Making Money in the Biz - Interviewed - Matt Scholl - Photographer Extraordinaire
Pinkbike: Matt, tell us a little about yourself and what it is you do!
Matt: I’m a photographer obviously. I’m 31 now, I’ve been taking photos since I was about 18. I took some photography courses in university and fell in love with it and never stopped . Well, actually, right after university, I didn’t have a camera, or the money to purchase one, so I took a couple years off , saved up some money, bought a nice camera and I’ve been rolling ever since then.
PB: You mentioned getting your start in university, how much of a part does your education play in what you’re doing now, and how much has been learned by the seat of your pants?
MS: Well, my Well, my education background… I went to Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado. My degree is in small business, and my minor was photography. I didn’t know it at the time, but I ended up doing exactly what I was studying, which is having a small business in photography. I took business courses because I thought I needed to study something that I could get a job with. I took photography because I enjoyed it. I probably would have just studied photography if I had thought I do it for a living, but I’d never envisioned I could take photographs of skiing and mountain biking and make a living at it. So, I did the business end for the security, and ended up loving the photography. Basically, photography courses in university are not outdoor based, they’re studio based, with lighting, medium format film and so that’s what I studied. I used the university’s equipment and like I said, when I finished school, I didn’t even own a camera. Obviously, stepping into camera equipment is very expensive, so it took me a couple years to save enough money to get a decent camera.
PB: You’ve mentioned snow and bike, what is the ratio obetween the two?
MS: Probably 50-50 or close to it. It varies year to year and season to season. It’s a pretty good combination, because in the summers I have something to shoot and in the winter I have something to shoot. Really, my passion is skiing, that’s what I got into, that’s where my heart is. I started skiing and snowboarding and biking was and the biking thing just kind of happened because I biked during the summers. Really, my getting into mountain biking was not a vision I ever had until I met Derek Westerlund just before he started Freeride Entertainment. He’s the one who really pushed me into biking.
MS: Well, that depends, I really enjoy ski photography. I find the images, the motion of snow flying and the light passing through the snow crystals is really beautiful. But it’s cold, and you’re freezing you knuckles off. mountain biking, you’re standing around in shorts under the sun. mountain biking is a lot more pleasurable, ski images is a lot more rewarding.
PB: Outside of weddings and baby photos, most people don’t know how photographers make a living, care to explain how you get paid?
MS: Sure, generally, there’s two kinds of work. One is to shoot everything on spec, the other is typically day rate or contract. If I shoot on spec that means I finance the , I pay my own way, I buy all my own film and I own all the images and I can sell them to whoever. I can sell them to Bike, or whatever magazines, whatever companies and they purchase them on spec. Most companies and magazines have set rates they pay for photographs, and smaller companies tend to negotiate on a per use basis. There’s formulas for figuring out prices, you can find a lot of those on the internet through ad companies or stock agencies. If you take Bike Magazine for example, at first glance it may seem as though they don’t pay much, but if you look at the number of issues printed and ad pricing along with the formula, you see they pay pretty standard. So if I’m on spec, where I’ve covered my own costs and own the film, I can sell the image over and over and over. That’s where you can make some money, you shoot an image, a magazine runs it once, a magazine on the other side of the world runs it, a company buys it for an ad. Suddenly that one image is worth quite a bit, you’ve made some money off of it.
PB: Any idea how many shots you take to get that one image? How many rolls of film does it take to get the shots that pay your mortgage?
MS: It varies, sometimes I’ll go long times without any great photos, sometimes one roll will be packed full of them. There’s so many variables in making a great image happening. I have to be in a good head space, it’s got to be happening in front of me, the athletes have to be on it and working hard, the location has to be good… there’s just so much, it’s a huge formula…
PB: You mentioned doing work for companies and magazines, do you have a preference between the two?
MS: Corporate work pays better than editorial or magazine work, but there’s a great reward seeing your image in the pages of a magazine. Bike Magazine spends a lot of time on their layout, they take the time to make it look good, that’s what makes them better than most other out there. Not all of them, but most. They look for art in Bike Magazine; they care about what the photos look like and how they’re laid out. That’s really the most rewarding part. Seeing your images on those glossy pages, looking good!
PB: Any long term aspirations beyond spending all your time behind the lens?
MS: Well, I don’t see myself ever weddings or anything like that! (laughter) I refuse! Right now I don’t see myself ever changing what I’m doing. I have ideas, more schooling actually. I’m starting to find there’s more courses I’d like to take. I want to keep expanding my knowledge. That’s one of the neat things about art and photography, there’s an infinite amount of stuff to learn I’ve never felt like, geez, I know it all, or I’m the best. All you’ve got to do is pick up a National Geographic to see what to strive for. There’s always something more to learn.
PB: Crazy highs?
MS: Upside of the job are working in industries I love, I’m a part of and I participate in. Also promoting those industries. To me one of the great rewards is that person sitting in their office in downtown Toronto or wherever and they are flipping through a magazine and maybe it takes them out of their crazy space and into the mountains or on a ride. Giving them some nd an escape from the reality of their daily grind. I’ve had lawyers call me saying “Wow, I saw this photograph, can I get a print of it for my office?” Things like that are so rewarding and so wonderful. Then there’s the travel, the athletes and most everyone I get to work with. I’ve found that the vast majority of athletes and people who dedicate their lives to cycling are good people.
PB: Terrible lows?
MS: I don’t know, maybe I’d like to make more money, but I think that’s something everyone feels, no matter what their job. That’s probably the downside, but I think it’s more human nature than anything else.
PB: What equipment do you use?
MS: Mostly Nikon, I'm in the process of picking up an F100 or F5, still undecided as to which, and as for lenses, I use an 80-300 most often, but I'm usually covered with various lenses from 12-300.
PB: Any advice for aspiring photographers?
MS: Yeah, don’t do it for the money! Do it because you love it! If photos keeps you up at night and you think about it all the time, then you’ll be happy doing it. If you think you’re doing it just to be a famous photographer not because you love your photos and you’re not passionate about it, you don’t have a chance. Just get another job and ride if that’s not why you’re getting into it. If you find yourself taking photos of everything around you, while you’re riding, hiking, or even your kids or your friends’ kids, you’re probably in it for the right reasons, and you’ll do well.
PB: Finally, do you still have the time or inclination to ride, or in your case, bag some turns?
MS: Yes I do, this summer I have not been riding because I don’t have a bike at the moment but in past summers I have ridden a lot and I’m hoping to get a new bike in the next month or so, then I will be riding a lot And yes, I do ski a lot, I probably get out at least 100 days a year over the lst year. I probably ride at least 50-75 days per year when I have a bike. I just need to get a real job so I can buy a bike (Ed Note: perhaps some manufacturers should take note – care to trade?)
Visit www.mattscholl.com for Matt's web site and more of his amazing work!
