Hi, I'm Ben aka Life Through Optics
Helping photographers & creatives pursue their passions and build businesses. Join over 33,000+ photographers and creatives receiving free value in their inbox every Wednesday.
Why your camera gear probably isn’t the problem
Filling The Gaps Sharing my experiences, skills, self development hacks, and more to help you fill in any gaps. Hey Reader, A reader called Naomi replied to my email two weeks ago asking how to deal with camera gear paralysis and feelings of unworthiness if you don’t have “professional” gear. And honestly… This is something I still struggle with sometimes. Even now. I’ve captured hundreds of thousands of photos, posted over 2,000 times online, built an audience of over 1 million followers...
How I got my first paid photography clients
Filling The Gaps Sharing my experiences, skills, self development hacks, and more to help you fill in any gaps. Hey Reader, Coming to you again with another weekly newsletter, hope you're doing well! For this week, a reader named Jasinder replied to my newsletter a couple of weeks ago and asked how I got my first paid clients and what actually helped me grow my income in the early stages. So I thought I’d breakdown exactly what I did. When I first decided I wanted photography to become my...
How I built my network as a photographer
Filling The Gaps Sharing my experiences, skills, self development hacks, and more to help you fill in any gaps. Hey Reader, A reader named Doug replied to my last email newsletter with a great topic idea. (Hi Doug if you see this! 👋) He asked how I built my network as a photographer and creator, so I'm breaking it down for you this week. I have to admit something to you before we begin though… At the start of my journey, it was really lonely. None of my friends at the time were into...
How I reduced the risk of going full-time with photography
Filling The Gaps Sharing my experiences, skills, self development hacks, and more to help you fill in any gaps. Hey Reader, One of the replies I got from last week’s newsletter asked how I set myself up to go from a 9-5 corporate worker to full-time photographer/content creator. So I thought I’d share the real story. I started photography in February 2022. At the time, I was 4 years into my corporate career working as a project manager, industrial designer, and lecturer earning about $107k...
Why you feel like an imposter (and why it’s good)
Filling The Gaps Sharing my experiences, skills, self development hacks, and more to help you fill in any gaps. Hey Reader, A legend called Javier replied to my last email newsletter and asked if I'd share my story of how I deal with imposter syndrome. So for this week, I wanted to share this with you. The first time I felt imposter syndrome was in early 2022 when I started my journey of shooting photos in public, filming content, and posting online. It felt a bit silly at the time. Back then...
How to actually become consistent with posting content
Filling The Gaps Sharing my experiences, skills, self development hacks, and more to help you fill in any gaps. Hey Reader, If you’re struggling to post consistently… You’re not alone. Most photographers/creators struggle with it. And it's not because of laziness. It's because people just haven't built up their Consistent Content Muscle. I've post over 2,000 times in 3.5 years and I can tell you none of that relied on motivation. I just trained my consistency. Here’s how I did it: Level 1:...
If you feel behind right now, read this
Filling The Gaps Sharing my experiences, skills, self development hacks, and more to help you fill in any gaps. Hey Reader, I had a conversation with a young photographer a couple of months ago. He’s turning 18 this year. And it made me realise something… If he just sticks at this for the next 15 years, he’ll STILL be younger than I am right now (I'm 33). Let that sink in. We’re so quick to feel behind. We compare ourselves to people who’ve been doing this for years (I'm definitely guilty of...
I’ve been a bit lost lately (here’s what helped)
Filling The Gaps Sharing my experiences, skills, self development hacks, and more to help you fill in any gaps. Hey Reader, It’s been a while since my last weekly newsletter. And to be honest, behind the scenes the last six months have been a bit all over the place. For the first time in a long time, I lost consistency across pretty much everything. Not because I didn’t enjoy what I was doing. But because I tried to do too much. My coaching programs, workshops, photoshoots, travel, content,...
the secret to unlocking endless opportunities as a photographer
Filling The Gaps Sharing my experiences, skills, self development hacks, and more to help you fill in any gaps. Hey Reader, Back again with another newsletter for you. I wanted to share a personal update with you. You may have noticed that I've been a little less active on social media lately. Recently my grandfather passed away in the UK, and because I'm in Australia I attended the funeral via livestream last week. That was brutal and has really knocked the wind out of me... Even more so...
What I’d do if I was starting over with photography today
Filling The Gaps Sharing my experiences, skills, self development hacks, and more to help you fill in any gaps. Hey Reader, I'm back again with another of my weekly newsletters after a little bit of a break. Expect a newsletter each week on Wednesdays from me and I'll do my best to make it the most value-packed thing in your inbox. For this one, I wanted to share how I would go about start my photography journey all over again from scratch today. If you’re trying to get into car photography...
Helping photographers & creatives pursue their passions and build businesses. Join over 33,000+ photographers and creatives receiving free value in their inbox every Wednesday.