Courtney Victoria: Finding Your Focus as a Photographer and Creator
In this episode of the SheClicks Women in Photography Podcast, Angela Nicholson speaks with landscape, macro and outdoor photographer Courtney Victoria, whose work invites viewers to slow down, look closer and connect with nature on a deeper level. Based in the South West of England, Courtney is known for her beautifully composed photographs of woodland scenes, macro subjects and everyday natural beauty. She shares her creative process on her YouTube channel, where her calm, thoughtful approach has attracted a loyal and engaged following.
Listen to another episode of the SheClicks Women in Photography Podcast
Courtney’s creative journey began with a degree in fine art and theatre design, but it wasn’t until a darkroom module at university that photography truly “clicked” for her. Despite being more experienced in costume design at the time, she followed her instinct and shifted her focus entirely to photography — a bold decision that set the course for her future.
During the conversation, Courtney talks candidly about the reality of being a self-employed creator. From overcoming self-doubt and creative paralysis to finding flow through photography, she shares how journaling, mindfulness and being outdoors have helped her build a sustainable and fulfilling creative practice. We also discuss the pressures of content creation, how she manages multiple income streams, and the unique challenges women can face when running outdoor workshops.
She also shares her refreshing take on macro photography, including her techniques for slowing down, staying present and using small spaces to find endless inspiration. Whether she’s photographing fungi or fallen leaves, Courtney explains how she creates with intention and encourages others to do the same.
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Throughout the episode, Courtney offers valuable insights for anyone trying to build a career in photography or content creation — particularly those navigating imposter syndrome or wondering how to get started. She’s open about the highs and lows of the freelance life, and how she balances creativity with the need to earn a living.
If you’ve ever felt stuck creatively, overwhelmed by too many ideas or unsure where to begin, you’ll find Courtney’s story reassuring and empowering. Her thoughtful approach to photography reminds us that you don’t need dramatic landscapes or expensive gear to create meaningful work — just time, curiosity and the willingness to look closely.
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CEWE
This episode is brought to you by CEWE - Europe's leading photo printing company and their hero product, the CEWE Photobook that is the proud recipient of the Which? Best Buy award.
You know those thousands of photos sitting on your phone or hard drive? With a CEWE Photobook, you can turn your memories into a beautiful, high-quality album that you’ll want to show off. Every page is fully customisable and you can pick from a range of sizes, finishes, and layouts, designing every detail with their easy-to-use editor — or let their Smart Assistant help. So if you’re ready to do something real with your photos, head over to cewe.co.uk.
Episode Transcript
Courtney Victoria 0:04
I call it creative paralysis, where it's almost as though there's too many ideas in my head, and I'm constantly adding more ideas on top, and I don't know where to start. At times, it's kind of taking that first step, you know, recording that first clip, taking that first photo sometimes is the hardest thing to do, but when you do it, then you get going and it just flows.
Angela Nicholson 0:26
Hello and welcome to the SheClicks Women in Photography Podcast. I'm Angela Nicholson, and I'm the founder of SheClicks, which is a community for female photographers. In these podcasts, I talk with women in the photographic industry to hear about their experiences, what drives them and how they got to where they are now.
This episode is with Courtney Victoria, a landscape and outdoor photographer based in the South West of England. Courtney's creative journey began with fine art and theatre design, but it was while living in South Korea that she discovered her love for landscape photography, now known for her YouTube channel, Courtney shares her process and passion for finding beauty in everyday places, encouraging others to connect with nature through photography. Hi Courtney, thank you so much for joining me on the podcast today. It's really lovely to have the opportunity to chat with you.
Courtney Victoria 1:12
Thank you so much for inviting me.
Angela Nicholson 1:14
You're very welcome. So let's kick things off by hearing about what piqued your interest first in photography.
Courtney Victoria 1:22
So I got into photography while I was at university, actually, so it was a while back now, or at least it feels like a very long time ago. And so I went to Aberystwyth University to study fine art and sonography and theatre design. And I actually wanted to be a costume designer. That was sort of my goal in life, my passion and art was something I just wanted to do on the side while I studied theatre and art is something I had enjoyed for many, many years, but I never really had found that one medium that I could kind of sink my teeth into, get really excited about, something that I could click with and just invest myself in creatively. And when you do art courses through sort of GCSE level and a levels and university, they take you through sort of every term you tackle a different medium of art. You know, graphite, life drawing. And then you do, you know, types of printing or clay work. And it was my first semester of my first year of university, and we did darkroom photography. So one day I went in and somebody pressed a film camera into my hand and said, Go, Go, take photos. And I remember thinking of what and how. You know, I had no idea how to use this film camera all these sort of dials and numbers on I was just thinking, I don't have a clue what to do here. So I went and took photos, and surprisingly, a few came out, okay, not too overexposed or underexposed. And I was taught how to process and develop the negatives and use an enlarger to create to make photos. And I remember just holding this photo that I had made and just being really excited about it. And this passion just immediate developed. It just kind of that's where the click happened. And I thought, Yes, this is what I need to be doing. This is what I want to do. And I actually ended up majoring in photography by the last year of university, which, when I look back, was a questionable choice, because I had all of this knowledge and skill and experience in costume design, and I pretty much just pushed that away, focused on photography where I actually didn't have a lot of skill or experience, but I just knew that, okay, this is what I have to be doing. This is what I need to do. This is what I want to go into. And at some point in my life, photography is going to be a big part of it. And so I just essentially took a leap of faith and just went for it. And, you know, here I am now, it has surprisingly worked out excellent.
Angela Nicholson 3:48
Did you actually change course? Or was it, you know, the models you modules you selected that made the decision?
Courtney Victoria 3:55
Yeah, it was the modules that I selected that made the decision. So I was doing the joint honours, and by I think it was the second year I just went down to a single honours degree instead, and then chose photography as the main module that I was going to work on throughout the rest of my time at university. Again, a questionable decision, potentially, but...
Angela Nicholson 4:16
What sort of thing did you photograph at that time?
Courtney Victoria 4:18
So at the time, I was working with black and white images, and I really didn't know what it was that I wanted to photograph. I'd photograph pretty much anything in anything. And the course itself didn't really teach photography. So I wasn't taught how to compose, or wasn't taught how to, you know, expose and use all the camera settings that I had to pick up by myself as I went. It was more sort of pick a theme and run with it and see what happens. Get it a creative get experimental with it. And a lot of my art degree was sort of history based as well, sort of researching and learning from from previous artists. So I ended up actually going into sort of working with negatives and experimenting with. Breaking them down and manipulating them with the theme of, does an image actually hold memory or not? And I can't remember exactly what the conclusion I came to. I wrote an essay with it was so long ago that was essentially what I what I worked with, and I worked with people and faces and just sort of push the boundaries of what I could do with a negative, essentially.
Angela Nicholson 5:26
And what is it about photography, do you think that really kind of floats your boat? What makes you what made you want to pursue it?
Courtney Victoria 5:35
That's a good question. I want to say two things really that comes that come to mind. One, being being able to physically hold something that I had created. And I think the second was the process of photography, you know, the journey to get to the point where I was physically holding an image, or physically looking at an image, and sort of the experimentation and techniques along the way, and the various things that I could do to create different types of images, I think is what drew me in.
Angela Nicholson 6:06
Yeah, obviously you were on your course, and you kind of made the decision to become a photographer, but how did you actually translate that into a career?
Courtney Victoria 6:14
That took many years, and it has kind of happened by accident. So when I graduated university, I still didn't know exactly what I was going to do with this degree. And I actually remember one of my last lectures, one of the professors there said, you know, you're probably never going to use this. And I remember thinking, okay, great, all right, so, you know, I graduated, and I just got a job working in a camera shop, sort of developing negatives and then selling cameras, essentially to people. And the town that I lived in at the time didn't really have huge sort of career prospects for that kind of field, and so I did feel stuck for a while, and I made the what probably sounds like a very random decision one year to move to South Korea,
Angela Nicholson 7:04
That does sound quite random.
Courtney Victoria 7:06
yes, which is photography to teach. The teaching was something that I was interested in. It had been a career that I had considered often in the past, but never really decided, yes, that's what I need to go towards. It was, you know, an option if I got bored, I guess, or was a bit stuck, but yeah, I would go teach English as a second language in South Korea for a few years. And it was there that I developed a passion for landscape photography, specifically. And while I was exploring that, I was starting to share my work online a bit more, and start sort of social media and all that kind of thing. And from there, it just snowballed into integrating that with video and then slowly developing a small audience, which has now led to being full time. So whether I'm a full time photographer is kind of questionable, because technically, I'm a content creator and a photographer. You know, I'm a hybrid mix there.
Angela Nicholson 8:10
What made you choose South Korea?
Courtney Victoria 8:14
I had a few friends that knew of people who went to teach there. So originally I was thinking of Japan, because Japan had been a country that I'd wanted to travel to for many, many years. But yeah, I knew a few people that had gone over to Korea and really, really enjoyed it. And I remember thinking, okay, South Korea is not really a country that I know a lot about. So I sort of did a bit of research. And I thought, You know what this? Let's just dive into it and see what happens. Take a leap of faith and just go for it, really. And turns out, I absolutely loved being out there. It's a fantastic country, lovely people, and the landscape, the nature, is absolutely beautiful. They're very, very different.
Angela Nicholson 8:56
Yes, was there ever a sort of turning point for you, where you you suddenly realised, actually, I can make this a career?
Courtney Victoria 9:07
Yes, and I think that took a while. I, like many people, I get the imposter syndrome where, you know, you don't want to think, yes, this is going to be something. This is going to be something, just in case it's not Yeah, but I stayed at in South Korea for about four years, and I had to come back in the end due to the pandemic. And so I had to sort of leave my job and come back to the UK, which was not a planned thing. It just had to happen. And so I really didn't have a plan in place of, okay, what am I going to do now? And so I just sort of stuck with content creation and just popping my work on the internet, essentially. And I got to a part, I think, I with my YouTube channel, I hit 10,000 subscribers and got sort of my first brand deal, I guess. And that's when I thought, this is something that could earn me money, and I could do this full time, and I have managed to do so since.
Angela Nicholson 10:03
Yeah, great. That first brand deal. Did you search it out? You know, did you? Did you pitch to someone, or did they just, they find you and they liked what you were doing?
Courtney Victoria 10:12
I was very lucky. It came to me again with that imposter syndrome. I was really hesitant to reach out to people and say, Look, this is what I do. Would you like to collaborate with that? So, yeah, that first brand deal came to me, and it gave me some confidence, but also terrified me at the same time, because it made me realise, okay, I've hit the next stage of whatever this is, this unplanned sort of career that is slowly happening. And you know, one, I don't know where to go from here. Two, how do I make this sustainable? And three, now I've realised how many people are looking at me, and that's quite a terrifying thing. You know, when you think of if 10,000 people were in one room and staring at one of your photos or a video you had made, you'd be terrified.
Angela Nicholson 10:55
Yes, yeah, I can understand, it's an additional pressure - while you're kind of working in this little black hole essentially, you know, okay, there are people subscribe and there are people watching, but you don't really realise it until somebody actually reaches out to you and says, Hey, we love what you're doing.
Courtney Victoria 11:10
Yes, absolutely, you know, they'll come to you with a very specific, we love how you do this. And then you think, oh, yeah, I've never really thought that that's how I would describe how I did that. So, yeah, it definitely brought on some sort of self awareness and self evaluation.
Angela Nicholson 11:26
You suddenly start defining yourself by the way that somebody else has defined you. Oh, yes, I do that.
Courtney Victoria 11:31
Yeah.
Angela Nicholson 11:36
Please excuse this interruption. This episode is brought to you by CEWE, Europe's leading photo printing company and the hero product, the CEWE photo book that is the proud recipient of the which Best Buy Award. You know those 1000s of photos sitting on your phone or hard drive with a seawee photo book, you can turn your memories into a beautiful, high quality album that you'll want to show off. Every page is fully customizable, and you can pick from a range of sizes, finishes and layouts, designing every detail with their easy to use editor or let their smart assistant help. So if you're ready to do something real with your photos, head over to seaweed.co.uk. That's C, E, W, E.co.uk, okay, let's get back to the show.
You mentioned imposter syndrome a couple of times, has ever been any times when you thought, no, that actually, you know, I've got this wrong. I'm going to do something else. I'm going to change career.
Courtney Victoria 12:32
A few times. Yes, I feel like I go through waves of this. I think that's times where it gets a bit stressful or and that could just be stress from the job, but it could be life stress involved my general life as well. Yeah, there are times where I sort of panic, and I think, is this where I want to be taking this, or am I good enough? You know, all these people are watching me, but is it really good enough? Should I be doing something that contributes a bit more to society? You know, these kind of thoughts do pop in every so often, and it's really important then to sort of ground myself and say, Okay, this is actually why I'm doing this, and it's okay, and just sort of bring myself back to that root, yeah.
Angela Nicholson 13:15
So that's what gets you through it?
Courtney Victoria 13:17
Yeah.
Angela Nicholson 13:18
Just reminding yourself, yeah. And I think also, I mean, what you do, you help other people discover photography and understand their passion more and connect with nature, because that's one of your themes, and that actually is a very good thing to do.
Courtney Victoria 13:31
Yes, yeah. I think there's this general idea in society, in how we live, where you have to contribute in some specific way. In, you know, this is where the arts, you know, fine art, careers and things tend to be looked down upon, don't they, because what are you actually bringing, but actually art? And, you know, motivation, inspiring people, creativity is very important to the way that we live. So, yeah, it's amazing that if I can inspire or motivate one person, that's absolutely incredible, to be honest. And through my work, I get inspired and motivated by other people as well. So it's good for me as well.
Angela Nicholson 14:08
Yeah, now you mentioned your sponsorship deal that you had that first sort of gave you that boost. But obviously, I mean, unless it was absolutely massive, that's not going to sustain you for a long time. So how do you how do you make your income, generally, throughout the year?
Courtney Victoria 14:24
So I have various streams of income, and the main being sort of the YouTube, the ad revenue, the sponsorship. And then I've brought in workshops as well, which has been bringing in money. And you know, it's lots of small little jobs. I'll get hired for presentations and workshops for other people. And I recently released an ebook, so that's brought in a tiny bit of income as well, which has been great. So it's in a way, you are constantly sort of finding new streams, new ways of doing what it is that you do that will you. Uh, you know, bring in income, because, unfortunately, paying your bills is something that is quite important. They're always there. Yes, they are. So, um, yeah, in all complete honesty, at the moment, it's, it's the YouTube that is really, uh, sort of boosting things at the moment.
Angela Nicholson 15:18
Oh, great. I think it takes a certain mindset, doesn't it, to be able to cope with that pressure of, you know, saying, right, there's no one thing which is bringing in the equivalent of a whole salary, but when you add all these things that you're doing together that you know, it's a living and other people would far rather know that they can go to work from nine to five and get that income. And it might be a very fulfilling job, but it's also a certain amount of comfort, whereas, you know, you're always kind of just looking at the bank balance and making sure everything's okay.
Courtney Victoria 15:49
Yes, it's a it's not for the weak. I think some some months, you are thinking, oh gosh, you know, this payment didn't come in in time, or I didn't earn, you know, so much this month because this video didn't do well. You know, it's really easy to kind of get trapped in in the anxiety of that. But I mean, if I didn't enjoy I wouldn't do it. And you know, there are also perks of working for myself as well. And you know, I completely understand those that have the nine to five with within a job or a company and are happy with that and going back to do I ever think of doing something different? There are times where I think if I just went and got my nine to five and earn a stable income, then maybe I would be able to travel more and do different types of photography, because I would have that sort of stability. But, you know, it's a risk, and it's a risk at the moment that I'm absolutely willing to take, and if it gets to a point where it's not sustainable, then that's absolutely fine. It is what it is, but at least I gave it a go and I knew.
Angela Nicholson 16:52
Yeah, and you've got all sorts of experience along the way. But what would you say is the number one perk, the thing that you really enjoy about working for yourself or being a professional content creator or photographer?
Courtney Victoria 17:04
I can run with any idea that I want, and I can be outdoors in nature, and especially in the forest whenever I want. And I'm not, you know, constricted to that nine to five, so if I just want to pop out on a Wednesday afternoon at 3pm and just go and sit in the forest with my camera and a macro lens. And I can, I can go and do that. So yeah, in a way, it's, it's stressful to create my own deadlines, because it's very easy to relax with yourself and say, No, I'll just do that tomorrow. No, it's fine. I'll do that tomorrow. But at the same time, I can be, I can be flexible and we essentially just do as I please.
Angela Nicholson 17:44
There must be a huge amount of satisfaction as well. When you hit that publish button and it goes live and you start to see the views coming in and the thumbs up.
Courtney Victoria 17:50
To a point, yes. I mean, I don't tend to focus on that. Usually I will post something, and I've spent a while, especially if it's a video, I've spent a while working on it, you know, filming it, editing it, checking it, editing photos for it. And so by the time I'm sort of popping it online, I'm almost kind of done with it. Okay, I've done that, and now I'm ready to move on to the next thing. And so when it goes, you know, up on YouTube or the internet, I don't sit and check the views or the comments, you know, obsessively, it's at some point I'll go to it and see, you know, okay, what do people think of this? You know, what suggestions, what criticism do they have that would be useful for me? But generally, I just kind of move on to the next thing that it is that I want to do and just keep that creativity and energy flowing. And I think it's terrible to get hooked on the views and the likes of sitting in you know, has somebody viewed it yet? Has somebody liked it yet? It's not a good way to approach it.
Angela Nicholson 18:49
But it is still nice when you press that publish button, and that is a complete piece of work, that's a project that you've finished.
Courtney Victoria 18:57
Oh, absolutely, yeah, genuine. I feel quite proud of it, you know, I created this, and off it goes. Sort of like setting a ship to sail. Isn't off. It goes, it works. It happened. It was complete. Yeah, it's, it's satisfying. And, as a said, I then sort of get excited and go, Okay, the next thing. What can I do next?
Angela Nicholson 19:15
Well, I was gonna ask about that. Do you ever feel under pressure with, you know, the content creation you this, beast that you need to feed, are you sometimes thinking I've got no ideas, I've got no ideas, or do things constantly come to mind that you want to move on, and it's ahh, more I've got to get this finished so I can start on this new project I'm really interested in.
Courtney Victoria 19:34
I find that ideas is not a problem. I have so many ideas. In fact, I have I do a lot of journaling. So I write down things that I, you know, project ideas, things I'm thinking, work through things. The ideas is not a problem. There is when you really look at, you know, the outdoors of nature, it's unlimited subject material to photograph and to explore. That's not a problem. Usually it's the weather that gets in the way when it comes to filming. It's sometimes it's the I call it creative paralysis, where it's almost as though there's too many ideas in my head and I'm constantly adding more ideas on top and I don't know where to start. At times, it's kind of taking that first step, you know, recording that first clip, taking that first photo, sometimes is the hardest thing to do, but when you do it, then you get going and it just flows. So I'd say that is what I struggle with most usually.
Angela Nicholson 20:32
It's interesting. You mentioned the paralysis, because I was thinking about you shoot a lot of macro photography, and that's fantastic, because there are subjects all over the place. You know, it's very easy to find something to photograph, but how do you decide what to photograph when you've got so many things?
Courtney Victoria 20:51
That's the question, discipline.
Angela Nicholson 20:53
Okay.
Courtney Victoria 20:54
One of my favourite exercises is to limit myself to a particular space when I'm out with a macro lens, because otherwise I will just walk around, and I tend to walk around without the camera out first, just to see what I can find, and kind of get into a state of mindfulness and curiosity, and get into that sort of seeing state and forget that I'm there to take photos, sort of take that pressure off. And I find when you're curious, that's when you spot all these tiny, little interesting subjects and stories. So I'll do that first, and then I'll limit myself. If I haven't really come up with a specific, okay, I must photograph this one thing specifically. I'll limit myself to a small patch of woodland or forest, wherever I am, and that could just be, you know, a few metres either side of me. Could just be, literally by my feet. And that's where I've decided I'm gonna sit and I will photograph something here. And if I ever sit or am looking around and I can't see anything to photograph, I know that I'm not seeing properly and I'm not in the right frame of mind, because there is always something to photograph. You just have to take the time to see it. So yeah, instead of running around and absolutely panicking because I've spotted 100 things, I just limit myself to a specific small space and tell myself, okay, we're working here, and we're seeing what stories are in this this space here right now.
Angela Nicholson 22:19
That's really interesting. I think that's a really great approach. And it's almost like forcing yourself to find something and then get photographing. But you said sometimes you think, Oh, well, I'm just not looking hard enough. How do you address that?
Courtney Victoria 22:34
That's where I guess the mindfulness comes in of photography if I am not looking hard enough. Unusually distracted by something, my mind is on something else, you know, right? Daily life. I'm stressed. I'm anxious about something. I'm not in that frame of mind to see stories to, you know, see colour and shape and light and sort of just taking a moment to sit and breathe and just taking my surroundings and enjoy wherever, wherever it is that I am, usually just sort of relaxes me into that mode. You know, macro photography, especially, is a very you need a slow approach for it. You can't rush it. And if I'm rushing it, then I'm not going to see anything. So usually it's, it's a problem with me, and I tell myself, Okay, what's going on in my mind right now that is creating a block here that isn't allowing me to to see and be curious. So usually I'll take a moment just to kind of work through that, whether it's, yeah, just sitting and thinking, putting some music on it, in my headphones, having a dance, taking a little walk around, whatever it is that sort of gets me into the into the right mind.
Angela Nicholson 23:50
Do you find that your journaling helps you clear things out of your mind?
Courtney Victoria 23:54
Yes, my brain is, it never shuts up. It is noisy, there's multiple channels going constantly of various things. And I personally find writing down my thoughts is incredibly helpful. I think that's because it's a visual thing. I can physically see on paper what on earth is going on in my brain. And I can sort of separate thoughts and go, Ah, okay, this isn't quite right, or I'm focused on this. So, yes, I've always got a small pocket journal in my camera bag. And when I go out and just taking a moment, sometimes just to sit and sort of write down my thoughts, whether they're coherent or not, is incredibly useful.
Angela Nicholson 24:34
Yes, yes. I guess sometimes when you write things down, it just it stops you being anxious about forgetting it, so you can just move on then.
Courtney Victoria 24:42
Yes, it's on paper. You can physically see it as evidence.
Angela Nicholson 24:46
You're not going to forget that. So you run workshops. How did you start? Or why did you start running workshops?
Courtney Victoria 24:54
Running workshops came from the love of teaching. I think I really enjoyed teaching in. A second language. And I taught sort of elementary age out in South Korea, so sort of primary age to high school here. And there was just something wonderful about teaching in a creative way, rather than just sort of shoving information at people, be like, read that and go do it, but also seeing people take in information and be able to apply it and then get excited that they've learned something or managed to achieve something. And so I think that has inspired me to teach workshops as well. And also just the social aspect of workshops is something that people really, really enjoy getting together with like minded people. You know, we all see in different ways, so we are all able to pick up ideas from each other as well. But, yeah, I think that that stemmed from from the teaching specifically. And I hesitated for a long time in doing workshops, because I was incredibly aware that I was a young woman, and sort of the landscape photography field tends to be quite male dominated a lot of the time. So I was very aware that, you know, I'm going to go and pop myself somewhere in nature with a bunch of strange men who I don't know, and I have to make sure that I'm safe, yeah, and you know that I have processes and plans in place, and I really need to think about this. So it took me a while to develop the confidence to do that. And you know, the places that I choose to do workshops are very I choose those very specifically because they are by main trails, say, in the forest, where lots of people are walking by, and I have phone signals, and I can, you know, get to people if I need to. And you know, people know that I'm there, and they can come and help for any reason if I needed it. So it's, it's something that I had to put a lot of thought into and and build the confidence to go and do that. Yeah.
Angela Nicholson 26:52
So it was more the confidence of the about the safety issues or the health and safety issues than, for example, thinking, well, why will people book me? Because there's all these other people doing it. It wasn't an imposter syndrome thing, it was more the health and safety.
Courtney Victoria 27:07
No, um, it was the safety aspects that absolutely made me hesitate to be in with. I mean, in terms of people who book, you know, there are some fantastic photographers out there that, you know their skill is, is beyond what I, I do. And, you know, they, they do their workshops, and you know, they, it's great for them, it's successful, and absolutely fantastic for them. And I wasn't really, you know, those who want to come in my workshops will come on my workshops. It's sort of in terms of growing an audience for my work. I'm don't need the entire world to be looking at it. You know, they say that you only need sort of 100 1000 people. I think that the coach is to sort of invest in you, and you can make a career from that if they're willing to invest in you. So a small audience is absolutely, perfectly fine. And the main thing with that is encouraging. What I say is my tribe to my work, the right people who resonate with what it is that I do and how I do it. And so naturally, those people will will find me, and if they want to join in workshops, then they will. And so, you know, it is one of those, it is what it is people come to workshops or they don't.
Angela Nicholson 28:15
I think that's a really important point to remember. Actually, you don't have to have the whole world following you. It's the people that connect with you. And the great thing is about a relatively small audience is that you connect with them in a way that just works at everybody. And so you kind of think, Oh, these people will love this workshop, or they'll love to go there. And you can develop things with people specifically in mind, which is something that, you know, large corporations often have their ideal customer, you know, whatever their name, they give them a name, and they try and pitch everything to them so that they can try and have that content, that contact, which they don't really have.
Courtney Victoria 28:50
Absolutely, yeah, there's, I think this is a newer thing that's sort of come out of the woodworks of the benefit of, you know, the micro audience, or, you know, whatever the term is for it, and micro influencers and that kind of thing, where they have a smaller audience, but it's more loyal, because it's people who are taking the time to invest in they've not come to you and your work and seen, okay, you've got millions of people watching and liking you, so I'm gonna like you too, because you obviously must be good. You know, people are taking the time to see what it is that you do, and men invest in it.
Angela Nicholson 29:27
Yeah, now you were an ambassador for Kase and for Vanguard. How did that come around?
Courtney Victoria 29:34
So for Vanguard, another Vanguard ambassador, Matt Watkins, spotted, I think it was Matt, what one of the other Vanguard ambassadors spotted, that I was using a Vanguard tripod, and I'd been using Vanguard tripods for a really long time, and they basically reached out and said, we're looking for ambassadors, and specifically more female ambassadors as well. And would you like to come and chat with us? And at the time, the photography show at the NEC Birmingham was coming up, so. I popped over to their stand to have a chat. And they're absolutely lovely group of people, yes, like a small little family, and yeah, I joined them from there, you know, with ambassadorship, at least with mine, there's no sort of paid thing happening. It's more of a I'm invested in your project or your work, and you know, we can help each other in some way here and again, with case that I think I've been with them for about a year and a half now and again, that was at the photography show, just going over and chatting to Andrew you and just, yeah, having a conversation face to face and seeing, okay, you know, is this going to work? Are we sort of on the same page? And, yeah, I'm just going from there.
Angela Nicholson 30:41
Great. I think it's really nice that another Ambassador recommended you, but it doesn't really surprise me, because the photographic industry generally is pretty supportive. And if they see someone doing great work, they don't think, Oh, God, I've got to I mustn't let them be seen. They're very keen to help you.
Courtney Victoria 30:59
Oh, absolutely, yeah, people are absolutely lovely. Anybody who I chat to within the photography community always, always so nice and happy to help, happy to offer. You know, hey, try this. This is how I do this. Everyone's very shares that journey, and this is how we all learn from each other and grow together.
Angela Nicholson 31:20
So, yeah, absolutely. Now, what advice would you give to any other women who are thinking about starting out in photography or videography, how they find their voice?
Courtney Victoria 31:33
The first thing I would say is just do it. If you are constantly overthinking getting started, you're never going to get started, even if you don't think you've found what it is you want to say or do. You'll find that along the way, as you go on on this kind of creative journey, and the things that motivate you inspire you are going to change as you go and you're going to find out new things about yourself and whatever it is that you're sort of talking about or exploring, but the first thing is just to do it. Just get over that initial hurdle of fear and just go for it. Because you're never going to be perfect to begin with. You could practice as much as you want in front of a camera, you know, with your settings and photography, but if you're going to wait until you're perfect, you're never going to get there, because Perfection doesn't exist. You know, nothing's perfect, nobody's perfect. And so just just start and things will keep moving from there, things will start growing. Things will start small, snowballing. And, yeah, it's just that initial hurdle, I think that really makes people hesitate. And you know, when I first started off on camera making videos, I was too scared to speak at a normal level. I would sort of whisper, and you couldn't hear a thing that I said, right? And it took me a while to gain that confidence to where I could speak normally. And I got to a point where actually was so excited, this confidence, that I had grown, that I would speak too loud. I was constantly sort of lowering the volume of my voice, yeah, managed to sort of level, level out the excitement now, but, you know, I started off and was absolutely terrible, but it doesn't matter, because that's a part of of the journey, as part of the process and the growth, really.
Angela Nicholson 33:27
And you've got to find out what you're good at, yeah, as well, you know. And I'm not very good at those videos, but actually this one that sort of style that works really well.
Courtney Victoria 33:34
Absolutely yeah, it's finding your voice, finding your style, and that may change as you move and grow. So, yeah, it's you don't know until you try.
Angela Nicholson 33:46
No. Great advice. Okay, thank you. Well, I think it's a really good time to go to six from SheClicks. I've got 10 questions from SheClickers. I would like you to answer six questions please by picking numbers from one to 10. So could I have your first number please?
Courtney Victoria 33:59
Oh, I'm going to go with six.
Angela Nicholson 34:01
Number six, what are your current professional ambitions? That's from several people.
Courtney Victoria 34:07
Oh gosh, that's a good question.
Unknown Speaker 34:09
Oh,
Angela Nicholson 34:10
So what can we expect to see from you in 12 months or more?
Courtney Victoria 34:14
Oh gosh, 12 months, maybe not 12 months. One of my biggest goals, which is going to take longer than 12 months, is, is a very typical photographer's route of creating a book.
Angela Nicholson 34:25
Right.
Courtney Victoria 34:27
Yes. So I've had the idea in my mind for a very long time, and it's going to be called The Woods Are Alive. And essentially, it's just going to be a collection over possibly years of just all of the different ecosystems and layers of the woodland and the forest, you know, from the actual tree characters to, you know, streams and the soil ecosystems and insects and animals and just, I think it would be, I'd be very proud of myself if I could just sort of collect years worth of sort. Of portfolio work, I guess, and just pop that together in this sort of book, this story that sort of flows naturally and just sort of takes you through my my view, my perspective, the way I see the forest, essentially. So that's my long term photography goal.
Angela Nicholson 35:17
Sounds like a great one.
Courtney Victoria 35:18
Yeah, hopefully I'll get there.
Angela Nicholson 35:22
Have you got a picture in mind of how you're going to lay it out, or, you know, where you'll get started, or anything?
Courtney Victoria 35:27
Not yet. At the moment, I'm diving into insect photography, which I think is sort of the next layer of or a layer of what the book will be. And so at the moment, I'm sort of hesitant to start putting images sort of in a sequence, because I know that I'm going to create more images and then possibly add them in somewhere as well. So I think I'll get to a point where I have a certain amount of images within a portfolio of images that I'm incredibly happy with, incredibly proud of, you know, ones that I would print and hang on my wall and show everybody, but like, look, I did this, and then start sort of popping them together in a sequence.
Angela Nicholson 36:02
Fantastic. Okay, well, could I have your second number, please?
Courtney Victoria 36:08
Oh, four.
Angela Nicholson 36:11
Do you ever go out without a camera just to look for subjects? Or do you always have a camera with you?
Courtney Victoria 36:18
Good question. Technically, I always have a camera with me, because I have my phone with me
Angela Nicholson 36:21
Right, yeah.
Courtney Victoria 36:22
They do say that the best camera that you have is the one that you have with you at the time.
Angela Nicholson 36:27
It's very true.
Courtney Victoria 36:29
Yes, I do go out quite often without my camera. A part of what I do is genuinely the enjoyment of being outdoors and loving nature. And you know, with how the way that life is these days, I find it very important to go for walks and just go and surround myself in the places that I feel inspired by, and calm the places that I love. So absolutely I go out just to go and enjoy nature. Sometimes it's to scout, and sometimes leaving the camera at home just takes that pressure off, and I don't feel the need that I must take at least one photo today, and I can go out. And I always find that when I go out without my camera, that's when I find things that I want to photograph. And I typically don't have my camera with me, but it gives me ideas for the future of, okay, I can come back here and do this, yeah?
Angela Nicholson 37:18
I mean, even if it's something fleeting, goodness, you know, there's a there's a red squirrel with a butterfly on its nose. I'm never going to see that again, but at least you kind of know where the red squirrel was. So it might be there again.
Courtney Victoria 37:26
It might happen again, you never know.
Angela Nicholson 37:30
Okay, could I have your third number please?
Courtney Victoria 37:33
Er number nine.
Angela Nicholson 37:35
Number nine. What's your number one tip for getting started with shooting video?
Courtney Victoria 37:41
Hmm.
My number one tip?
Angela Nicholson 37:43
Obviously, aside from just shoot.
Courtney Victoria 37:46
Yeah, apart from that, we've already covered that. So it depends on what they were doing video for, I guess, if you were using it to promote a business, or sort of do a similar thing that I do, so for maybe a semi professional reason, or a professional reason, or you just genuinely want to get invested in video and learn more about it. Camera angles is one of the big things that I recommend you research into. It doesn't take long. There are some fantastic videos on YouTube from videographers, and it just takes you through all the different camera angles that you can shoot at and there are more than you think, and they produce different sort of emotions, some of them, and swapping camera angles within a video sequence can really elevate the story and make it that a bit more interesting to watch. So that would be my tips to look into camera angles and the different ways that you can get creative with your framing and composition.
Angela Nicholson 38:49
I think that's a really good point, because it's very easy, if you say, if you're doing something like you're doing, you know, videoing a subject like, you know, some fungi that you've been photographing, and talking about how you're photographing, it's very easy just to kind of have the camera static in one place, you know, looking at the thing the whole time while you talk. And it's basically a still, yeah, it is, yeah. And you see it with people when they, you know, they've got a GoPro, and they stick it on their heads and go ski down a slope, and it's just a really nauseating bit of footage. But if you, if you sort of do it two or three times, and you shoot from different angles and put it together, you get much more dynamic, interesting video that people actually want to watch.
Courtney Victoria 39:24
Yeah, it feels more exciting. Yeah.
Angela Nicholson 39:26
Yeah, yeah. Great. Okay, so your fourth number, please?
Courtney Victoria 39:31
Number one,
Angela Nicholson 39:32
What technical aspect of photography Did you find the most difficult to grasp and why? That question's from Kari.
Courtney Victoria 39:40
Oh, interesting. At the beginning of my photography journey, when I was learning how to use a camera, it was being manually exposing, exposing, being on sort of the I learned how to use the shutter speed and then learn how depth of field worked, and going to full manual was tricky. Initially, I think. Tricky for a lot of people, and with that, you just have to keep practising. And you figure it out as you go. It's one of those, you know how all these different you know your ISO works, you know how the shutter speed works. It's just applying all those things together through practice. So that was probably the first hurdle that I came across, and the second, I would say, would be dealing with depth of field in macro photography to begin with, was tricky. And specifically learning to focus, bracket and stack my images so that I could get a scene, for example, a mushroom in focus sort of all the way through. And I think it took me about a week of of consistent practice to learn how to do that and and gain confidence in, okay, yes, I've got this down, and I can do this now without thinking and with that, it's, you're not just thinking about the depth of field. You have to think about stability. When it comes to you're taking multiple images, it can be up to, you know, 5060, images of the subject and popping them all together with dedicated macro software. If one of those images, or a couple of those images within the stack are slightly off in some way, you know, you've moved the camera or the light changed dramatically, it can completely just throw that stack off and it might be useless. You might be able to recover it. You might not so sort of learning the steps that I would need to take to ensure that a macro image would come out successfully was certainly challenging at first.
Angela Nicholson 41:30
Okay, can I be your fifth number, please?
Courtney Victoria 41:33
Number five.
Angela Nicholson 41:35
What's your favourite or most useful accessory for macro photography? And several people asked that.
Courtney Victoria 41:44
That's a good one. I find macro photography, I take more kit out with me than I do with any other type of photography, which baffled me at first, um, I would say a tripod for the stability. I said stability is, is a must, a need, if, if you are photograph is sort of focused, bracketing or focused even if you're taking a single shot image, when you're dealing with macro photography, you know, not only is your subject magnified, so is any movement or vibration or shake. And if you sort of frame a subject up and then very gently move the focus ring on your lens, you can see the huge amount of vibration that you're actually causing. That vibration is the difference between actually getting an image and not getting an image. So something that stabilises the camera, whether it's a bean bag or a tripod, is most used tool, and the tool that I would recommend. You know, I use a lot of sort of Ltd lighting in my work, and in the end, I'm would happily go out with just my camera and a tripod, and I would still come away with macro images that that I enjoy, any other accessories or sort of doohickeys that I take out. It just kind of add ons really.
Angela Nicholson 42:53
Yes, have you ever used the light on your phone to add a bit of light when you've left your LEDs at home?
Courtney Victoria 43:00
I have tried before, but it's very harsh lighting, and so I would rather have to resort to exposure bracketing or something ridiculous like that, and making the post processing process just ridiculously tedious for myself. But it's an option absolutely.
Angela Nicholson 43:18
Yeah, okay. Could have your last number please?
Courtney Victoria 43:22
Oh, number seven.
Angela Nicholson 43:23
Number seven, Do you have a bucket list of places that you'd like to explore, that is from Marie-Ange?
Courtney Victoria 43:31
That's a good question, absolutely, and everywhere the entire world, to be honest.
Angela Nicholson 43:37
That's quite a big bucket.
Courtney Victoria 43:39
which I think all of us would probably agree on that, to be honest. Yeah, yes. In terms of abroad, my dream trip would be New Zealand. And actually, I am currently putting, potentially putting together, a three week trip next spring in the South Island, sort of from Queenstown over to Christchurch, bit of a small road trip. So that may become a reality next year, and I'm very excited about that, and I imagine I will not want to leave. But otherwise, yes, in terms of the UK, it would be great to get up to Scotland, I think at some point for landscape photography and sort of the dramatic, atmospheric landscapes up there would be a wonderful change. So yes, I'm going to go with New Zealand and Scotland.
Fantastic. Great choices. I'm going to Glencoe in October, actually. So,
Oh, nice.
Angela Nicholson 44:28
I'm really looking forward to that. That's going to be great. Yes, that's for a workshop. But if you go to New Zealand, you have a great time. Do you think you might put on some workshops down there? Not what, not on that trip, but in the future trips.
Courtney Victoria 44:43
Potentially, yes, yeah, maybe I feel like I would need to travel there a few times before I like to know an area pretty decently, before introducing running a workshop there. Because I think when you when the host of a workshop really. Knows the location, the area down, and they're very familiar with it. I think that just really, I don't know it's kind of impressive, but it just, you trust them a bit more, don't you? Yes, you're taking me to a place that you really love, that you've come back here so many times, and that you know so well. So I trust you to, you know, help me in getting some some great images, I guess.
Angela Nicholson 45:22
Yes. No, I agree. Well, Courtney, thank you so much for joining me on the podcast today. It's been really fabulous talking
Courtney Victoria 45:28
with you.
Yeah, thank you so much for having me. It's been great.
Oh, you're very welcome.
Angela Nicholson 45:34
Thanks for listening to this episode of the SheClicks Women in Photography Podcast. I hope you enjoyed it. Special thanks to everybody who sent in a question. You'll find links to Courtney's website and social media channels in the show notes. I'll be back with another episode soon, so please subscribe to the show on your favourite podcast platform and tell all your friends and followers about it. You'll also find SheClicks on Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube if you search for SheClicks net. So until next time, enjoy your photography.
