feet on a surfboad riding a wave
© Mike Guest Photographer and film maker Mike Guest , an outdoorsy photographer proving you can rise above the noise and have your own voice, shot the above image. His Dawn Days project has gone viral, and helped many people cope with lockdown, isolation and depression.

If you’re an outdoor adventure shooter

4 March, 2021

Yet another amazing outdoor lifestyle photographer followed me on Insta today. He was from New Zealand.

And yesterday another in Scotland.

Not surprising, that.

Both countries have gorgeous mountains, lakes and ocean. What’s not to love? (Maybe the cold………but skiing!)

These intrepid shooters keep emerging from the woodwork, (or more likely from the ice cave), beanies speckled with melted sleet, faces creased with sun and wind burn, a bike part leaning against a wall next to the Patagonia backpack, the sleeve of a dripping wetsuit in the Zoom background.

If you’re one of the eleventy million photographers in the world who love shooting in the surf, camping under a vast sky of stars in those glowy little high tech tents, and lugging gear up and down mountains to shoot fresh faced explorers atop a peak, what on earth can you do to differentiate yourself?

Well it’s easy.

Your genre isn’t all that defines you.

You’re defined by the feeling your work evokes, your vision, your values, and your purpose, or ‘why’.

These make up your own unique brand DNA and they’re what change you from fighting for a meagre handful of outdoorsy brand clients, to seeing the potential of your reach.

Brands that want to show courage.

Brands that want to show teamwork.

Brands that want to show survival against the odds.

You are so much more than WHAT you shoot.

Don’t limit your potential.