7 Steps to Being a Cooler Photographer with Jimmy Hickey

Ever worry that the way you hold your strap makes you look like a tourist? Well, worry no more. Portland based photographer, Jimmy Hickey joins us with his slightly tongue-in-cheek video to teach all photographers how to take great photos and look like a pro while doing it.

 

Log in or register to post comments
29 Comments

I like his reading of que-cards

Is this dude cool?

TIL being a cool photographer is very subjective...

Moves too slow not worthy of being posted here

All in good fun. I tried to shorten it to the best of my abilities, but had too much content to go over to make it happen.

Have to agree. Only watched a couple of minutes and turned it off.

Sorry boys!

Liked the idea, maybe could have done episodes? I also switched off after a coupla mins.

"Uhhhhhh" -Jimmy Hickey

Yeah...my bad:/

second hand embarrassment

I thought this was very good, there is a lot to be said about "looking the part" even before you are quite there. Well done.

Great video! I highly suggest using a teleprompter app with the iPad. You can place it in a shadow box photo frame, put it on a tripod in front of your camera, and it will reflect in front of your camera lens and you will be able to read your script without having to look off camera. Awesome content though.

Thanks for that, looking into one of those now, appreciate it!

No problem! It's slightly ghetto, but it gets the job done! That's what we rigged up to shoot for my work's weekly video announcements.

I always thought the key to looking cool was not trying to look cool.

Anyways a better way to carrying your camera is on shoulder with the flash side towards your body. This makes your profile smaller and you have a smaller risk of bumping into stuff. An added bonus is that the camera is easier to "draw".

i enjoyed this. it was funny

sigh.

I prefer to stay myself, than trying to be 'cool' for others..

:-)

I actually really liked the content in this. Definitely a bit too long, but fun for sure.

On the topics brought up, I think it's easy to get too cautious of our equipment, so it's great to see someone mention that the shot is worth it. I try to keep that in mind, but sometimes it's hard to see past the dollar signs - especially on fun personal projects.

That was the biggest takeaway from this IMO: stop treating your robust, professional level equipment like it's an infant!

What the heck did I just watch…

Not my style, I don't want to have to be mindful of these seven steps
while my only main focus should be to create the best possible
photographs I can make, at that point you should be in the moment and in
your own element. tiring to appear cool while instead being focused on
your light, subject and composition while trying to make everything work
together is just a waste of time. Let your photographs and work speak
for itself showing how cool and good you are.

Well beautiful images & pleasing your client always comes first. Should have mentioned that detail. But you are absolutely right. That said, most of these things are somewhat mindless and basic things to do or master then apply to your work.

Highlight of the video?

"Worst case Ontario"

Seriously though, those were some good tips.

Shout out to the Trailer Park Boys & Rickyisms!

Step 8: Take better images...

How to get the media pass? This guy has plenty of it

I think most people are just hatin' on this video because their envious of Jimmy's Canon EOS sporty button up at 6:36. So sick!