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Simon Timbers
@uwo
Photographer based in the United States
Introducing Simon Timbers
“There came a point where my confidence in my photography business outweighed my fear of failure and ending my traditional education early. I’ve always been quite an anxious person, so this decision was scary. But one day I looked at myself in the mirror and asked myself, would you rather be an economist or a photographer? The answer was simple.”
Those are the words of Simon, who got his hands on his first camera at the age of 14 and dropped out of college at the age of 21 to pursue his dream full time. Being based in California, he’s learned over the years that whatever you do, patience, making meaningful connections, and seeking excitement are key influencers of growth. And that growth ultimately comes from experience.
Simon did a project with Reebok Classics at the age of 16, which was the first experience where he realized he could make from photography his career: “For the next 2 years, I really struggled to get substantial amounts of work, but from the business side of things, as I persevered through rejection after rejection I learned what worked and what didn’t.” In the following years, he worked with Adobe, Hyatt, and other great companies, big or small. And, to Simon’s surprise, @Kygo’s team purchased one of his images (that he had uploaded to a stock photography website years earlier) to use for his album cover, Golden Hour. When it comes to finding jobs, Simon mentioned that the hardest part is starting out and coming up with a proper strategy, but that you shouldn’t be afraid to find your niche and double down.
In the interview, we then asked Simon about how he connects work opportunities to his travels. Preparing in advance, creating a media kit and rate card, designing a pitch deck to outline your plan, and aiming for retainer contracts are just a few of his recommendations. Simon also shares some great tips on Photoshop and Lightroom.
Now he has more time to focus on photography, he is eagerly planning to host workshops, release masterclasses, and run a side business creating short-term rental “glampsites.” “I’m still young and can’t claim to be an expert on life, but I firmly believe you should never stop learning!”
Interview
Welcome Simon!
You bought your first camera at the age of 14, and have been into photography ever since. How has it been to start with what would become your passion (and profession) from such a young age?
At the age of 14, I bought my first ever camera, a Nikon d3300, and it was the most impactful decision I have ever made in my life. At first, photography was just a hobby, something fun to do on the weekends with my friends from school. Pretty soon, I was heading into San Francisco every weekend on BART to take photos and explore more parts of the city that I really hadn’t seen much of, despite living just across the water in Oakland. I was addicted. As soon as I got my driver’s license at exactly 15 and ½, the earliest age allowed in California, I began traveling further and further distances to take photos in new locations, the whole time sharing my images with friends on Instagram. I did not allow my age to hold me back and kept at it, spending hours in Lightroom editing the same photos over and over again to try to improve my editing skills. After posting for 2 or 3 years, my audience on Instagram had really begun to pick up and I was suddenly getting offers to take photos professionally. It was at that point that I decided photography was my calling and that I would do whatever it takes to become a pro and live off my work. Here we are today, I’m 21 years old and I’ve officially dropped out of college to pursue my dream full time and I haven’t looked back.
"It was a blessing starting at such a young age because it allowed me so much time to figure it all out, but don’t let that hold you back from pursuing your passions today. There’s no time to get started earlier than now!"
Related to that, what would you have done differently back then, knowing what you know now at the age of 21 and having shot and traveled a lot more?
If I could go back in time and give myself some advice, besides convincing myself not to sell my 10 million Dogecoin, I would tell past Simon not to take things so seriously. I was very impatient as a child, eager to jump into photography as a lifestyle but I feel wiser and more content now accepting that things take time. If you are motivated and have a vision, as long as you’re making progress daily, things will work themselves out. Since I hadn’t quite figured out the business side of things as I finished high school like I had planned from the age of 15, I decided to begin studying at San Diego State University. Even though I never finished my degree and switched majors twice, I learned invaluable skills and made several meaningful connections along the way, really making it worth my while. I also had a lot of fun and continue to seek a life of excitement and adventure.
"As far as the photography side of things, a few pointers I would give myself are to learn Lightroom and Photoshop, know that ultimately skill comes down to experience, and to not worry too much about the camera I was using."
The best camera is the one you have and even though I have my dream Sony setup, if it all disappeared tomorrow I would be happy taking pictures on my old Nikon d3300. I’m still young and can’t claim to be an expert on life, but I firmly believe you should never stop learning and growing and I am looking forward to the lessons life will teach me going forward.
Could you tell us about some opportunities/projects that have come along on your professional path that have helped you to gain confidence in your work and in approaching potential clients? What did you learn?
What first gave me the confidence that I could become a professional full time was when Reebok Classics contacted me to do a project at the age of 16. While they probably didn’t know I was a child and I could certainly top the quality of work I provided them with today, it really hit me that I could make photography my career. For the next 2 years, I really struggled to get substantial amounts of work, but from the business side of things, as I persevered through rejection after rejection I learned what worked and what didn’t.
"Another opportunity that helped motivate me was through the Tourism Board of Nebraska."
I know what you’re thinking, Nebraska? What do they have there? But we actually visited some fantastic locations and while traveling across the state with other photographers and influencers, I learned a lot of new strategies on how to make a living through photography – strategies that I implement to this day. Since then, I’ve worked with some fantastic companies, from Adobe to Hyatt to Lemonade Insurance. But some of my favorite collaborations have actually been with smaller businesses. There’s a lot of work out there but you just have to be better than the competition! The hardest part is starting out and coming up with a proper strategy. Don’t be afraid to change your game plan, find your niche, and double down.
In the caption of an IG feed post you shared in May 2021, you wrote: “A couple months ago, I decided this year of college would be my last, rather than finishing my last few semesters. The day after my last final ever, I hopped on a plane to Oahu to pursue my dream of climbing the Haiku Stairs.” How did it feel to make such a decision? What helped you in the process of decision making and what were the things you considered?
A couple months ago, I decided this year of college would be my last, rather than finishing my final few semesters. The day after my last final ever, I hopped on a plane to Oahu to pursue my dream of climbing the Haiku Stairs.
It took a while to come to that decision, but after years of growing my business, finding new clients, and traveling the world, I came to the conclusion that I would be able to support myself if I took on photography full time. Don’t get me wrong, I learned some invaluable skills through my years of education, but there came a point where my confidence in my photography business outweighed my fear of failure and ending my traditional education early. I’ve always been a quite anxious person, so this decision was scary. It was not easy and I’ll admit I still carry this fear of failure to this day.
"But one day I looked at myself in the mirror and asked myself, would you rather be an economist or a photographer? The answer was simple."
I don’t like to live life constantly thinking “what if?” The reality of the modern world is that even if you do have a well paying job, it could still all disappear in the blink of an eye if your boss suddenly decides they no longer care for you, your company goes bankrupt, or any other number of situations. The only thing that is certain in life is the effort you put in and that the world keeps spinning. So far, it’s been working, but I also recently made the decision to start a side business running “glamping” or “glamorous camping” short term rentals near America’s national parks. I’m looking forward to all of the future opportunities both in the photography and glamping space and I couldn’t be more stoked to be running my own life.
You have traveled to many different places, within and outside the USA, shooting landscapes and also cityscapes. What are you looking for when choosing a destination and how do you generally plan your trip so you make the most out of your time photography wise?
I’ll admit when I first started traveling to different countries and destinations across the US, I was usually on a time crunch to save money and shoot the most I could in the least amount of time, pushing myself to the absolute limit. My first international photography trip was to Japan, Hong Kong, and Australia. On my first day in Japan I managed to shoot 10 different locations before night time. By the time I got to Hong Kong about 5 days later, my feet hurt so bad from walking to so many spots that I had to take a whole day off to let them recover.
I map everything out ahead of time using Google Earth and street view, pin the locations on Google Maps, and download a map offline of the entire area I’ll be visiting in case I lose service. For domestic travel, I mostly camp in my van where I have just enough room for a mattress, so I can take my time and shoot locations multiple times to grab the right conditions. I still plan in a similar manner, but I also have to plan for where I’m going to camp – which is primarily on BLM land as it’s totally free. When I say van, by the way, I don’t mean a stand up Sprinter van, I mean the minivan that I grew up getting taken to soccer practice in. It isn’t glamorous, but it gets the job done and that’s what counts.
When picking destinations, particularly international destinations, I usually pick countries and cities with a high density of solid locations to photograph or places where I am able to travel with the least amount of credit card points.
"I’m kind of a nerd when it comes to getting the most value out of my credit cards and I manage to travel for free about 2 times a year even with modest spending."
Many photographers like to stick with one type of subject, whether urban or nature, portraits or landscapes, or even automobiles and sports. I don’t like to place myself in a box, but I mostly shoot landscapes with really no preference on the type of location or subject besides it being a photographic one. The landscape simply exists in its purest form and it is my job to best capture it, a challenge I very much enjoy. I know it looks like I’m constantly on the road, but I usually spend only about a quarter of my time traveling with the rest of my days spent at my apartment in San Diego. At the end of the day, nothing beats California weather and our gorgeous beaches.
Following up on the previous question, how do you try to connect work opportunities to your travels? Could you help our readers with four tips when it comes to successfully finding partners to work for/collaborate with when planning a trip or traveling abroad?
1) When I travel, I usually like to prepare in advance and pitch partnerships to create content for brands while I am away. An important first step before contacting brands is to create a portfolio of your work to show them. However, sometimes brands are short on time and don’t care to look through your entire portfolio. You’ll only capture their attention in an email, so keep it concise while offering lots of value to them. In order to get these individuals to notice you, I suggest creating a media kit to show your services and past clients, along with a rate card if they do respond.
2) As well, your chances increase if you create a pitch deck outlining your plan for the project you are proposing to them, with examples of your work and potentially inspiring content from others if it helps paint a vivid picture of what you are offering.
3) There are also lots of websites out there to connect you with brands for sponsored posts or content creation. While using those sites you may have more competition with other photographers, you also know the brand is interested, and now your job is to just make sure your pitch stands out with their campaign or project. You probably won’t succeed on the first try. Some brands aren’t looking for more people to collaborate with, have a different vision, or have already found someone else for the role. Persistence is key which is why you should be planning this all well in advance.
4) Recently, I went on a trip to Oahu and captured lots of videos along the journey to help advertise Lemonade Insurance through a sponsored post on my page. By doing this partnership, I was able to effectively visit Hawaii for free. For many trips, you may need a couple sponsors to recoup costs, but remember that sponsorships don’t always have to be tied to trips, particularly if you are able to capture images of where you are from and would rather spend the trip enjoying yourself and creating content to help build your social media presence.
My last piece of advice would be to always over-deliver. This is the best way to ensure brands are happy with your work and are likely to work with you again in the future. The best way to build large and consistent income is to get recurring business from clients you have already worked with. A retainer contract that recurs monthly or quarterly is ideal, but even working with the same brand a few times is a lot easier than pitching new brands every few weeks.
Among all the photos you have shared on social media, could you share with us three photos you are really proud of? What are the reasons these photos are so special to you?
I’ve taken quite a few pictures, but I have a few favorites which I’m most proud of. The first would be my Palm Tree shot in Los Angeles. Initially I was trying to visit Santa Monica with my mother to take some pictures of the pier. As we were driving down Ocean Ave with the most beautiful sunset I had seen in some time, quickly lighting up the sky, we hit some traffic. Disappointed, I told her to pull over so I could grab some pictures of some palm trees on the side of the road instead. As I was taking pictures, I was blessed with a plane flying perfectly in between the palm trees. I spent weeks editing the picture, trying over and over again because I was not quite satisfied. Eventually, after asking friends for feedback, I came to an edit I liked and posted it to Instagram. This was my first viral image. I was used to getting 100 likes, but I posted the picture, went into a movie, came out, and the image had 800 likes. At the time it completely blew my mind, and over the next few days the picture was reposted over 100 times. I began to gain a substantial following, moving into 4 digits and it really motivated me to keep taking pictures. In hindsight, it was pretty foolish to be so excited and base my worth as a photographer on likes, but at the time it gave me the motivation I needed to keep taking photos.
Years later, at the age of 20, I was running out of money, struggling to pay rent just as the pandemic hit. I was starting to feel hopeless, resorting to gig work where I felt quite exploited, almost as if I was climbing out of a hole that kept getting deeper. After spending an hour grabbing groceries to earn a total of $4 before gas and depreciation with still a 20 minute drive to the customer, I opened my phone and saw a notification.
"I had placed a few of my images on a stock photography website with few sales during the couple of years they had been there, but on this day I received a significant amount. It turns out, @kygomusic’s team had purchased the image to use for his most recent album cover, Golden Hour."
Flush with cash (not really), I decided to gamble it away on some risky moves in the stock market. I ended up multiplying my tiny portfolio multiple times on some insanely lucky trades and it gave me the confidence that I needed to drop out of school, survive for a little while, and expand my photography business rather than wasting away doing gig work. I also used some of my earnings to begin my glamping business and I haven’t looked back.
"Sometimes bad luck is good luck in disguise and I have always made the most of my circumstances since then."
My next favorite image I’ve taken is of a plane tucked away in the forest in the middle of Oregon. A kind man named Bruce lives inside of the plane full time! After contacting him to see his home, he gave me an in-depth tour and we talked for hours. I must have asked him a million questions because I was so fascinated. Years ago, he organized to temporarily take the wings off of this plane after its final flight and place it on trucks through the most well thought out and meticulously planned route from the Portland airport through the town of Hillsboro to his plot of land. There were some turns with just an inch to make it through without destroying downtown Hillsboro. Months after the plane arrived at his plot, once the weather allowed, he tugged the plane all the way up a large hill to where it sits now. He proceeded to deck out the inside to turn it into a livable space, all while preserving nearly all of the original parts of the plane. Then, he planted an entire forest with hundreds if not thousands of trees around his new home, creating the feeling as though the plane had crashed in the middle of the woods. Speaking with him and learning about his worldviews and passions which he has built up through many years of life was a fascinating experience. I flew up my drone and captured some images that I’m quite proud of, this one being my favorite.
"This photo holds a special place in my heart."
My last favorite image is of some chalky rock formations in England. I was on a trip to England with my father to visit my grandmother. After a bit of pushing, I convinced him to go out a couple of hours in the early morning to one of the most breathtaking photo locations I had ever seen. It was a gloomy morning, but had a great time walking through the forest and grassland with him on such a peaceful hike. After I posted the image, it quickly went viral. It was shared hundreds of times, made it to the front page of Reddit, turned into a meme which made it to the featured page of iFunny, and even Snoop Dogg himself reposted the image. Unfortunately, he did not give me credit so I had to have it removed, but I was flattered and still am. Ultimately though, it was the experience of the day and the story behind the photo which made me most proud. I look forward to visiting again once I take another hop across the pond.
When it comes to shooting and editing, what are your favorite gear, tools, strategies or techniques that influenced your workflow and style dramatically, or maybe that allowed you to be more innovative in the content you create?
Over the years, I’ve gradually accumulated my dream gear setup. I have a Sony A7RIV, Sigma 14-24mm f2.8, Sigma 24-70mm f2.8, Sony 70-200mm f2.8, Sony 200-600mm 5.6-6.3, and my drone, a Mavic Pro 2. With a full focal range of lenses, there is no image I cannot capture. I wish I could say which lens is my favorite, but I honestly use them all quite a bit.
On the editing front, I use a mixture of Lightroom and Photoshop, as well as Premiere and After Effects for videos. Here are some tips for editing in Lr and Ps:
Lightroom:
1) Shoot in RAW. File sizes are much larger, but you will be able to get much more detail out of your photos, especially if you need to edit them heavily.
2) Before you begin your edit, I suggest looking at the levels graph in the top right corner of the screen. You can tell without even looking at your image if it needs to be brighter, darker, or otherwise shifted around. Ultimately you will have to tweak it looking at the image, but it gives you a good starting point.
3) Utilize the tone curve before messing with the whites and blacks in the basic settings section. The tone curve is the most powerful tool in Lightroom, allowing tons of precise customization on your tones and colors. I suggest using a tone curve that is roughly an S shape as that gives you the smoothest transition between tones and creates contrast without destroying the quality or tones of your image.
4) On the note of contrast, I never use the contrast slider. There are plenty of better tools in the program to create contrast like the tone curve, or other settings in the basics tab.
Photoshop:
1) Photoshop is a more powerful tool than Lightroom with all of the same features and more. I suggest putting nearly every change on its own layer and naming them during creation. You can group these together into folders to make your layers panel less chaotic. I usually have a folder for the background image, a folder for all of my changed features of each image, and a third folder for my final color grading/tonal changes. Oftentimes, I have far more folders, particularly if the edit becomes complicated.
2) Rather than using the eraser tool, use layer masks. You can use brushes to change which parts of each image are visible without destroying the quality of the original image used.
3) Make sure your images are converted to smart objects. This preserves the full quality of each image, even if you shrink it down.
4) In order to select objects, use the pen tool. It allows you to precisely click points to outline an object and also allows you to undo if you mess up a dot or two. It is a long and painstaking process at times, but seriously improves the quality of your edits.
What are your ultimate goals for your brand and photography? What are your dreams for the future, projects you would love to realize?
Currently, my work is primarily social media management for local businesses and content creation for different brands. As my following has grown, I have slowly started to take on sponsored posts in order to help generate more income, which I hope to slowly continue with in the future as my page grows, without alienating my audience.
Since recently dropping out of school, I also have had time to pursue more photography related projects. In the near future, I will begin hosting workshops to show people around America’s beautiful national parks and help them improve at photography. In the more distant future, I would like to release a photography masterclass showcasing Photoshop, Lightroom, Premiere, After Effects, as well as the business side of things and accessing free or cheap travel.
Unrelated to photography, I have also begun a business creating short term rental glampsites outside of some amazing national parks which I’ll be showcasing in my story soon. Business is booming and I am looking forward to what the next few years have in store for me with photography.
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