4 essential tips to boost your photography! With Tristan Zhou (@trystane)
Working with others will make your creative process way easier and fun!
With Tristan Zhou (@trystane)
My name is Tristan and I am an award-winning photographer, videographer and cat lover based in Seattle. Although my major in college was photography, I actually started as a filmmaker (I was really into making videos when I was in middle school), and transferred my major to filmmaking. I restarted my photography when I moved to Seattle from San Francisco, mainly because I was bored and needed something to fill up my time.
"And eventually it became one of the most important things in my life. I can visit new places and meet new people! So I really enjoy doing it right now."
Since then I have traveled as much as I could. Among all the places I have visited, Thailand was certainly beyond my expectation. People there were extremely friendly and showed my great hospitality. The city of Bangkok was incredible, full of photogenic places and most importantly the food was AMAZING, and really cheap! Also, decent amount of people were English speaker so I had zero issues surviving there.
"Looking back in time, I do think that I have learned a couple of things. If I had to give four pieces of advice to myself I would say:
(1) Care less about the gear
Yes, gear does matter in certain cases but lot of times it matters less. So spend less time learning about the gear and instead practice more outdoors.
(2) Shoot more
I actually spent more time editing my existing photos then going out and shooting. For some shots I was trying to handle everything in post-processing!
Post production is really important in our creative process but the actual shooting matters way more.
(3) Collaborate with people.
When I first started, I was shooting alone for like several months until I started collaborating with other creatives. Working with others made my creative process way easier and fun. I also made a lot of new friends thanks to photography. So collaborate with others as soon and often as you can!
(4) Do not try to copy others.
Everyone falls into this category, it’s true. I was really inspired by certain type of photography and their edits. So I spent a good amount of time trying to be like those photographers and lost myself for a while. I eventually found my own style and turned into my better self. Although there’s only so many “spots” in the world, try creating your own image at those “spots”.
Yet, being inspired by others is important to me.
My works are also inspired by German photographer Andreas Gursky, his density and architecture shots; and Jeff Wall – a Canadian photographer – who tells a story in a cinematically staged singled image. They are both so talented!
