Seth Ruffins (Wilmington, Delaware) |
Your Name: Seth Ruffins @seth_the_photog Company Name: Cuttlefish Creative Marketing @cuttlefishcreativemarketing Location: Delaware Baybeee What inspired you to get involved with photography? I’m just going to jump right in! I think it’s important to tell you a bit about my childhood to form a better understanding of who I am. I grew up riding dirt bikes, doing downhill longboarding, BMX riding, fishing, snowboarding, and pursuing any other adventure that came my way. It is safe to say my body was fueled by adrenaline. As my friends and I started getting better at all of these activities, we started to go “bigger.” The bigger we went the harder we laughed; either out of excitement from their success, or because of a serious slam. The motto we lived by was “we aren’t going to die so let’s go for it… and if we die that’s the way we go.” Don’t get me wrong, I love life and our risks were calculated, but always just outside of our comfort zone—that’s the only way to grow. Long story short, I started to record our actions so we could learn positioning, timing, the slams, etc. and make adjustments. That stuff slowed down a bit when I went to college. College tries to make students great employees, but I applied what I learned to entrepreneurship. |
I knew I wanted to start a business someday, but didn’t know what I wanted to do. I graduated and landed a good job and started going through the motions of “life,” but quickly realized that I didn’t want that kind of life. I was too acclimated to that adventurous lifestyle to be limited in a box for my whole life. I got back to my roots and took a risk, (calculated of course). My company is called Cuttlefish Creative Marketing and we focus on using our knowledge of photography, videography, and marketing to help businesses create an integrated brand and make more money using various platforms.
I like working with cameras because they are used to literally capture a moment in space and time from your exact location. Nobody else on earth can see what you are seeing from your exact perspective unless you bring a camera to your eye and share the moment with them. Photos and videos bring humans closer, and they translate over any language, culture, religion, race, gender, xyz. I am much more than a photographer, but photography is definitely rad!
I like working with cameras because they are used to literally capture a moment in space and time from your exact location. Nobody else on earth can see what you are seeing from your exact perspective unless you bring a camera to your eye and share the moment with them. Photos and videos bring humans closer, and they translate over any language, culture, religion, race, gender, xyz. I am much more than a photographer, but photography is definitely rad!
I noticed that you photograph many different things from self-portraits to food shots. Would you say that there is a kind of photography that you specialize in?
So, I wouldn’t say that I have a specific niche (yet) that I want to focus on exclusively. I am shooting the subjects I think I can bring value to. I have always loved to cook and explore food for its taste (obviously), but also for its nutritional value. I have a passion for food and the restaurant industry, so I shoot that. The portraits started because I used to exclusively shoot landscapes and wanted to practice shooting people as the main subject. Over the next few years, you will see lots of changes from me. I love when life is different every day! I’m sure I will find a niche I gravitate towards, and I’m just as interested as you are to figure it out! Owning a company that is focused on marketing strategy before content, it is important to master the camera as a tool for any setting/ subject. I guess one thing that you can see stays relatively constant in my shots is how vibrant they are. |
As a freelance photographer, do you have any advice you would give to someone also interested in starting out in photography?
Yeah, get started if you seriously want to start getting paid. If you want to just take shots for shits and giggles by all means just chill with a camera in your hand, and have fun. If you want to do it to start getting paid, also HAVE FUN. Remember it is your passion; don’t box it up as “work” so much that you don’t enjoy it anymore. If you want to do this as a fulltime job, ask yourself how much money you need on a monthly basis to have the lifestyle you want. When you budget make sure to remember everything, down to taxes and haircut tips—round up on everything. When you have your number…go land jobs; it’s sales now. Sell yourself to people that need it, and if you can’t sell it, keep practicing. Just because you work for yourself doesn’t mean it’s easy living. With all that being said, you should 100% start the process if you find discomfort to your core with working your current job and you love photography. There are real life sacrifices you have to make to start a business. We all have bills, we all have family, friends, and community needs that have to be met, other time commitments, the list goes on. It’s called LIFE. We all have lives, but you need to think about the life you want to build for yourself. Stop watching Netflix and go GRAB that life with two fists. It’s going to be hard, so I hope you love it enough to truly last. If you DO, you will love every step of the way, even the losses you take will feel like amazing learning tools. Just love the process and start today.
Yeah, get started if you seriously want to start getting paid. If you want to just take shots for shits and giggles by all means just chill with a camera in your hand, and have fun. If you want to do it to start getting paid, also HAVE FUN. Remember it is your passion; don’t box it up as “work” so much that you don’t enjoy it anymore. If you want to do this as a fulltime job, ask yourself how much money you need on a monthly basis to have the lifestyle you want. When you budget make sure to remember everything, down to taxes and haircut tips—round up on everything. When you have your number…go land jobs; it’s sales now. Sell yourself to people that need it, and if you can’t sell it, keep practicing. Just because you work for yourself doesn’t mean it’s easy living. With all that being said, you should 100% start the process if you find discomfort to your core with working your current job and you love photography. There are real life sacrifices you have to make to start a business. We all have bills, we all have family, friends, and community needs that have to be met, other time commitments, the list goes on. It’s called LIFE. We all have lives, but you need to think about the life you want to build for yourself. Stop watching Netflix and go GRAB that life with two fists. It’s going to be hard, so I hope you love it enough to truly last. If you DO, you will love every step of the way, even the losses you take will feel like amazing learning tools. Just love the process and start today.
Nowadays almost everyone has access to devices with which it is possible to take pictures. What do you think is the difference between a professional photographer and any other hobby photographer? A professional gets paid lol. Just kidding! So yes, everyone has access to cameras nowadays, but the true photographers are masters of light and composition. Photographers don’t have a bunch of fancy bulky equipment and love spending loads of money on gear for no reason—they are chasing a shot. They have a vision. They have a certain manipulation of the variables that the tools of the trade allow them to reach. Anyone can take a picture, yes, but a photographer makes the picture actually look good. |
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