Follow Your Passion & Photos Will Appear

Today’s Post by Mark Toal

I’m frequently asked how I find the things that I photograph? The answer is that I follow my passions and interests.

A good example is my steam train photography. A few years ago, my photo group—do you belong to one?—went on a tour of an old steam train roundhouse here in Portland, Oregon. I made sure to get the e-mail address of the person in charge and sent them a thank you email with a few of my photos attached. He asked if I would like to take more images and I slowly became their main photographer.

Joe and I both share a love of car photography. A couple of years a friend asked me to photograph him with his prized 1953 MG. Next time he was at his mechanics he showed him the photos and found out they were building a Rat Rod and wanted somebody to photograph it. I had never heard of a Rat Rod and now I love photographing them.

Think about the things that you’re passionate about and go photograph them but next time stop and talk to the people that are involved. They love the attention and love good photos that you can make. Notice that I didn’t say to follow your passion and the money will follow. You may (or may not) pick up a couple of paid photo shoots along the way, but no matter what you will have a lot of fun and get to know some great people who are passionate about what they do