I still think there is a lot to be said for camera clubs if you are passionate about progressing your photography, being able to get one-on-one help and feedback on your photography as well as the social aspect is key in my opinion. However you’d be silly to ignore the massive online resource that is YouTube. You can find everything from gear reviews, how-to tutorials to news round ups. The amount of content available is staggering, but it can also be daunting. Where do you start? If like me you don’t want to spend hours on YouTube when you can be out with the camera. So I have compiled a small list of some of my favourites.
Daniel Norton is a U.S. based photographer who specialises in portrait photography. Daniel has his own YouTube channel ‘Daniel Norton Photographer’ but also has a regular series for Adorama called ‘OnSet’. Portrait photography is something that I have only gotten more interested with in recent years and Daniel does a great job of explaining. He is clearly a master of light and makes most lighting situations look easy. On his personal channel Daniel also features videos where he just talks about any given photography subjects, and these are interesting in-sights into the mind of a professional photographer.
Greg Whitton is based in the U.K. and is an award winning landscape photographer. Greg’s videos cover his journeys around stunning places like Snowdonia, the Lake District and further afield. With an emphasis on mountains. I would call Greg’s videos a more documentary style with very little talk about gear, settings or how-to but this isn’t a bad thing. There are plenty of those videos all over YouTube already. The biggest thing I like about Greg’s videos is the human side Greg leaves in. The falling over, the sheer delight when the conditions are clearly getting him excited and the ‘BOOM’ moments (you’ll need to watch to find out) with epic fist pumps. It’s clear a lot of time and effort goes into these videos. Greg has the odd ‘Quickshotz’ videos where he’ll cover anything from his favourite photographers to editing an image in Lightroom. Although Greg is relatively new to the YouTube game he already has hours of video to keep you entertained. The biggest thing for me though is within some of the videos Greg drops in images he has taken on those journeys and they are staggering. There is no doubt Greg is an awesome photographer.
Gavin Hoey is another member of the Adorama family with his videos under the title of ‘Take and Make Great Photography with Gavin Hoey.’ He has also started updating his own channel which for years was abandoned and material being exclusively available on Adorama. The over-riding thing for me with Gavin is he is a natural born presenter, and I have seen this in real life at The Photography Show. He makes photography sound easy and nothing is too much trouble which is a result of his excellent presenting. Gavin covers many aspects of photography but is again a master of light and there are many portrait-orientated videos.
I only recently started watching Thomas’ videos having gone down one of the many YouTube rabbit holes. Thomas is a U.K. based landscape photographer and his channel features a mix of on location and just him in front of the camera style videos, covering a wide variety of subjects. It’s clear Thomas has been doing it awhile with an extensive number of videos and high quality production. There is literally hundreds of hours of videos to watch but each in a good bite-size portion. I’ve personally only scratched the surface of his extensive library. Like Greg’s channel, there is more an emphasis on documentary style videos rather than tutorials or gear reviews. Again, not a bad thing though.
If you are after gear reviews and hands on style videos then you don’t need to look much further than Kai W. With his acquired reputation Kai W now gets his hands on the latest and greatest as soon as they become available to the press. His sometimes quirky presenting style add to what can otherwise seem a mundane subject, polished off with a high production value. Kai W covers all brands as well so if you’re interested in the latest Canon vs. Nikon offering you can rely on a fairly un-biased opinion.
Who are you’re go to YouTubers? Please let me know in the comments!