Today we’d like to introduce you to Wyatt Peterson.
Hi Wyatt, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
It all started as a joke…seriously!
Some 10-12 years ago, I held an application in my hands to join the high school yearbook. The application had your standard list of questions about why you’d want to join, what you liked about photography, and what you would write about if you were in the yearbook. As I looked over the list of questions, my buddy and I started joking about writing a mock news article that highlighted the lack of benches throughout the school (It wasn’t a big school). As we joked about it, I decided to actually write this mock news article on my application, complete with quotes from my friends about why we needed more benches in between classes. It was a ridiculous way to finish the application, but I was sure they already had the yearbook team picked out and this would at least provide a laugh.
Well to my utter surprise I was asked to join the yearbook a week later.
From that moment on I would slowly but surely become hooked on photography.
Over the years I would experiment with different genres of photography, I would take some elective photography classes in college, I would just have fun.
Things really got serious once I got a job with the Forest Service, on the Trails and Wilderness Crew. Each day I would be outside hiking, working, and observing. (That to me is the biggest catalyst in capturing powerful photographs. Observing the world around us, and I’m not talking about passive observing. I’m talking about truly living in the moment, letting all your senses take in the environment as if you just discovered a new world. Because when it comes down to the story a photograph tells, it’s the photographer who narrates through their perspective, focus, and creativity.)
My time with the Forest Service not only solidified my passion for photography but also gave me a solid direction in which I wanted to build my business.
I wanted to tell stories that not only captivated people through imagery, but also motivated them to go out and seek their own adventures. To inspire others to get outside, to explore, to connect with nature in such a way that they would in turn become better stewards of our wild places.
Currently, I have expanded my storytelling beyond just photography and writing, and I now include videography into the mix. I do a lot of freelance jobs, usually working with adventure athletes or brands that are environmentally focused. My free time, (when not exploring with my wife and son, or working on our house) is spent daydreaming and planning out my first Photo Book. Something that is truly a passion project right now, but something I’m stoked to do.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
No, it hasn’t, and I am so grateful for that.
I mean from the get go things weren’t easy. I had to learn a device that was so foreign to me, yet I knew it would be cool to finally capture photos of certain moments or places. Many of my first shots were rough, to say the least, yet I enjoyed the process of thinking of a photo I wanted to take and then taking hours figuring out if it was even possible with my camera and what settings I would need to make it a somewhat decent photo. It took me a whole year before I finally got a tripod, before that all my night photos were taken using a backpack or rocks. But these struggles that stemmed from curiosity taught me a lot about my camera and what it is capable of. It also helped that I didn’t try asking others if my ideas were possible, because if I had gotten a “no” from a photographer I look up to, I might have halted my learning.
Other struggles and setbacks I’ve faced have only solidified my direction and focus. For me, the struggles have been the greatest teachers on things I can improve upon in my own skills, within my own mind, and in how I interact with others.
A list of struggles I have faced and still occasionally face include,
– Internal conflict and doubt. Wondering if I am in over my head with a certain job, or being afraid of the responsibility that comes with taking on bigger projects.
– Setting boundaries between my work and my passion within the field of content creation. It’s always nice to make money doing what you love, but its important that you find a way to keep the passion alive. Because jobs will come and go, but if your passion is only reliant on the money than you’ll eventually resent it when the money disappears.
– Self-sabotaging myself when it comes to potential gigs because I feared rejection.
– Taking on too much, for too little. I once heard someone say to never work for free, and I have learned that lesson the hard way. Now I am all for helping out others or exchanging work for an experience. But be careful what you do for free, because when life gets busy those jobs you did as a favor fall lower and lower on your priority list. Causing you and your friend stress. But when money is on the line, your priorities tend to stay a little more stable.
– Being too much of a people pleaser.
– Caring about my social media. (I think social media is a great tool to connect and encourage/support others. It is also horrible for our mental health if we focus the growth.) I used to chase after growth and it really weighed me down, causing me to doubt myself and my work. Let me tell you, SOCIAL MEDIA IS NOT A SIGN OF WORTH, skill or growth. I know plenty of incredible photographers who either don’t have social media or have maybe 100 followers. I also have seen plenty of accounts with 100’s or thousands of followers that use images that are faked or of poor quality. Use social media to be social and to network, connect and learn from those you do admire and respect.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
My business is Wyatt Peterson Studios and I’m an adventure photographer, writer, and videographer. I specialize in selling prints, doing commercial work, and stewardship advocacy in the tourism world. (For those looking for prints, I sell through my website and I also take orders through my email on photos that are on my Instagram but not my website.)
My work can be broken down into a couple of generic categories.
1. Adventure Work: I work with a lot of adventure athletes such as trail runners, paramotor pilots, mountain bikers, skiers, rock climbers, etc. This work for me is all about telling the story of human potential in conjunction with nature. I love this style of photography because I have to rely on instinct for a lot of the shots. Of course, there are the shots that I plan out and they take multiple attempts to get right, or they require some staging to showcase a brand or sponsor. Which these shots are fun to get and require a lot of creativity. Yet the shots I love the most while working with athletes are the ones taken without planning (and these are also my favorite shots when it comes to their storytelling aspect). These are the shots when the athlete is simply doing what they love, without any direction from me. When they want to experiment with a new trick, or try a trail they’ve never done before. These shots are exhilarating to capture, and they require me to look at the landscape and athlete in a new light.
My favorite adventure shoot would have to be a mountain bike shoot, when I was taken to a trail I had never been to. I decided it would be a good idea if I trail ran the trail ahead of the bikers and we would do a sort of leapfrog down the trail. This shoot was none stop action, giving me minutes to scope out a perspective or angle before the mountain bikers would fly down the trail.
2. Wilderness Work: This work is all about capturing the art that already exists in our natural world, and I strive to capture and share it through all facets of my work (photo, writing, and video). This type of work requires me to explore and really appreciate/observe all that is around me. It is more than simply walking into a meadow and snapping a photo. For me, it’s walking around the meadow, looking at all the angles and perspectives available in that area, and then capturing the perspective that highlights the true power of that area. There have been some places that I return to often because I still feel like I haven’t captured the right story that really pays respect to the landscape, and there are many places I don’t know if I’ll ever capture a shot to do the landscape justice.
One such place that I’ve been to is Son Doong Cave in Vietnam. For those that haven’t heard of this cave, it is the largest cave in the world and was only just discovered in 2009! The trip included hiking through the Vietnam jungle and hiking/camping for 4 days within the cave. The cave was incredible, a world I never knew existed. It had a raging river that would echo off the walls. It had chambers that were so massive a jumbo jet could fit through them. This cave was mythical in both size and grandeur. We would make camp at the base of the massive dolines (skylights) that were 600-900 feet above the cave floor. Looking up you could see the jungle trees and foliage growing above. Each day brought new wonders, from hiking through a jungle within the cave (yes one of the dolines was so massive, that a jungle was able to grow on the cave floor some 900 feet below the ground) to seeing insects that can only be found in the cave. Despite taking many photos that are captivating and powerful, I will always long to go back get more.
3. Social Media: The last aspect of my work is capturing images for brands and products, or writing blogs about stewardship/adventure for various magazines. This aspect is all about inspiring others to be their best selves, while also taking care of the world around us (both taking care of other people and taking care of the planet). This work really stemmed from my Instagram (@wyattpetersonstudios) where I would share a photo and every one of my captions would include some form of motivation, usually taken from a personal challenge or lesson I was personally learning or experiencing.
We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
Risk in my book is essential. Any dream or goal is going to require us to take action and do things way out of our comfort zone if we want them to even be close to becoming a reality. Life is all about taking risks in one form or another. I spent a lot of my earlier years as a photographer afraid of rejection, and in this fear, I missed out on taking some risks that could have led to some cool opportunities. The risks I did take though, those are what have gotten me to where I am today.
It’s hard for me to separate my risks as major or minor now because ultimately it comes down the same choice of doing it or not. Either I can wake up early and get a shot or I can sleep in. Either I can save money to go on a dream trip around the world, or I can buy needless things. Either I can network and reach out to potential new clients, or I can daydream of them reaching out to me (which rarely if ever happens).
A big risk I took early on was buying my first camera! Something that required me to sacrifice and save what little money I was earning so I could give photography a solid chance.
The last thing I will say about risks is that they can teach us a lot about our direction and how to fine-tune it. One such risk for me was saying yes to taking photos for a wedding. This taught me a lot.
First, I learned that I really don’t like taking wedding photos, it’s just not a type of photography that I enjoy doing, just as I am sure there are many photographers who would hate doing the type of photos that I love taking.
Second, I learned that pricing a wedding is important and most of the time spent working on wedding photos is done during the editing phase, so take that time into account when pricing out the wedding. I have also learned that if anyone wants me to shoot their wedding in the future, I am going to charge an amount that will either make it well worth my time if they say yes, or they will find another photographer who actually loves doing weddings to take their photos. A win-win for me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.wyattpetersonstudios.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wyattpetersonstudios/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WyattPetersonStudios/
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRL4FqF3/
Image Credits
Wyatt Peterson
