Today we’d like to introduce you to Sean Bolton.
Hi Sean, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
As a child I’ve always been a watcher. My mother always said I was basically scanning everything I could from the day I could open my eyes.
When I was younger I was always in bands and we would have a photographer come photograph us and at the time I remember feeling like it was a pretty cool gig. Fast forward a few years I had a gig making a website for a woman who’s business was selling vintage handbags. She needed a photographer for the bags so I stepped up. There was a bit of a learning curve but it was the spark I needed to get my journey started.
I started photographing my friends, some bands, and then I ended up at a Photography coop called the Wonderful Machine. There I assisted on a lot of commercial and editorial shoots and its when I started really learning the business and what a real photography career looked like.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
The road has been a bit unpredictable sometimes smooth but most of the time you cant really see what the next few miles really will bring. What I have learned is that even if I cant predict what will come my best assurance against a rocky road are intense preparation and saving as much as possible to weather the rocky patches.
The biggest struggle really is unpredictability. When I started in the photo business there was so much more industry. Now with the collapse of most print media those quick editorial jobs are harder to come by. They really were fun to experience when they were abundant though. I got to meet some really interesting people and I got to see some really cool places.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Professionally I’m a commercial photographer. Most of my work centers around product photography and ecommerce photography.
My work focuses entirely on the intersection of precision lighting, technical execution, and clean visual storytelling. As a commercial and product photographer, I specialize in detailed and technical product imagery. I handle everything from high-end consumer goods to complex medical and even hi end mechanical components.
In the studio, I am known for my technical precision and ability to command light in highly controlled environments.
Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
I would say make as many friends as possible. Technical ability will only get you so far. Being the person with the most skills that no one wants to be around will usually get you skipped over for someone white half the technical ability and more personality.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://seanboltonphotography.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sboltonphoto/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seanboltonphotography/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SeanBoltonPhotographyPhilly
- Other: seanboltonphotography@gmail.com
