Photographers on YouTube I'm grateful to
For me, these photography YouTube channels hit the sweet spot - they're enjoyable and thought-provoking for how I go on to approach my own work.
In alphabetical order, and please let me know if I’ve accidentally misdescribed or misgendered someone here - I’ve double checked but it’s easy to miss something when suffering considerable brain fog.
Hope you discover some new inspiration!
Bryan Birks
Bryan’s channel is a firm favourite - I appreciate his authentic sharing of his creative and personal growth as a photographer, plus his work is incredibly good too. Bryan’s mainly using medium and large format film to make colour and B+W environmental portraits, landscapes and built environment work and long term projects, bringing the people and places of middle-America to life. Alongside this he shares a flavour of his commissioned assignments and the learning from this. He also has a Patreon.
https://www.youtube.com/@BryanBirks
Matt Black
Matt’s book ‘American Geography’ I love for its gritty, graphic and poetic approach to story telling about the fading American dream. It was through this that I found he has a channel where he has shared some reflections around this body of work and the thinking behind it. Personally, I prefer colour work over B+W, but Matt’s work more than transcends my own petty hang ups and I’ve love to hear more from him via his channel - perhaps if a few more of us subscribe… Matt shares a little of how he brought this massive story to life, producing images that I can look at each for an age.
https://www.youtube.com/@mattblack_blackmatt
Alex Carter
Alex’s channel is promising but also a little sporadic - perhaps reflecting that Alex is at an early-ish stage in his sharing content about his work with the world. So far, it’s a mix of reflections around photography, cinema and practice. The quality of thought-provocation is there - for me at least, at my stage of photography. I’m looking forward to seeing more from Alex, and I wonder if a few new subscribers may help encourage him to share more with us :) There’s a podcast we can enjoy meanwhile too, I’ve just discovered!
https://www.youtube.com/@AlexCCarter
Nick Carver
Nick’s meticulous approach to capturing the built environment is as captivating as the results - his ability to convey the spirit of a building in its location brought to life in the light that suits its setting and character is next level. Nick’s delivery is fun too, and he mixes it up with other formats and approaches - all film based and mostly colour. Nick also shares technical videos and produces online courses too - as purchases - I suspect I’ll be paying for his promised printing course if and when it’s made available, pocket money allowing.
https://www.youtube.com/@nickcarverphoto
Ben Horne
Ben’s channel has a quiet and contemplative air about it, built over many years and is testimony to Ben’s grounded approach to his creative process and the subjects he brings to life. Working with large-format film and mainly in death valley, Ben takes us on jaunts into his favourite haunts where we get to soak up the environment and await the right light and moment for him to make the exposure. His ‘film reveals’ in most episodes include Ben’s initial critique, helping us understand the thinking behind the work. Ben writes really too, and prints are available - plus he co-hosts the Creative Banter podcast.
https://www.youtube.com/@BenHorne
Robbie Maynard
Robbie’s channel is mainly around film photography; the locations, subjects and images entailed are always a delight to absorb from the comforts of my sofa. I have enjoyed each one so far! Robbie wanders and explores the local landscape and its human and natural-caused developments and detritus. It’s early-ish days for his channel and so I’m sure he’d welcome a boost in subscribers if you dig his laid back vibe (and great images!) too. He also has a Patreon.
https://www.youtube.com/@RobbieMaynardCreates
Kyle McDougall
Kyle’s channel is a mix of encouragement around making personally-meaningful work and embracing a variety of formats (digital and film) to stay engaged with our practice and projects. Now based in the UK, Kyle also shares some of the approaches he uses in his own long-term and side projects, along with reviews of the techniques and gear entailed - it’s less about the latest gadget and more about how that can help us make better work.
https://www.youtube.com/@KyleMcDougall
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I’m conscious that this is an all-male list. I’d love to see a broader more diverse mix.
Please let me know who I may have missed and whose channels (non-technical) you’ve been finding most helpful, especially if they’re from under-represented demographics.