From “UR Ugly” to 10K: My Journey with YouTube and How It Relates to YOU!

 

Whoa there! I can’t believe it! I actually hit 10K subscribers over on my YouTube channel. That’s so surreal to me because my journey with YouTube never really started with that intention.

 

Waaaay Back In the Day (well, not that long ago)

 

Some odd number of years ago when I was in the early-middle years of my career (does that make sense?) I started to get emails from other photographers asking me questions about how I did certain things. ?Now, this wasn’t like ‘inbox is overflowing’ number of emails, but a few. And having that teacher gene in me, I just couldn?t let them go unanswered.

 

It was easier for me to SHOW these photographers then try to explain the how- tos in a email. So I started creating my own little videos. I’d post them to YouTube and then email them the link. Easy Peasy. Didn’t think more than a handful of people would ever see them….but they did.

 

The Good, the Bad and The Duct Tape

 

Now, let’s note that I was not a pro YouTuber (I’m still not) At this time, I used a free screen recorder and my audio came from a old headphone mic that was duct taped together. So needless to say the quality of my videos= not so hot. (the content was good though!)

 

Slowly but surely (and with me not really monitoring my channel) more and more people watched these videos and were grateful and thankful. I appreciated that and it made me want to put out more.

 

Nowadays, I try to put out editing videos or shooting videos on a consistent basis (usually every Tuesday), and I have a few more ideas in store for what?s next on my channel too!? I’ve also upgraded my recording system awhile back and my mic no longer is taped together (woo hoo!)

 

 

UR Ugly

 

I still keep those old videos up though. Even though I get comments like “ur ugly” or “your audio sucks” or “you should quit? (<—-yup, people really commented that) I know they’re not all perfect, but none of us are. We all start somewhere and I like to be reminded of growth and forward movement. And even though in the beginning the audio (probably does suck) and I stutter and mumble a bit, the majority of watchers have learned something and that’s what I love.

 

I want you to remember that too. We all start somewhere and whether it be your first year as a photographer, first day or you’ve been at it awhile, we keep growing and moving forward. And if you are making people smile by taking their picture and you are creating memories and YOU are happy with what you are doing , then you are doing a great job!

 

The Top Five Videos (Don’t Laugh)

‘?ve definitely evolved, so don’t laugh at these (picture me with that duct tape mic around my head as I’m talking). But my intent has always been the same: to help others. Here are the top 5 most watched tutorials to date! I hope they help you. And if you haven’t subscribed to my channel yet, it would truly mean a lot to me if you would (you can right here!)

 

#1 How To Create A Blurry Background

#2 How To Add Rays of Sunlight In Photoshop

#3 How To Add Extra Light to Your Photo In Photoshop

#4 How To Fix An Underexposed Image

#5 How To Get Get Skin Tones in Lightroom