Artist Spotlight | Professional Photographer | John Batdorff

This is our very first Artist Spotlight with a professional photographer. Enjoy!

Name: John Batdorff II

Job Title/Description: Travel/Landscape Photographer and Author

Personal website:

www.batdorffphotography.com

www.batdorffphotography.com/blog

http://www.facebook.com/JohnBatdorffPhotography

http://twitter.com/johnbatdorff

When you are looking for inspiration, where do you go? 

Easy answer: solo road trips or travel. If I find myself in a rut or becoming complacent, then I pack my car and take a few weeks on the road or go traveling abroad. The goal is to think about my work and just take images for myself. I think a healthy dose of solo time is key for personal growth and allows me to center myself.  

Summer or winter? 

That's a tough one. Both seasons bring so much, but I think I would probably go with winter. I really enjoy photographing black in white images in Chicago in the dead of winter. I think my favorite time to shoot is in the late evening when everyone and their brother is staying inside trying to stay warm. It's like I have the city to myself--it's very peaceful.

What’s the key to doing what you love AND making a living? 

Keeping another job....;)  My background is in business (I know boring!) but I've always been very cautious about relying 100% on my photography for my livelihood and I think my best advice is moving slowly. I think building a plan and setting goals is very important. Keep track of your expenses and get to know exactly how much you need to live off from. I like creating conservative but achievable goals to help measure my performance. Using software like Quicken or Quickbooks is an excellent way to keep track of your revenue and expenses and build realistic budget around them. 

If you're starting out, a good goal is to build a resume of talents and clients while supplementing your income with a job (that pays the bills). I think in time if you're serious and your work can stand on it's own you'll find yourself at a crossroads in your career where you can make an educated decision to leave the safety net and go completely pro. That's a long cautious answer, but pie in the sky doesn't put food on the table...;)

My dream vacation is…

Anywhere as long as I'm spending time with my family. I wrote a little something about it here http://blog.batdorffphotography.com/blog/2011/07/22/keeping-it-in-f...

Life is short and as much as I love my photography, I love my family more, so making time for them is very important part of my sanity.