Hi everyone, my name is Samo Vidic.
I'm a sports photographer and Canon Ambassador based in Slovenia
Today, I will share with you my story of
how it became a professional photographer.
My beginnings were more than 20 years ago when I was hiking with my friends
around a lake and was always carrying a small point and shoot plastic film camera.
At that time, I had no clue about photography.
The only thing I could play with was composition,
although I didn't know what composition was.
After playing with this camera for a few years,
quite some people told me that I have a good eye for photography.
So I decided to buy a new camera, a real one.
And that was EOS 300, a film camera.
In that period, I started with negatives,
and when I was a little bit more confident,
I switched to positive.
And today, I still miss the treat of,
going to the studio and checking the slides on the light table.
I was really dedicated and keen to learn from more experienced photographers.
At that time, the learning curve was much longer than today.
We were shooting film,
so we made some notes about exposure and other data.
Back then, I spent most of the time shooting
local races and games because I got all the access
and that really counts when you're a beginner.
My first published photo was not an athlete,
but it was this puffing birds from Iceland.
It was published in a Slovenian newspaper 20 years ago,
and then I became really addicted to photography.
I went for a couple of workshops,
but mostly I was learning by doing.
I got the opportunity to work for some sports companies here and I didn't let them down.
My first client in sports photography was a ski and snowboard producer,
which is located just a few minutes drive from my home.
I knew some people there,
so they decided to give me a shot. After the very first shooting
they were very happy with the results and I started working for them and I still work for them today.
They sent me to some photo workshops around the world where I learned new things.
But the most important was I became confident in interacting with new people
and possible clients.
My tips for beginners for starting their career in sports photography is to work
hard on your portfolio,
master your skills and try to be different from the others.
This is one of the biggest challenges for sure.
Don't be happy with your
work too fast.
Try to set the bar higher and higher.
Always respect the other photographers,
even if they're not as good as you are.
Be friendly and fair.
It's necessary to know the specifics
of the sports you're shooting,
Do your homework.
Don't hesitate to take other jobs,
which are not directly connected to sports photography.
Every experience counts.
I spent all my savings and energy on getting better and buying
better equipment.
I was never afraid to try new things,
even when I felt I took something good out of it.
In 2004, I bought my first digital camera, EOS 20D
and everything changed again.
But the lenses stayed the same.
In my opinion,
this is the most important part of the gear.
After 20 years of hard work,
I have some really good clients. Most of the year I spent travelling around the world,
and now this lockdown is really weird for me because I need to spend most of the time at home.
As a sports photographer.
I cover a wide range of sports,
which is both challenging and exciting.
A couple of days ago,
I was shooting sports.
My neighbor is a professional road cyclist and he was racing individual
Giro d'Italia race.
So it can still be done,
and you can use this time at home to improve your photography skills,
Stay safe.