Michael Shainblum - Social Media Pressure & Landscape Photography

Episode 066 of F-Stop Collaborate and Listen with Michael Shainblum! Warning - mild profanity mixed into the episode in places. 

Michael Shainblum is a landscape, timelapse and aerial photographer based in San Francisco, California. He has been working professionally as a photographer and filmmaker for 11 years since the age of 16. Michael first made a name for himself through his unique creativity and the ability to capture scenes and moments in his distinct style of surreal, visual story telling. A dedication to challenging the boundaries of creativity, as well as a flair for coming up with unique ideas, has since resulted in this dynamic visual artist being commissioned by large clients including Nike, Samsung, Facebook, LG, Apple and Google. You will also be able to find Michael’s work published widely by media outlets such as National Geographic, Wired Magazine and The Weather Channel.

We covered some great topics this week, including:

1. The story about how Michael got into photography.

2. How he gained traction as an artist early on.

3. Dealing with the pressure to post on social media. 

4. Fame & Responsibility in landscape photography.

5. The inspiration and why behind our shared interest in photographing the Milky Way. 

6. Transitioning away from night photography to other forms of photography - why and how it has affected the way he shoots.

7. Time management as an artist with a huge social media following.

8. How he photographed his "CASCADE - Waterfalls in Slow Motion" video.

Over on Patreon this week, Michael and I had a fabulous conversation where he told me the story about how he captured his famous photograph of lightning over the Golden Gate Bridge (see below) and he answered several listener questions.

Please consider supporting the podcast on Patreon! There's a ton of bonus content over there for subscribers! Your support is critical - it helps with production costs and to improve the podcast over time. Thanks!

To learn more about Michael, check out his online presence:

Website.

Instagram.

YouTube.

Here are some artists that Michael recommended for the podcast:

1. Marco Grassi.

2. Russell Preston Brown.

Some examples of Michael's photography can be seen below. 

I love hearing from the podcast listeners! Reach out to me via email, Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter if you'd like to be on the podcast or if you have an idea of a topic we can talk about. You can also join the conversation on our Facebook Group! We've also started an Instagram page and a Facebook page for the podcast, where we'll be sharing updates as we go!