you can

(43:27):
have an outlet like photography,like art, like sports, just
cause like, for me, that outletwas skateboarding.
So that's.
Why it's featured in the projectand just so yeah, like kind of
inspire people to like I don'twanna say get into art, but
maybe if making art makes themfeel better or learn more about
themselves or anything.

(43:49):
Yeah.
Like kind of raise awareness inthat sense, I guess, especially
for youth.
There's not a whole lot to doaround here.
it's funny.
There is and there isn't ifyou're a youth.
You're maybe not as open mindedto certain things, so certain,
bad choices might appeal alittle more.
So, if I could get one kid,like, kid to just look at it and
get inspired to, like, draw, howcool would that be?

Yeah.
No, that would be cool.
and I think that's definitelylike a driver for me as well.
the older that I get I feel likemy art, I guess if you want to
call it that, has become lessabout creating pretty things.
in whatever it is that I captureand more about creating
something that's going to makesomebody feel something.
and in particular, I feltsomewhat recently, I think with

(44:33):
a bit of a rejuvenation of thepodcast that like my art is more
encouraging.
Somebody else to make something,if that makes sense, I was
listening to a, another podcasttoday with a basketball coach,
and this guy has been coachingbasketball.
For the past like 30 years andhe was talking about how he
talks to his players in collegeand He's like when they go

(44:56):
through something challenginghe's like I try to give them
grace and I try to talk to themlike talk to me about what
you're going through right nowbecause not to be rude or
anything, but like I've made itYou know, like I've made it, I'm
like 55 years old, I've made it,you want to make it.
So like, wherever you are, I'vebeen there in some sense, how
can I help you get to whateverthat next step is?

(45:17):
And it's like, he doesn't getpaid maybe as much as say,
players do.
But like, he has found a purposeand an art in that form of
creating something right there.
And that's kind of where I'veseen the podcast being lately.
But, I guess from a tacticalstandpoint, I want to know from
you, how will you know whenyou're done with this project?
How will you know that you'vecaptured the right images?

(45:39):
How will you know if you've donea good job or not?

well, there is a deadline for it.
I do have to have it out beforethe end of the year.
But I think it's kind of one ofthose things where it's does it
ever end?
Mm hmm.
You know what I mean?
Like as photographers, are weever satisfied to some degree?
Because I know myself, I couldprobably finish it and think
that, oh, there's like three, Icould have three ideas will pop
up right after I put it out.

(46:04):
You know what I mean?
So I kind of see this assomething where I may release it
in December, but I can just keepshooting this feeling and I can
keep chasing this because Ithink that's something I've
really learned through thisproject is the importance of
personal work.
especially with how muchcommercial stuff I do, that,

Yeah.

that sketch pad and to have that, just chasing a
feeling versus like photo for aclient.
Because at the end of the day,if you go out for a client, you
have to get X amount of images.
They have to be good, probablyexposed and focused, blah, blah,
blah.
But if you go out for yourself,you may only have to get one
image.
You may not have to get animage.

(46:44):
You may turn your camera on andtake 3, 000 images.
You may not turn your camera onat all, but it's that for you
aspect of it, where I think thatI'll probably just keep the
project going, just keepshooting and see what happens
with it.

Shane, I'm not even going to ask you any more
questions because I can't thinkof a better way to end it than
right there.
That's as motivational as itgets, for sure.
people listening and I'm goingto want to know as well, where
can we find out more about youand where can we see some of
your images, especially fromthis project, online?
Where's the best place to dothat?

So my website for sure.
nothing about the project is onthere just yet.
I'm kind of going to roll it outon social media first, but my
website's just my name at ShaneWilkie.
com Instagram at Shane Wilkie.
People use Facebook and want tocheck me out with Shane Wilkie
photography on Facebook.
All right, today's action itembeing the one thing that if you

(47:34):
implemented will move the needleforward in your photography is
this, reach out for a potentialportfolio building trade.
Shane shared how he would reachout to Airbnb hosts and local
restaurants about doing a tradefor, say, a night stay or a
meal, in exchange for somephotos.
With this like, low stakes ofnot being paid in cash, it is so

(47:55):
much easier to experiment andtry new techniques and work on
things that you wanna be betterat, and use the images to build
your portfolio.
Win, win, win, win.
Also, it keeps you activelyphotographing.
It allows you to hone in yourskills and will help you to
network with locals.
Again, win, win, win, win.

(48:16):
So your action item is to justlist out five potential people
or businesses that you couldreach out to to offer a swap and
then make it happen.
All right?
That is it for today.
Until next week, remember, themore that you shoot today, the
better of a photographer youwill be tomorrow.
Talk soon.

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