Today we’d like to introduce you to Mike Yoshida
Hi Mike, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I started taking photos as a teenager and that passion for creating photographs grew over time. I was also pursuing snowboarding soon after and had an epiphany that if I could shoot photos of snowboarders for a living, that would be my dream. Well, 20 years has passed and I have worked for countless brands inside and outside of the snowboard industry. Alongside my photos skills with snowboarding, I honed my skills as a product photographer, which made me stand out from the rest of the competition. Brands come to me as a one-stop shop for all their shooting needs now.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It hasn’t been a smooth road, but it has been consistent and I have stayed the course for a long time. The first big challenge was the financial crisis in 2008. A lot of funding was pulled out from underneath us creatives and we had to really dig in to find different ways to supplement our income. The second challenge has been the advent of Instagram which has killed print media and devalued photography due to a bigger need for endless amounts of content. Pre IG a brand would pay a large sum for one photo that would be used in multiple spots across a global campaign. Now that same photo is gone and forgotten within a day because the content machine and needs for more imagery are so much higher.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I specialize in action sports and anything that involves motion. Capturing peak action moments is part of what I am best at. Alongside the peak moments, I am also a story teller and I love having the ability to convey a message through my photo journalism. I am also adept at product photography and shooting in a studio environment. I truly enjoy dialing in lighting and spending hours perfecting photographs through production.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
Tenacity and trusting the process. I think that it is easy to want to give up, especially in a saturated market where a lot of us are fighting for a smaller piece of the pie these days. Trust in myself and doing the homework before a shoot is key to being prepared. Luck favors the prepared…
Pricing:
- Subject to the size and scope of work
Contact Info:
- Website: https://mikeyoshida.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mikeyoshida/?hl=en
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-yoshida-25061452/
Image Credits
Rider: Mary Rand Photo: Mike Yoshida
