I come from a life of creativity. I was a musician for more than half my life (over 25 years). When I decided to pack all of that in and try a dismal, less fulfilling career, I was starved of creativity. I was done with music and like most aspects of my life, I’m all in or I am not in… and I was done with music. But without the creative outlet that music gave me, I needed to create something or I was going to explode. So out of necessity, I started a Reef aquarium. And I was all in. I loved it. But, after making the decision to start our own business, I did not have the extra money or the time to keep up with such an expensive, time consuming hobby with what was potentially going to be a hard road ahead. (Ironically this sounds a bit like the photography hobby lol).

So, I sold my tank and its inhabitants… and my wife and I built our new business from the ground up (CrossFit 604). That was in 2012. I wandered in and out of types of creativity with things that would help our business. Ridiculous little things actually. I got a 3D rendering program and used it to design the layout of our gym… I started to really get into excel spreadsheets (nerd alert)… I learned how to build our website (I built this one too). These little challenges were my only creative outlet – And it was killing me. And so life went, with little bursts of creativity popping up with no path or focus. Meanwhile, we were taking a lot of pictures of our members doing CrossFit and it turns out, a couple of our coaches were taking some pretty decent photos! This intrigued me… I started poking around with the camera at the gym and then I decided… “I am going to get really f**king good at this…” A day or two later I had dropped a hefty chunk of cash on some camera gear.

I am a gear whore. A complete and utter gear whore. I have spent a lot of dough on my camera set up. I did a ton of research on practically every item I have purchased before buying it, and have made out pretty good with the kit I have. That said, not everything I have makes me tingle with delight 100% of the time… Hopefully this info can help you make the best decisions for your needs.

Disclaimer: No one pays me to use their products and I get absolutely nothing by sharing this info. This is simply my way of trying to help others make informed decisions on their investments. Interested in what I use?

Absolutely everything I have learned as a photographer and post processor, I learned from far more talented people than myself. The following is a list of creative geniuses that share their knowledge with the world, and because of their willingness to teach, I get to feel like more of an artist as a result.

Sean Bagshaw – If you want to learn photoshop, there is simply no better place to start than with his lessons. He teaches in a way that is direct, and easy to follow. The most impressive part of his teaching is how easy he makes it for you to understand. The first 100 times I opened photoshop terrified and frustrated me… after purchasing his tutorials I was ready to tackle pretty much anything.

Ted Gore – Ted is the master at taking the image to its full potential and beyond. I would highly recommend having a firm grasp on photoshop before biting off his tutorials… but once you are ready, there is no shortage in gold in his tutorials… I watch them repeatedly.

Ryan Dyar – One of my favorite creators on the planet. He’s humble, honest, and his approach to creativity is incredibly easy to implement into your own workflow. He’s a pioneer and has paved the way for so many other artists. His videos are incredibly useful and full of techniques that you can adapt into your own workflow.

Alex Noriega – One of the last guys I discovered, but his tutorials are without a doubt, my favourite for one simple reason. His workflow is impeccable and his eye for detail and his approach to creativity is simply amazing. He not only explains what he does, but why he does it. His taste is unmistakable.

Enrico Fossati – This man is from a different cut altogether. His approach to things is different, his techniques are different and his style is out of this world. Like Ted Gore, I’d probably bone up on photoshop a bit before diving into his videos, but once you are there, the knowledge that is shared is incredibly powerful and creative.

Kurt Budliger – I took a couple workshops when I was first starting out and Kurt was involved in both of them. Kurt is simply a great teacher of photography. Watching the man compose in the field is not something you can learn online… Having someone like this look over your should and help you turn a good composition into a great one is the sole reason I’d highly recommend doing a workshop, and especially with someone like Kurt.

Chris Knight – Chris is a portrait photographer that absolutely changed everything for me. Once I had my son, travelling around to shoot landscape was pretty much over for a while, and I discovered Chris and his portrait work which heavily swayed me to start shooting portrait. He is a god among men. His tutorials completely opened my eyes to shooting portrait with major style. If I can possibly have a tenth of the style as this guy I will die a happy man. His videos are spot on and easy to follow. He teaches light and there is nothing more valuable.

Clay Patrick McBride – Another portrait guy that absolutely kicked my ass. His approach to shooting his subjects is crazy, yet completely relatable. His videos give you a ton of insight into how he creates magic. Worth a look for sure.

Sue Bryce – The master at posing portrait subjects. This is probably the hardest thing for me and Sue has completely made it obtainable to start on a path to help you pose and capture people.

Pratik Naik – Post processing on portraits is not at all the same as landscaping. I’d highly recommend looking at Pratik Naik for retouching tutorials. It’s extremely challenging to do this well and his approach will help you get better immediately! I hated his Capture One video tutorial, but his retouching video is something that completely opened the doors and my eyes for that matter on portrait retouching.