How do I find the best locations for travel photography? What tools and techniques do I use to process my photos? What are my favorite travel photography hacks to make things easier and more fun? How do I use my blog as the foundation of my photography business?
I strive to provide answers to all of these questions and many others in my photography blog.
My Story
My name is Viktor Elizarov. I live in Montreal and, for years I’ve worked as a designer in a range of areas from graphic design and web design to multimedia design and broadcast design. I even have two Broadcast Designers Association statues to prove it.
Not too long ago, I found myself working on high profile design projects for the biggest television networks in the world. But, with these prestigious projects also came the realization that, the bigger the client, the more constraints you face. In other words, the brand guidelines are stricter and multi-level approval process results in a much less creative and innovative final design.
This is when photography came into play as it quickly became my creative outlet where I could experiment and be creative without any restrictions or guidelines, simply for the sake of creativity. Photography became my artistically liberating hobby.
For the next couple of years, I learned a lot about different aspects of photography without any expectations. I simply enjoyed the creative freedom.
My big “aha moment” happened when a big European company approached me and requested to license a few of my photos. The event helped me to recognize that photography, for me, can be more than just a hobby.
Over the following years, I diligently worked to transform my hobby into a full-time business.
Instead of using traditional photography models based on the client work and assignments, I decided to take a different approach. I utilized my experience in web design and internet marketing and worked to build my photography business around my blog.
The Goal of the PhotoTraces Blog
My goal is to help you to become a better photographer by stripping down all of the unnecessary complexity and fluff that surrounds photography. This “extra” gives photography a bad reputation of being too expensive and too complex. When, in reality, this isn’t the case at all.
If you concentrate on what is important and discard the rest, then everything becomes clear and fun. I am eager to show you what worked for me on every step of my journey, from learning the basics to the business aspect of photography.
Join the community of more than 60 000 photographers and photo enthusiasts. Let’s make the process of learning photography fun.