PAST

LAWRENCEATIENZA.COM: In your early years of high school, were you involved in the yearbook ? What sparked your interest in photography? Do you recommend all the weekend photographers out there to initially stick with the subjects they know and build from there? Do you have any suggestions on how to build that progression? How did you progress to where you are today in photography?

TOM HAYTON:

Well, I grew up in the UK where there isn’t much of a yearbook tradition. My dad is into photography and he bought me an old Zenit for my 14th birthday. A fully manual Russian built SLR. This forced me to learn all the basics. I continued as an amateur for several years- university intervened- then when I was 23 I went to Japan to fulfill a childhood dream of training in judo in its homeland and to learn Japanese. While I was there I had so many things to photograph that my interest became much more serious.

A couple of years later I moved to Malaysia, by which point I was really shooting a lot and people I knew were starting to take an interest in my work. They asked me if they could have copies of my work, and I started selling framed prints.

At that time I was pretty much shooting anything and everything that took my interest.

My first real break came with a small commission for a magazine. It was people oriented, and I realized that what I really wanted to be was a photographer of people. So from that point on I focused on that. I was still landing commissions to shoot all sorts of stuff, and this was important because I think as a portrait photographer you need to know about other areas of photography too.

I digested everything I could lay my hands on about technique, and studied the work of great portrait, fashion and documentary photographers. I then reverse engineered their work to see how I could improve on my own.

My next big break came with a job for a new celebrity lifestyle magazine (this was still in Malaysia). They had a very small budget but I got to shoot a lot and I made connections with some influential people which went beyond the scope of the commission itself.

When I started shooting celebrities I had to raise my game. I bought some studio lights, which gave me more creative options, and the connections I made through the magazine led to more work.

Finally I started doing large commercial shoots, with bigger budgets and much more complex requirements. The key to getting there was to constantly strive for improvement, to build my network, and to offer great service.

And that process is still continuing- I’m always looking to do more challenging, interesting and significant work.

LAWRENCEATIENZA.COM: Do you still have photos taken from the early years when it all started? What were your subjects? Are the pictures online to share with everyone to compare with your work today?

TOM HAYTON:

I have some of my very early work at my parents’ place. And no they’re not online and I’m not sure I’d want them to be! ϑ

I literally photographed everything I felt like photographing. I started off with 35mm film and this meant I really had to think about what I was doing. Although I mostly shoot digital now, I’d encourage everyone to spend some time shooting film because it takes you right back to basics.

LAWRENCEATIENZA.COM:  What books did you read at the beginning of your photography career that helped you prepare for today? Title of book, author and price of book please…just messing around, the title of the books should be fine thanks to google search. Do you recall any other resources that you referred to heavily to help you prepare for the photography business? We want to know what the must have resources are to fully equip ourselves when and if we ever plan to take that leap of faith.

TOM HAYTON:

Here are some great books I’ve used and continue to use today:

Lighting and the Dramatic Portrait by Michael Grecco
Photographing People: Portraits/Fashion/Glamour, published by Rotovision
Skin by Lee Varis
How to Grow as a Photographer by Tony Luna

LAWRENCEATIENZA.COM:  What was your very first professional photography job? Was this purely out of luck that you were at the right place at the right time? Was there a hidden plan to penetrate the market from within? Would you recommend it to new photographers trying to break into the market and that are having difficulty breaking in? Once you had your first job under your belt was it difficult to get another gig? What did you do to acquire more work besides providing awesome images? Have you ever considered being agency represented? If you are agency represented how did you attract a photography agent?

TOM HAYTON:

My very first job was a last minute thing. I received a call from a guy I knew at a magazine who desperately needed someone to take pictures of a government minister for an interview. It had to go out that evening so needed to be shot digitally. I borrowed a DSLR (I’d never used one before!) and just went for it. I wasn’t paid but it got my foot in the door, and I got a lot of paid jobs from that magazine after that.

I suppose the same is true in any business, but when you’re trying to get work you have to be associated with solving a particular kind of problem.

The trouble with getting started in professional photography is that you have countless competitors who will work for free. I worked for free a few times in the early days. But I only ever did so if it was clear how it would take me forward- i.e. put me in front of a new type of client or give me an opportunity to do something new creatively.

You have to be a great networker as well as a great image maker. I’ve always been very sociable, so this helped. But it’s absolutely not about just sticking to people because you think they can give you something. It’s a cliché but be yourself- make some friends and introduce them to your friends. Work will follow.

LAWRENCEATIENZA.COM: After your first job, What was the next photography gig you obtained and how did you go about your execution? Did you apply all that you’ve learned in all the books you’ve read ? Did you buy more books or accessed any more resources to help you jump to your next big step in the game of photography? What tools do you recommend that are a must have that helped you get to where you are present day?

TOM HAYTON:

I can’t remember what my second job was but I do remember the first big one- which I mentioned earlier. We spent a couple of days driving around in a BMW shooting pictures of guys playing golf. I suppose you could describe it as an advertorial. I applied a lot of what I’d learned but there’s a big difference between theory and practice. Plus it takes a while to fully internalize things. I was fortunate in that the shoot was sponsored by Kodak, so I could shoot a ton of film and cover several different angles. Plus the pace of this shoot was slow (they were playing golf) so I was under less time pressure than what I would call normal now.

In terms of must-haves, I’d say having a mentor can really help- it certainly did for me.

The key to photography is practice and continued self-critique of your work. I showed my work to others to get feedback and encouraged them to point out the flaws. I had a couple of mentors who helped me along the way from time to time- the guy at my lab was a former pro, and I also received a lot of career advice from the photojournalist Palani Mohan (www.palanimohan.com) .

PRESENT

LAWRENCEATIENZA.COM: What keeps the money rolling? Your brand is possibly a huge factor to your longevity? Am i right?  Do you have any recommendations on brand building for weekend photographers and/or Photographers in general.

TOM HAYTON:

Brand is key, yes. You need to be known for doing a particular type of work. How many famous photographers do you know who shoot fashion, products and architecture combined? I can’t think of any.

LAWRENCEATIENZA.COM:  What is currently in your photography bag? Please be as detailed as possible for those starting out photographers that want to be just like you. From your photography equipment arsenal, what do you bring most of the time for your commercial shoots?

TOM HAYTON:

Cameras:

Nikon D3 body
Nikon D300 body and battery grip
Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 lens

Hasselblad 503CX with Carl Zeiss 80mm f/2.8 lens
Mamiya RZ 67 Pro (II) D

As you can see I don’t usually use zooms. I prefer prime lenses for their sharpness, sense of balance and consistency.

I rent digital backs for the medium format cameras when required- and still shoot film on these when there is time.

I mostly use Broncolor lighting equipment.

I can’t stress enough, however, that the camera really isn’t the most important thing. Get good technique first. Don’t blow thousands on expensive gear unless and until it becomes a business requirement.

LAWRENCEATIENZA.COM:  What is your favorite image in your current portfolio and why? How did you approach the execution? Give us a glimpse on how you construct an image from scratch.

TOM HAYTON:

My opinion changes all the time! Perhaps my favourite right now is a portrait of an investor that I shot for a client back in December.

He was a very serious guy. I kept getting images where he just looked really intimidating and the rapport just wasn’t there at first. So I asked him if we could do something fun.

He agreed, and I passed him a balloon dog (i.e. a dog made of balloons).

The change was immediate and dramatic- he started talking about the dog, playing around with it and so on. I was then able to get a shot where he was looking into the camera with an interesting half-smile which worked really well.

The key to this is that when you are shooting people in the studio you must have rapport. So you have to cultivate a wide range of interests and hang out with lots of different types of people. Also, work up to more adventurous ideas. If I’d said at the beginning, ‘‘hey please hold this balloon dog’’ then it would have seemed very out of place. So I asked a general question first, ‘‘can we try something fun?’’

LAWRENCEATIENZA.COM:  Is having your own studio space essential for any commercial photographer.  Do you have a photography studio of your own? If so, what do you look for in a photography studio?

TOM HAYTON:

It’s not essential. I work both in the studio (I use several) and on location. I like to have as much space as possible, several power sockets….and music!!!

LAWRENCEATIENZA.COM: What types of commercial gigs are you currently involved in now and how did they surface? What are your recommendations on how we photographers diversify their product offering from Commercial and stock in today’s marketplace?

TOM HAYTON:

I’m involved in a mixture of commercial gigs for media companies, ad agencies and corporations, and they vast majority of those have surfaced through my network and first- or second-degree connections.

The best advice I could give sounds overly simplistic but here goes: stick to something you do well and don’t be generic.

FUTURE

LAWRENCEATIENZA.COM: What are your immediate goals as a photographer and artist?  Are you planning on releasing any how-to books? What are your recommendations to people thinking about starting a photography book?

TOM HAYTON:

I’m working on some long term projects, one of which may lead to a book. I think it’s important to devote time to personal projects because you can work outside the constraints placed on you by commissioned jobs, and they also allow you to experiment and learn for those commissioned jobs. Watch this space!

LAWRENCEATIENZA.COM: A lot of professional photographers are starting to run workshops. Will you start offering workshops in the future? I know TIME is not your friend, but there are ways to get around that maybe offering internship opportunities to intern with you for a small fee during one of your paid shoots. Or maybe provide an opportunity to be a spectator for one of your weekend shoots?

TOM HAYTON:

I run a workshop approximately once a month if I have time. I was a teacher before I was a photographer, so I know how to teach, which is obviously important, but too many workshops revolve around the photographer demonstrating how good they are.

Usually on paid shoots I’m too focused on work to be able to take care of visitors, but if anyone wants to contact me re helping out as an assistant, I can consider it.

LAWRENCEATIENZA.COM:  I am sure you’ve read many articles discussing how in the future videography and photography will be one? What are your thoughts on that and how will you evolve to the new morphed medium?

TOM HAYTON:

Yes I’m familiar with that theory. It’s possible but I still think that stills and video are separate media and will remain so for the foreseeable future.

Obviously there’s a relationship between stills and video but there are also important differences- technically, creatively an in terms of the functions those media perform in society.

What I do think we are seeing more of is photographers doubling up as videographers and vice versa. We’ve seen manufacturers respond to that with the launch of the Nikon D90 and the Canon 5D Mark II, which have video capability.

Personally I’d be interested in doing some work with video but it’s more out of creative curiosity than a feeling of necessity at the moment.

LAWRENCEATIENZA.COM: Ok so thinking about the future and how it is very important in any endeavor especially the photography business. What do you suggest photographers do in the future to solidify their presence in the industry? What will you do to ensure that you remain on top, not taking into account your photography niche?

TOM HAYTON:

I don’t know if you should ever aim to solidify yourself or your position, but to continue getting better and better. Read Tony Luna’s ‘‘How to grow as a photographer’’ as he puts it much better than I can.

LAWRENCEATIENZA.COM: Thank you again for your time and giving back. What would you like to leave for us photographers to think about when moving forward with photography for the future? If you have any words of wisdom will be appreciated.

TOM HAYTON:

In the digital age I think a lot of people are coming into photography without a solid foundation of basics, and this problem is becoming worse. I’m just about old enough (31) to have spent several years shooting film, and I’d recommend that as a training exercise for anyone who’s really serious. You can be better than 99% of the photographers out there simply by not being sloppy. Of course you shouldn’t define yourself purely in those terms but it’s something to think about.

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