We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Hunter Page. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Hunter below.
Hi Hunter , really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
I have always been passionate about whatever it is I am involved in. I become consumed, it is all I want to do and most other hobbies fall to the way-side. Because of this, I think I create the purpose out of necessity. The need to constantly work on something, to fill my time with and to understand that topic intimately.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I was born and raised in Utah with the mountains not far from my home. In my teenage years I fell in love with the quiet, mountainous terrain and I spent a vast majority of my time hiking, camping, fishing and eventually photographing. I have now been photographing for roughly 10 years. This passion consumed my time, my mental capacity and every thought.
After years of photographing and becoming an “okay” photographer, there was something big missing something. I really start digging into the art form: I began reading articles by established nature photographers. I bought ebooks, photo books and started reaching out to other photographers to gain more knowledge. Through this time I learned a lot. Some topics were about color, shape, form, image design, how these effects how we feel and how to compose these into an image.
Fast forward seven years, I am now teaching all of these topics on my daily photography tours in Southern Utah and my seasonal photography workshops.
I am quite thrilled to have turned my passion into my full time job.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
There are many skills that are extremely important if you seek out this lifestyle. The most important of all is your personal skills. The ability to have meaningful conversations with strangers and turn them into a friend.
The ability to take complex thoughts and turn them into digestible information which the client can then apply to whatever it is they are doing is massive. This is quite difficult and something I continue to evolve at.
Become a great artist yourself. I cannot stress this enough. I am a firm believer that you, the artist, need to grow and evolve as a photographer before you can teach it. Your work needs to stand on its own.
You should not try to go full-time in anything until you, yourself have spent the time and have done the research to become a great artist. Then move past that.
If you’re beginning as a photographer I would highly recommend buying books, reading articles or joining a workshop of some kind. This will greatly enhance your ability to grow as an artist. Do not take shortcuts. As the AI technology advances, this will not EVER take over art! Art is the expression of oneself. AI cannot and will not ever be that.
We’ve all got limited resources, time, energy, focus etc – so if you had to choose between going all in on your strengths or working on areas where you aren’t as strong, what would you choose?
I love this question because it brings up a great point.
Become a better, well rounded individual and never stop doing that. You need to push yourself into uncomfortable situations because this is when you will grow!
I myself moved to Montana and became a hiking and backpacking guide. I was busier than I thought possible, I was thrown into uncomfortable situations and I was left to my own devices at all times. If I failed, it was on me. If I did something unprofessional, that was on me.
I had to take full responsibility for everything; the safety of each person, prepping meals, cooking meals, filtering water and relaying in-depth knowledge of the flora, fauna and history of the area. This was literally everyday, all day for five months.
I became a better guide. I learned so much about myself and how I interact with others. This experience was instrumental in starting my own photography service!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.hunterpagephotography.com/
- Instagram: @hunterpagephotography & @capitolreefphotographytours
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CapitolReefPhotographyTours
Image Credits
All Photographs Are Mine.
