Karen Hutton’s photography has reached over 1,000,000 followers on Google+! That’s no easy task. In the last two or three years she shifted from a pure business model to following her heart as an artist and this has produced striking results.
Although she doesn’t limit herself there is a focus on landscape, architectural and some close up photography. She frequently post processes her captures into an HDR style image. This is the combining of 2-6 images each which are exposed differently to capture extreme dynamic ranges. The multiple images are brought into a software package, (like Photomatrix). They are then tweaked to provide the look she wants through various sliders and ultimately compressed into one final image.
Karen was refreshingly humble about her abilities and very willing to take part in this interview. What impressed me the most was the depth of her answers. There are some real gems here folks, so dig in, get yourself some and learn a little about what makes renown photographer Karen Hutton shine!
Hi Karen – welcome and thank you for granting me this interview today!
Sure happy to do it, thanks for asking!
The internet is loaded with technical videos and instruction on the technical aspect of your photography. I’d like talk about the non-technical side and more the makeup of Karen Hutton as it relates to your success. Would that be OK?
Sure thing.
Before we get rolling can you give our readers a thumbnail sketch of the type of work you do today?
I do a combination of things. Primarily voice over and photography.
Your voice over work is excellent and certainly captivating. However, I’m going to focus mostly on the photographic side of your artistic expression. Can you briefly describe your personality?
I would say that I’m positive. I love life. I love light. I love photography. I love and am interested in – a lot of things. I like saying “I love”… it feels good and it energizes me. And I am quite energetic. I am sometimes impatient, mostly with myself, although I don’t tolerate fools well at all. I’m motivated. I worry more than I’d like – although a lot less than I used to.I’m learning to trust in the Universe (God, higher power, light) in all new ways. I’m a positive thinker. Strong-minded. Opinionated. Complex. I love to create things. I love beauty. I love to have fun and I love for others to have fun too (i.e. mine doesn’t preclude yours). I love win-win situations. Those are a few things that cross my mind, although I always find it difficult to answer those kind of questions!
What are the top (5) attributes of a good photographer?
I think a good, better yet, an excellent photographer is someone who:
Is really good at composition.
Has the ability to tell a good story in a single frame.
Knows themselves pretty well. That’s super important for a whole bunch of reasons.
Has abilities beyond the technical – i.e. makes their audience FEEL something.
Knows how to put heart and soul and vision into a photo.
Has their own point of view, a world view, that shows up in all of their work.
What are the top (5) attributes of a good person?
Wow that’s really subjective because you’d have to first define what “good” is. This particular day, at this moment I’d say that as a good person, you:
Are about other people.
Intend to leave the world better than when you met it.
Care about yourself and take care of yourself. Because you can’t give what you don’t have. So
you have to be full and rich on the inside so you have all that to offer.
Help other people; give back in some way that is genuine.
Create Good Work, in whatever way you can.
Was there life before photography? If so what career path were you at that time?
Well interestingly my mother’s family took photos. I’m ¼ Norwegian and when my Mom
passed we found a bunch of photos from the Norwegian branch of the family, coming to
America. I believe it was somewhere around the turn of the century. So I guess it goes back at
least that far!
In terms of photography in my own life: My family always had cameras, so we were taking
pictures as long as I can remember. There are so many photos of us all throughout our lives
and actually being a photographer was the first thing that I wanted to do. I wanted to get into
the profession so I went to school. However dark room chemicals made me sick so I couldn’t
pursue that. That was devastating. So I systematically tackled all my other interests. I started
with the ones that I had to do while I was young. That was figure skating, dance and acting. I
taught everything I ever did professionally, by the way, so they all went: do, then teach. I
trained horses for 35 years. I taught riding. For a while I was doing figure skating, riding and
photography all at the same time which was an interesting schedule (chuckling).
I moved on; went to school for acting because out of all the performing I’d done, the most
interesting was the acting aspect. I made my living as an actor. I went to the American
Conservatory Theater in San Francisco and some other top acting schools in the city. I
eventually taught acting then I got into voice overs. Of course, that was my entre into voice
overs.
Later on I became a news broadcast voice and performance coach. A couple of my
students have become celebs at this point, which is pretty cool. I did that for 25 years. So
basically my age is 150 (laughing). Suffice to say, it’s been a busy life. (smiling).
So, coming back to photography NOW. Digital came of age and I came home. Then Google+
happened. It changed everything for me. I kind of think of my photo life as “before google+”
and “after google+” or BG+ and AG+ (smiling). It enabled me to not only return to my
biggest passion -but also bring it together with other skills I’ve got to create an even wider
band of possibility than I could even dream of beforehand. It’s been fantastic.
When and why did photography and voice overs become a focal point in your life?
Like I mentioned, photography was “always” in my life. An “as I live and breath” sort of
thing. Performing was the other passion. For me both are storytelling – and I love stories. My
Mother used to read them to us as kids – and we always read way above our grade level as a
result. We’d listen to stories on records, make up our own stories (laughing). I’m fascinated
with stories. So photography and voiceover,(the performing I’ve done for 10 years), were these
were these two really cool ways of creating and telling them. They’re similar too: in
photography, you have one frame in which to say your piece. It’s a tremendous economy of
resources , thought and emotion. You have one frame. With a voice you don’t have your
face, body and movement to tell the story: you just have your voice. Both photography and
voiceover are very challenging and soooo impactful. For some reasons they always felt like
the coolest and best way to tell a story.
How do you plan your shoots? What criteria determines what, when and where you photograph?
Do I plan my shoots? (chuckling) Well……first of all I’m really fortunate to live where I do
in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California because I’m close to the Bay area, the south
bay and the coast as well as the mountains. So I have, within a short distance, amazing
photo opportunities. I’m exceedingly grateful for that. Then I do some traveling – but not
as much as people think!
I don’t shoot every day. When I’m home I shoot when there’s a great sunset or some other
event that just has to be captured. Or when photographer friends are in town. Then I’ll take a
lot of photos. Fall/autumn is like that. Certain snow or ice conditions. When I hop in my car
and drive somewhere, I try and do it at times of day when you’re likely to get good light.
The overall determining factor in photographing is: do I feel something about what I see? If I
feel moved, if I feel like there is a story, I’m shooting. If I’m touched in some way. I have a
way that I see life and the world. I tend to notice scenes and moments that illustrate that.
When it happens – I can’t NOT take that photo. Even if I don’t have a camera with me I’m
taking a photo in my mind.
It’s time consuming and expensive to travel the world as you do. One might wonder if you’re independently wealthy or are most of your explorations financed by a third party?
No I’m not independently wealthy and my explorations are not financed by a third party. Here’s the thing about the way I travel. I’ve been incredibly blessed to have worked in some really fantastic places. I’ve taken one travel vacation I paid for myself to Italy last year. Otherwise I’ve been to places like Paris and different parts of this country and other countries largely because of work. So I always book extra time on those trips to get out and photograph. I shoot a TON… so I can be posting and processing them over time. Consequently, it looks like I traveling all the time but I really don’t. I’d like to do more! Luckily though – like I mentioned earlier – I live within a 3-4 hour drive of some incredible country with huge diversity and I do try to take advantage of that.
Describe your typical work day to us from start to finish. Do you typically photograph alone or with others?
“A typical work day?” – This topic is on changeable ground right now. My world is expanding, which blows the notion of “typical” right out the door! At the moment, it might look like this: get up, have tea and a green smoothie. Check email and social – try to post and respond to peoples questions. Work on projects, based upon priority. I also try to work out during the day, every single day, (sometimes that ends up being at night).
It’s super important to me to be strong and healthy for my own well being – and for all the plans I have! That is a really top priority. You’ll notice that I haven’t said I’ve gone out to photograph yet. Because on a typical day I’m behind my computer. I’m creating and dreaming up a lot because I do run my own business. I’m behind on processing photos – and unfortunately, don’t get to that every day. That’s something I’d like to change. Despite what it may look like – I’m not running around the country side all day taking photos, I’m at my desk. A lot. Just like pretty much everybody else. (laughing). However, what I’m AIMING for is a much more streamlined personal and business life. More effective. I scramble too much. I want fewer things on my daily list – which is always more effective, BTW – and get out more to photograph, process, dream up and create the next great thing (whatever that is).
Have you had a mentor along the way and what photographers do you hold in high esteem today?
“Mentor” – I haven’t so much had a mentor as I’ve had really amazing people who’ve shown up at certain times in my life and taught me things that I’ve just never forgotten. You wouldn’t even know some of these people! Some of them I met 30 years ago. Two of them were a couple: Merrily and Tony Paige. They had an enviable fine art restoration business in San Francisco back in the 80’s. She had a really strong fine art background and strangely enough was a horse training and riding student of mine.
When she found out my interest in photography I got to see original (works of) Edward Weston , Ansel Adams and Paul Caponigro – amazing iconic photographers. I got to study the masters up close and personal and touch the paper , and see the emulsions. We would talk about light and shadow. How you tell a story, how you create mystery, how you tell part of the story but not all of the story. Just all these different ways of approaching photography as an art.
So, fine art photography was presented to me in this way. These are lessons I never really forgot. In some ways, I do suppose that’s a mentoring situation. I was very fortunate to have met people like that all along the way.
In those in-between years when I wasn’t pursuing photography as a profession, I’d pretty much work with whatever camera I could get my hands on. From my old Minolta SRT-102, to a Pentax hand-me-down film camera, to an early Olympus digital point-and-shoot and a variety of Sony digital point-and-shoots and a Cybershot f-717.
Going digital it wasn’t that exciting early on, because the quality wasn’t all that great. But around 2008, 2009 I started to “jones” for full-on DSLR because the photos were starting to look a lot closer to what I’d been waiting for. So when my husband gave me a DSLR in 2009 all bets were off cause. I was back! I started shooting again. First, it was learning the gear, getting my “chops” back. By now, I’d been having these images dance around in my mind, but I didn’t know what they were nor where to find them. I didn’t even know what to call them. They were just this bold, sort of surreal, intensely colorful style of photograph – SO different from my classical black-and-white roots. Then someone pointed out Trey Ratcliff’s work. I went “oh my God, there it is”! That was what I wanted to know. I took Trey’s very first workshop and connected with him to do the voice of the Guide on his “Stuck on Earth” (app).
His invitation brought me into Google+. Trey’s been a huge inspiration through his work, his business and his outlook on life. I suppose I’d say there’s not one mentor but quite a long list of people who inspire me. Some of them are in my life and some of them will never know I exist!
Does photography offer a calming peace to you that nothing else does? If so describe that feeling to us.
The simple answer to this question is yes it does. The feeling is calming but it’s very
fulfilling. Photography is very soothing to me. It requires me to settle into a meditative state
where I see with a different set of eyes. When it’s right – I can feel myself gasp inside. My
stomach kind of jumps and my heart sings a little bit. I’ll hear music in my head and there is
this whole body situation that goes along with finding the frame that really sings to me. Then
I know THAT’S the photo to take. It’s a very soothing process, a very complete feeling. When
I come home from photographing, I just feel better, my outlook on life is better. I feel
calmer, fulfilled. I feel like I touched a piece of myself that is like divinity.
You’re not just a great photographer but a prudent business woman as well. How important is your business mind to your overall success?
First of all thank you, that’s a nice compliment. How important is my business mind? I think it’s very important. Here’s the thing. The business side of me is very results oriented. Very bottom line, looks at numbers not just dollars. There are lots of measurables in a business and that’s important. However, what I used to do is I let that run my creative side. I’d always cut the creative process short, because the business part of me always said, “c’mon, let’s get on with it”.
Over time I learned that for me – those results are very limited. They can be OK, fine, decent. My businesses have always done well. But at the end of the day, it didn’t feel inspired. So now I have learned a different approach. More driven by my heart, my soul and what I really want, fewer compromises. What do I really want to say and do? What do I want my life to be like? What do I want to feel every day? That is what drives my business now. The results are strikingly and dramatically different than what they used to be.
What is the best course of action for photographers to get their work seen?
That’s a good question. So my personal opinion is that of course it’s important to have a website, utilize google, facebook, flickr and the like. All those things are important but here’s the thing. I don’t think people buy products. I think people buy experiences. You’re talking about photographers getting their work seen, sure – but what EXPERIENCE are you offering people? So many folks post a photo and will say they posted a photo but nobody looks at it. Well what are you offering? Do you have a story? Do you have a point of view? Do people FEEL something when they look at your work? What do you WANT them to feel?
I think nowadays you almost have to create your own world. Who are you? What is BRAND YOU? What do you have to bring that makes me want to come back so that they can,, once again, have the experience of being in the presence of your vision? That takes some self knowledge.
It takes some experimenting for sure. I think a lot of the decisions about social media, websites, what kind, etc – all becomes more self-evident once you know what it is you have to offer to people that is beyond (just) your work. You have to offer YOU. I think if you’re successful at that you can’t keep people away.
Hypothetically if camera’s were never invented and there was no way to capture life what artistic direction do you think you would have taken?
I haven’t a clue.
Karen, I don’t think folks like you get to where you are by accident. There are qualities that separate certain folks from the rest of the pack. I know you’re a very humble person and certainly don’t see yourself as better than anyone else but the reality is that technically your work and global exposure are in the upper percentile of photographers. Would you be kind enough to share with us the qualities you have that make you push yourself day in and day out? What gives you that drive, why is “good” just not good enough?
When I was younger I was very driven. I think some of that is still just a part of me today.However, now I have a vision for what I want of my life. Not just work. I have a vision for what I want in my photographs. I have a way that I want to feel every day. The nature of life is to evolve. It doesn’t stand still. When I see the word “good” it seems very static and not particularly committed. Plus it’s comparative so I don’t really think that way – like “this” is better than “that”. My world is more inclusive. I may have preferences. I may have desires that aren’t the same as yours. However, I never look at my work or my life and say “that’s not good enough”. I just look at it and see all the possibilities. Why would I lie down and go to sleep when there is so much to be, do and create? I think I’m always reaching for that magic because I think that’s our natural state. Magic. The land of the miraculous, the magical and the ever-evolving land of possibility.
I promised this wouldn’t be technical but very briefly what camera’s do you use?
Two DSLRS:
Canon 5D, mark III
Sony NEX 7
Any last words of advice to us aspiring photographers?
Find what you love more than anything. Whether that is light, color, subject, or the way you want to feel . Know thyself! Find those things because those are what will define and govern your work. It’s going to make it recognizable because it all shows up if YOU show up IN it. Of course, make yourself technically proficient but don’t stop there. Because that will never get you recognized and will never be fulfilling as much as harnessing all that is in your heart, soul and self. Let that become the visible signature that distinguishes your work from everyone else’s.
Karen, you’re pulled in a lot of directions and for you to share some of your thoughts and lend some advice to us is just invaluable. I know I speak collectively for all who may read this interview. THANK YOU!
You may see more of Karen’s images HERE.
For learn more about Karen’s voice over capabilities go HERE.
To purchase Karen’s e-book “I / We – Scenes From The Big Picture go HERE.
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