Photo Live Magazine First Issue Photo live - cat's add in 2017 versioin | Page 186

One thing photographers have in
common is the desire to progress as
artists. For some it might be techni-
cal skills, others the creative, more
artistic side. And for many of us, it
is both sides that we want to grow
in. Fortunately some photographers
that are further along that pathway
are more then happy to share and
teach others. Jim Harmer is one of
those photographers. He’s got an
amazing eye, brilliant technical skills
and loves sharing his knowledge.
You may have heard of Jim through
his online site, Improve Photography
or from his podcast or social media.
We got together with Jim and asked
how it all began...
Thanks Jim for talking to us, tell us
how a law student decides instead
to be a photographer, educator and
podcaster..?
During law school I taught adult-ed
classes at night for retirees. I start-
ed the blog as a way to communi-
cate with my little class so I wouldn’t
have to repeat the teaching of the
basics of photography each time I
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JIM
harmer
got a new class. Pretty soon, hun-
dreds and then thousands of people
were visiting ImprovePhotography.
com, so I started writing more re-
sources for the world. The site took
off from there and now gets a million
people a month visiting the site.
Why do you think you’ve managed to
be so successful, what I mean is you
have a massive following online that
is a full time business if I’m right?
I think what helped me grow in the
early stages were that the photogra-
phy blogging arena was much less
competitive back then. There real-
ly weren’t that many photography
blogs, so it helped me to get started.
Also, I began locally. I was teaching
classes and workshops in my own
city, so people got to know me per-
sonally and it generated much more
interest in my website. It made peo-
ple comment and share my articles,
which made the site look more im-
pressive than it really was back then.
You’ve got an amazing portfolio and
somehow you have carried over a
look or style across all genres, tell us
about that.
I feel like the look of my photos is
constantly changing as I improve
and learn knew things. I wouldn’t
necessarily even say that it’s super
consistent. I try to keep things fresh
and not get stuck too much in a rut.
What’s your favourite genre to shoot,
if you have one of course?
Landscape