Hey Flashpoint readers! I’m Robert Hall, an editorial photographer from Michigan. I’ll be posting here regularly, so I thought it would be a great idea to start with an introduction.
I got my start in photography back in 2008. I went to Best Buy to buy a new point-and-shoot camera. A sales associate sold me on all the advanced control of a DSLR camera. Then, I began taking trips strictly to practice new photography techniques, often capturing landscapes and cityscapes. A few months after my purchase, while waiting tables at a Chili’s, I ran into a professional wedding photographer who was fiddling with his new camera over lunch. By the end of his meal he asked if I’d be interested in assisting him on weekends.
Looking back, I find it so bizarre that my entry into photography and the photography profession were both initiated by the actions of others.
I had the typical generalist path, saying yes to anything that involved making money through images. I’ve worked as a photojournalist. I’ve done school portraits, senior portraits, youth sports photography, and headshots. Also, I’ve captured corporate events and sold landscape photography.
Eventually, I dialed in on wedding photography, which was my full-time income from 2012 to 2018. In late 2018, I shifted my focus to editorial and advertising photography. Nowadays, I primarily create images and help on video projects for a local university. I fill in gaps serving other small businesses.
My favorite thing about being a professional photographer is how the career can be molded around your personal life. You can layer your passions, using your camera to get closer to the things you love. They can be horses, cars, music or sports. You can leverage photography to create a bespoke schedule, custom fit to your lifestyle. In my early twenties I loved covering nightlife and concerts. Nowadays I favor clients who don’t count Saturday as a business day.
I share my history as a photographer not to say, “I’ve done it all”, but because I feel it adds context to why I find photography so interesting. Though photography has been the same physics since the start, it has an infinite level of depth based on how we choose to take part.
It’s for that reason that I’ve been creating informative content on the topic of photography since 2016. I started by sharing my experience with various lighting products in Facebook groups. Eventually I started my YouTube channel, and in the last 5 years I’ve made over 260 videos about lighting technique and flash photography products. I’ve written articles for SLRLounge, Petapixel, DIYPhotography, FujiLove, and Pro Edu. I’ve talked with industry leaders on the High Iso Podcast. I regularly share behind the scenes lighting explanations on Instagram.
I share as much as possible about the creativity, technique, and equipment behind the images I create in the studio and on location. Flashpoint products have been a big part of my photography over the last few years. The wide selection of lighting and accessories has allowed me to create a diverse set of equipment that can tackle any job that comes my way. I’ve used the Flashpoint R2 series of lighting for all of my photography work since 2017. I use Glow lighting modifiers to control and shape the light in my images. When it came to building my new rental studio in Michigan, I chose to outfit it with all Flashpoint lighting and grip equipment.
Despite over a decade of photography experience, and five years of frequently publishing content, I still feel like I’ve only scratched the surface of photography as a craft and career. So, when Flashpoint reached out and asked if I’d be willing to share anything I found noteworthy here, I jumped at the opportunity. I look forward to providing you with discussions on creative techniques, interesting products, business advice, and any other trends that push the photography industry forward.
Feature image courtesy of Robert Hall