Art & Life with John William

John, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
I first picked up a camera close to ten years ago. I had just started college at SDSU. I worked at a local surf/skate shop and was also working as a valet at a hotel downtown. I am the type of person who has many hobbies, so photography started out as a hobby, as it does with most people. I bought an inexpensive Canon film SLR camera, shot one roll of film and after getting that first roll of film back, I was hooked. I shot everything I could when I started out, a lot of the time, just sitting in my room learning how to use the camera in addition to the basic characteristics of light.

Flash forward a few years, I finished my time at SDSU, graduating with a degree in Economics and the obvious next step was to find a 9-5 office job to put to use my newly acquired degree. Growing up, I had always believed you go to college, find a “safe” job, work until you’re in your 60’s and then retire to enjoy the later years in life. Most of my life I have been super interested in artistic endeavors, but never really thought of art as a potential career. After close to 5 years at my most recent job as a project manager at a tech company, I was going into work every day feeling like I was wasting my life sitting at a desk working for a company that didn’t care about its employees and after saving about a year’s worth of money to live off of, I decided to quit my job and try to make a real effort at photography as a career.

I am about six months into being a “professional photographer” and have no regrets at all about my decision to take this risk. While I can’t say I am making anywhere near the amount of money I made as a project manager, I am in love with what I do every day and I am fairly certain if I put in the effort, the money will come with time.

Can you give our readers some background on your art?
I am a photographer. I love to shoot everything, but I have tried to narrow my focus to shooting ocean/surf photography along with portrait/lifestyle photography. I love taking photos of people and my long term goal is to be shooting mainly portrait and lifestyle work within the surf industry.

I enjoy trying to tell a story with photography. Shooting a surf session from the very beginning, before the feet even touch the sand, and then actually getting into the water and taking photos up close really can give a person a feel for what it was like that day. For people that don’t surf, it kind of gives a behind the scenes look at what it’s like out there and for people that do surf, it is easy to relate and it makes you excited to get in the water.

Artists rarely, if ever pursue art for the money. Nonetheless, we all have bills and responsibilities and many aspiring artists are discouraged from pursuing art due to financial reasons. Any advice or thoughts you’d like to share with prospective artists?
Financial challenges as an artist are definitely real haha. I started taking on paid work while I still had a full-time job, so while a lot of my free time was compromised, I was constantly getting better at my craft while not being too worried about the financial side of it, since I wasn’t relying on the money I made as an artist. I definitely suggest working, at the very least part-time, in a “normal” job while you are starting out so you can build your portfolio, skills and to be able to afford the gear you will need when going full time.

I had saved about one year’s worth of money to be able to live on prior to quitting my job to go full time with photography. While I’m aware that probably isn’t always an option for people, I definitely think some kind of backup savings is a good idea if you want to try and make it as an artist and not be overly-stressed about money all of the time.

I am still in the beginning stages of my photography career, so I definitely still stress about money. Had I not saved and planned for years prior to quitting my “day job” I don’t think I would have ever made the jump because I know I would have been too worried about my finances on a daily basis.

What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
I’ve recently finished version one of my website www.johnwilliamphoto.com so you can see a lot of my work there. I’m working with a few different brands on some lifestyle shoots, I post a lot of my lifestyle stuff in story form on Instagram(@johnwilliam_photo) where you can see my most recent stuff. This is where most people usually find me if you’re interested in working with me, feel free to reach out through dm! I’m going to be in Thailand in April to shoot for a yoga retreat so look out for content from that!