Jason Baxter, an accomplished photographer and videographer from Edinburgh picked up his first camera at the age of 14. Fast forward two decades later, he's transformed his passion into a thriving career. But it's not all about the lens - transitioning to videography during the pandemic, Jason has utilised his skills and perspective to craft narratives, telling stories that influence how we perceive our surroundings.
The journey to success is rarely a straight path, and Jason's is no different. He tells us about his first photography book - leading to his work being commissioned by Edinburgh City Council and the British Airport Authority.
Jason chats about the challenges and victories of balancing commercial work with his personal passions, and shares how a breathtaking sunrise at Ben Lomond sparked his love for photography. You’ll get a taste of the perks of being a professional photographer - honing skills, creating stock work, enjoying trips, and dabbling in different mediums. Lastly, you'll hear Jason’s invaluable advice on following your heart, grabbing opportunities when they arise, and never losing sight of your passion.
Jason's Instagram https://www.instagram.com/jasonbaxtermedia/
Jason's website https://linktr.ee/JasonBaxterMedia
Sign up to the next Creative Light Festival here:
https://creative-light.co.uk/
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Follow me on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/margaretsoraya/
Join my online Creative Haven community :
https://creative-haven.newzenler.com
Jason Baxter, an accomplished photographer and videographer from Edinburgh picked up his first camera at the age of 14. Fast forward two decades later, he's transformed his passion into a thriving career. But it's not all about the lens - transitioning to videography during the pandemic, Jason has utilised his skills and perspective to craft narratives, telling stories that influence how we perceive our surroundings.
The journey to success is rarely a straight path, and Jason's is no different. He tells us about his first photography book - leading to his work being commissioned by Edinburgh City Council and the British Airport Authority.
Jason chats about the challenges and victories of balancing commercial work with his personal passions, and shares how a breathtaking sunrise at Ben Lomond sparked his love for photography. You’ll get a taste of the perks of being a professional photographer - honing skills, creating stock work, enjoying trips, and dabbling in different mediums. Lastly, you'll hear Jason’s invaluable advice on following your heart, grabbing opportunities when they arise, and never losing sight of your passion.
Jason's Instagram https://www.instagram.com/jasonbaxtermedia/
Jason's website https://linktr.ee/JasonBaxterMedia
Sign up to the next Creative Light Festival here:
https://creative-light.co.uk/
Sign up to my newsletter to hear first about new retreats:
Follow me on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/margaretsoraya/
Join my online Creative Haven community :
https://creative-haven.newzenler.com
Today I'm speaking with Jason Baxter, and he is a photographer and a videographer from Edinburgh, so it's a wonderful opportunity to get to know new people on this podcast, and I don't know that much about you, jason, so it's lovely to be able to.
Speaker 2:I'm kind of one of those people that try and keep myself under the radar a little bit. So, yes, and thank you for accepting me onto your podcast, margaret, because I do follow you and I'm kind of aware of your work and I really like the seascapes that you do, the waves and obviously the wild swimming, which I don't do. I do admire you for doing that, especially on the Isle of Harris, and especially in winter as well, so it's very brave. But yes, I was quite right, I'm a photographer and videographer and I started out as a photographer 20 odd years ago, but it's where my journey started. I was in photography when I was 14, my dad bought me a camera and in the days of film as well, I quickly put a dark room together in my room and I'd buy a black and white film and I would just go out and experiment. And that's where I really discovered that I had an eye for taking nice pictures, I thought. And my dad spotted it and tried to encourage me every step of the way.
Speaker 1:And well, yeah, it's kind of his fault really. So have you been professional for, do you say 20 years?
Speaker 2:Yes, I've been making a living in photography for the past 20 years, but because of Covid, obviously, I, as with a lot of people, reassessed where I was, what I wanted to achieve, what I wanted to do with the rest of my career, because, as you do, you try and see the positive, moves from the negative and move on. I had already been experimenting with the video work. I managed to get a job with a local college in the Scottish Borders and they taught me about editing, they taught me about video production and all that kind of thing. So I just then, after Covid, thought well, you know, this is something I'm going to concentrate on a lot more on, because you know, it's another visual medium. The transition is more technical.
Speaker 2:As a photographer, you've got a very good understanding of light, composition and opportunity, and so I decided video was a really good way to do that, and I just find filmmaking to be more challenging for me at the moment. And because you can have an opportunity to tell a story, you've got an opportunity to influence how people see the world in a positive way. Obviously it can be used in a negative context as well, depending on your angle, but for me I just want to try and create the most atmospheric, lovely and beautiful edited content for the people that I work with and, of course, for myself.
Speaker 1:So when you were a photographer, just going back, what sort of work did you do just to give us a bit of a clearer picture?
Speaker 2:Well, I had a first career, of course, just like most people do, and I took up on Troodunsey and I was at that point I decided to go down the route of being a proper photographer, and so obviously this was still in the days of film, and so I bought myself a Fuji 617 medium format film camera and I've always had enjoyed being outside and had a love of nature to a certain extent, but obviously photography was a greater route into that, and so I bought this camera and I would just basically go out and take lots of different kinds of pictures to establish where my style was, what I really enjoyed to do, because obviously I saw this as an opportunity. It's going to be a second career, so I wanted to make the best of it and so I did live in Glasgow at that point. So I also moved to a different side of the country and I like buildings, I like architecture and obviously anyone that's been to Edinburgh will appreciate you know there's so many opportunities visually for being able to create and shoot everything from the coast, because you've got Edinburgh on the coast, you've got some beautiful architecture in the old town and in the new town as well, and obviously you've got an extinct volcano right in the middle of the city as well. So you know, it's a very compact area, but you can achieve a lot with that.
Speaker 2:And I kind of looked at what I was doing after a few months and thought, actually this might make a good book. You know, you come up with ideas and so, you know, I just pulled that content together and I made a hard copy book and found a publishing agent and, you know, like every other hopeful, I phoned him up and you know you could just hear the sigh on the phone as you said alright, here comes another one. So I said, no, no, you're going to want to see this, I've got it, I've got a hard copy, I've made a proof. And so I took it to him and he went oh right, okay, yeah. And then a month later I had a good deal.
Speaker 1:So that's how you started. That was like right at the beginning.
Speaker 2:I started? Yeah, I just wanted to do what I loved. I had the opportunity and the time to be able to experiment with what I loved in terms of the visual side of things, because I like the sea, I like the coast as well and, yeah, that's pretty much how it all started in terms of my professional career is I built that portfolio, put together a book proof and the publishing agent went okay, yeah, I'll give you a try. And you know, and I'm so happy that you know, I managed to achieve that so very early on, with what?
Speaker 1:I was trying to do. That's great. So then, what did it look like after that? Was it commercial work or was it book sales? Is that how you were? What were you doing?
Speaker 2:It was a mixture of book sales. Edinburgh City Council got wind of it and they bulk ordered quite a few copies from me and so I signed them all so they used them for visiting guests from, you know, around the country and things like that. So yeah, that was a nice bit of kudos. I have to say I was very pleased with that, as anyone would really. And then British Airports Authority from, who at that time owned Edinburgh Airport, came knocking on my door as well, because there was a bit of publicity. You know, there was a few articles in the local newspapers and everything.
Speaker 2:And I got an email from the airport to say that you know, we've just built this, you know, £20 million long, wide extension at Edinburgh Airport and we'd quite like to see some of your work. I went okay, don't jump too quickly, you know, don't sound too enthusiastic. Then it all came about that they commissioned me to take seven long, wide pictures of Edinburgh and of course I've been using this Fuji camera, as you'll know. It's a beautiful, beautiful camera and if you do it right it's just exquisite. Because you know I love tangible things. You know I love, you know I love film, you know experimenting in the darkroom and everything. Everything to me with film is lovely because it's tangible and you can do I know the time I could do one with it, but yeah, so, yeah, long cut a long story short.
Speaker 2:I still now have seven, three meter high by 10 meter long cityscape images inside the airport and to be honest, you know, I was a bit naive in business at that point. I should have really gone down the route of view. So they're still there. So clearly I did something right 20 years ago and you know, and when it comes to doing any networking or anyone says, you know where can I see your work, I'll say, have you been through the airport recently? And they've gone, yeah, you know. And I'll say, well, you've seen some nice big, long pictures. And they said, yeah, that's kind of my gallery really, that's great, isn't it?
Speaker 1:It's really nice to hear somebody having that kind of well, I suppose, success early, early on, and also with with books and that sort of landscape of books now is it's changing, hasn't it? Have you? Have you produced any more books since? Or was that just?
Speaker 2:one off.
Speaker 2:I haven't really, because I've been concentrating more on the commercial side of things. I've I've got more books in me. I know that and I do have a couple of different ideas. I've gone back to the same publisher and said you know, this is what I'd like to do, and they said well, you know, when you're ready, give us a brief and we'll have a look at it and see if that's something that we want to work with you.
Speaker 2:I think the important thing about obviously publishing that I certainly found is that you do have less control when the publishers dictating what they want, rather than the other way around. And that's something I'm very sensitive to, because you know, if I'm going to do another book I want to do, I want to create something that's bigger and better than the first one. So I'm very keen to have more control over that visual process instead of them just saying, right, you know, here's a tick box, we need you to do this, need you to do that in terms of what kind of put it, what kind of photographs? So anyone that's thinking about trying to create a book, you know having more control, because it's your artistic integrity that matters and what you're trying to put over, I think, is hugely important, yeah, and it's a tricky one, isn't it?
Speaker 1:I've just I've done three self-published very small books recently and I've kind of looked at the publishing route and it just didn't seem very viable financially to me and for the numbers, then it kind of doesn't really, if you're going through a publisher, it's more to do, I believe, with the kudos of having achieved that level of you know.
Speaker 2:I've managed to achieve a book, you know, and a publisher said yes, and everything you know. The royalties are, you know, fairly minimal.
Speaker 1:Oh, I'm glad you said that.
Speaker 2:There's obviously there's great.
Speaker 1:Because I was sitting there wondering. But this doesn't make sense.
Speaker 2:No, I mean obviously with self-publishing there's a greater risk for you financially, but with a publisher, they're the ones taking the risk in terms of you know costs of production, costs of distribution, but they also have wider audience as well. So the opportunities for a greater sales are there if you go down the route of a publisher, but obviously as a self-published person you have to do all of that. You have to sort out the distribution, you have to sort out the production.
Speaker 2:You know you have to sort out all the layouts and everything. So you know it's. It depends on how involved you want to be in that whole process. If you just want somebody to take care of everything for you and obviously you just supply the pictures and your text, then that's certainly the route to go down. But if you really really want to control absolutely everything, then certainly going down the route of self-publishing would be the better option now.
Speaker 1:That's really interesting for people to hear actually, because it's something that you can spend ages trying to research and go. Well, it took me a long, a lot of research and in the end I was like, well, actually I've got a decent audience. I don't really want to. You know, these books aren't going to go massive. I'm going to sell millions of them. I'm not expecting to, so I do want to make. I'm in a position where I need to make money from things so that it has to be commercially viable even if it's in a small way, so that's why I went down the route of self-publishing for these small ones.
Speaker 1:But I find the whole thing quite interesting actually, and this whole idea of even art photography books you do.
Speaker 2:yeah, that's quite interesting yeah.
Speaker 2:You also do get quite a kick out of it when you're walking down Princess Street and you're walking past Waterstones and you see your book in the window and you think, yeah, that's great. And of course you've got this whole kind of vanity thing and you go in and say, oh, do you have this book in sale? It's vanity at the end of the day, but also it is a form of artistic expression, and I think it is important to maintain that level of integrity in your work throughout your entire career, no matter what form it then goes through. You know, I started out in photography and now I'm more into doing the moving image, so I'm a firm believer in keeping your options open in terms of Because you can become stale.
Speaker 2:You go through periods in your career where you think, well, what am I doing, what am I achieving? How can I do better? Because you always want to strive to do better. I don't tend to follow the social media trends. I just want to do what I want to do and I just try and do the best that I can with the skills that I have and not to worry about what other people think.
Speaker 1:And this idea of stopping and taking that pause and saying what you just said, basically, what am I doing? Where am I going with this? I think a lot of people forget to do that and forget that we need to do that. We need to.
Speaker 1:It's almost like you're navigating this path and it's never straight, as you're never going to be. I don't think you're going to be a photographer and then a better photographer, and then a better and better and better, and where's it going to go? You kind of want to go like you have done and I find it quite interesting your transition into video, because I kind of went through the same thing, not commercially, but from an interest point of view. So I do. I have some great joy and some great frustrations at making little videos for YouTube and that's just for me. So I'm not wanting to do it, even commercially. But I can understand the desire to learn something new and express yourself in a similar way but in a different media. That makes sense.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think I think 10 years into my career I could feel myself thinking you know, I want to do more, I want to achieve more. I could and I can do that, and so video then started to come into the equation and obviously I got this part-time job with the local college in the borders and that certainly helped the transition process, because there's a technical process that you have to go through. You know, you have to learn more about editing. There's so many different kinds of editing techniques in order to create the right kind of film. But one of the things I thought was very crucial and if you've ever been to the borders, it's a very underrated region, certainly from a visual standpoint and also artistically as well there's a lot of creative people within the Scottish borders and I stayed down there for the best part of 10 years.
Speaker 2:I got involved with a thing called the Alchemy Film Festival, which is an experimental film festival. So I signed up for a program where you work with other artists and so you do collaborative working, and so at that point I had a small video camera and I would then team up with an artist because they had a vision and I had the ability to deliver, to a certain extent, the skills that I had, and I thought that was that did heavily influence how I see my work now in a personal level, which is the, that film that I sent through the Into the Wilderness one, the from the trip that I spent with Alex Nail last year up onto Sullivan and obviously that was quite intriguing because there were some other photographers there as well. You know they were all you know. So we're all going up the up on the Sullivan, we camped out and everything, and as you do, and you know, they get their stills camera and there's me, get my giant, enormous video camera and they're all kind of going, wow, what's that? That's not a stills camera. What are you doing? Because you know I'm just doing something that is different.
Speaker 2:You know, because you know I've I love to shoot landscapes. That will all. That will never change, and I think that is also very crucial because you know you can move away from where you were. But I think it's also very important to remind yourself of where you started from and why you got started, in case you go through those periods of you know, am I doing this right? You know is questioning yourself, etc. So you know I still love landscapes. You know I love nature, I love the peace and the tranquility that it brings. And you know, when I first started, I would hike up onto Buchalette of Moore and I would wild camp before social media made it famous. And you know, it was those kind of experiences that really influenced my landscape work, because once you've done it once, you want to do it again and you never forget.
Speaker 1:So the video for you, is it a personal thing, or is it? Is it both? Is it commercial and personal? Do you do? Do you just?
Speaker 2:It is, it's both. It's both because, at the end of the day, you know I've got a young family, I've got a 17-year-old boy and a four-year-old little girl, and so you know life is increasingly hectic and you know all this. You know cost of living crisis and everything at the moment. You know I would love to just be able to do more of my own stuff, but you know I'm a realist at the end of the day and need to bring money in, and you know I do thoroughly enjoy creating video work. So, yeah, it's kind of majority, it's commercial, but when I get the chance I'll shoot some of my own kind of stock work as well, which will include nature.
Speaker 1:Does that make sense? That's how life works, I think. I think there's to be honest with you. I think I feel like there's a lot of very I maybe shouldn't say this but unreal conversations in the photography world, where you know we are, we are, we are new or living, or you know mostly living in the world where we have to earn an income, so so it's a professional, and then we then I think what you start to do then is you start to look at things in a very strategic manner, because your time is limited.
Speaker 2:You know, obviously it can be, you can may feel it's a distraction in terms of trying to go down the route of making money, but it is important. You know it's crucial to still just take time out To do what you love. You know otherwise, you know why you're doing it at the end of the day, and I'll always remember my first experience of a proper landscape photograph, as I'd I'd. I used to hike up to it's on to Ben Lomond in the middle of winter and you know the mountain rescue people will probably hate me for saying this, but you know I wasn't kitted out very well and I'm but I was determined to try and get a feeling of is this for me? And I tried three times. I wasn't going to give up. You know it's all about determination, especially when you're doing high end landscape photography work.
Speaker 2:And got the camera out and there wasn't a breath of wind and I just stood there and I thought, oh my Lord, this is just beautiful. And I could hear. The only thing I could hear was a far off, distant stream and you know just, it wasn't dominating the city or soundscape, it was, it was just in the background, and then we just wasn't a drip breath, and you were just standing there the only person there, you know watching this beautiful, magnificent sunrise that nature was allowing us to see, and I'll never forget that, and that you know I'm not a religious person, I'm not a spiritual person, but you know, it does something to your soul, I think, and that is a huge motivator. I just thought, yeah, I, I, this is for me, I want to do more of this, and I did so.
Speaker 1:I think that that kind of there's. There's negatives of being a professional as well, but there's also massive bonuses, because all the time that you're working, you're honing your skills on, you're learning your kit, you're able to buy more, more of the kit, you're able to put things through your business, and then I'll say that was a, that was a research trip.
Speaker 2:That was a research trip. So yeah, yeah, no. I always say to my other half you know this is, you know I really need this equipment. It's boy math, you know it's. You know I really need this new drone. You know, because it's boy math, you know it's really going to work for me and everything.
Speaker 1:You know, it doesn't matter so much because it's coming out of the business, so it's not coming out of the personal. So well, absolutely.
Speaker 2:I might, as the other advantage, of course, is you can write it off against taxes and investment allowance. So you know you can just crack on and you know you are actually saving tax on the fact that you're buying some new equipment and you know it's an absolute bonus. You know it's great, you get to play with your new camera gear and you know you're having to pay less tax as a result Brilliant.
Speaker 1:I more enjoy the. It's that freedom of being able to do that, having the choice to do that, but also the choices to make trips. I think trips are my other thing. So the trips around Scotland. I'm not talking massive long trips, but just just around Scotland and just exploring and giving yourself time to do the landscape photography. But it pushes you on in other ways, doesn't it as well? So there's so many, so many benefits of being a professional. Actually, it's pretty, it's pretty cool.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, no, absolutely, I mean there are. This past month I think I've driven the best part of nearly 1800 miles in the past month. You know, on the commercial work, and obviously you know, as I've referred to, you know I've, along with the video work, I've also experimented with drone work as well and I think that's an enormously interesting medium because you know there's lots of different famous locations that you go to. You're guaranteed you know what you're going to get. You know the weather, depending of course, but with with drone work, you know no two shots are ever going to be the same and having a different perspective and an opportunity to see the world in a different way is fabulous. And I think you know drones get a lot of bad rap sometimes but you know, if you're careful and you do it right and you don't, you know, you know and you stick to the guidelines and the rules, then you know you experiment away. Absolutely, it's a fantastic form of medium.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's just. It's that. It's that idea of having a different perspective on things. So the things that I've just done, where I've been photographing Harris for so long and then, like right came, you know, photograph from the water now, because how can we, how can we interpret this differently? How can you go one step further? And I suppose the drone also does that. That's from it's. Actually. I've just bought a new drone. I haven't actually got it out there. I'm really bad. I don't actually got it out the box yet. I need somebody to come and set it up for me. I don't mind using stuff, but I don't like setting things up, particularly drones, because they always need updated, don't they when you're out.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. They can be quite nerve wracking as well, because obviously, if you've invested the you know some money in this new drone and you know, and you go flying with it, you know something can and will go wrong and you think, oh my God, is this going to drop out of the sky or anything like that.
Speaker 1:I know I've never had an accident. It's kind of which is a miracle, but it is. I like the idea of constantly looking at different ways of expressing whatever it is you want to express, and I think for you it's Scotland, isn't it? Is that very much at the heart of it?
Speaker 2:Oh, absolutely Holy. And I'll tell you because one of the things that I'm doing right now is, if I'm not doing commercial work, I'll go out and try and shoot stock footage Also. That is an excuse to get out in nature, but also it's a way of documenting Scotland in a certain period of history and time as well. So I will shoot drone footage, I will shoot with my video camera and and you know, just because I don't do as much landscape photography as I would like, still, you know, I still get out there and use these different forms of medium to give me that thrill and that chase of, you know, feeling what nature is like and feeling that you know soulful impact that it has on me. And you know, I have you know I don't do that many workshops for myself directly. I work with Glen Eagles Hotel and you know which is brilliant from my point of view, because I don't have to do any marketing they just say to their guests you know, do you want to go out and do you know a nature workshop? And they'll go oh yeah, that sounds like, sounds like good fun, and then I just get booked for that and off we go.
Speaker 2:And I have to say one of the one of the key highlights, I think, in my 20 year career happened in July, august last year and I remember getting an email from the booking team that said, ok, we've got, we've got this chap. His name's Frank Darabont and he wants to do a full day masterclass experience in Glencoe. And I kind of going that that name sounds awfully familiar. So, as you do, you know, press Google and you find out. You think, oh, he was the director behind the Shawshank Redemption. And I kind of thinking, oh, oh right, and so we did it and it was such a surreal experience.
Speaker 2:And this is the thing you don't know where your journey can go with your photography. I started, you know, with taking a photograph up on the top of Ben Lohmond and because I was determined to try and find what I wanted to do and what I loved. And 20 years later I'm standing with the director of one of the most influential films of the past 20, 30 years in the middle of Glencoe, teaching him about landscape photography, and I'm thinking, how, how did I end up in this situation? It just felt quite surreal, to be honest, and I just absolutely loved it and just soaked up every moment I could from it. It was just such a glorious thing. So you know, it's very important if you lose sight of where you are and you're going through a hard time, you will get through it, and it's so important to maintain that focus and belief in yourself.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, absolutely it's. You don't always. You don't always know. When I first started doing passport photos, photos of kids in Ollipore, because I needed to film my Saturday.
Speaker 2:I remember doing an employment training scheme and a local photographers, and you know I too was taking passport pictures of people in the high street as well. So yeah, it's just really interesting how your career can go forward, because you just don't know what's around the corner. If you're passionate about what you do and you enjoy what you do, then I would say you just go for it, because you know I could. I could never do a nine to five job these days. It would just drive me absolutely up the walls, to be honest. So yeah, if you want to do it, go do it. You know, you just don't know where life will take you.
Speaker 1:Fantastic. That's a great message to end on there, so thank you. Thank you for that, jason. I think it'd be nice for everybody to go and have a look at your website. It's just jasonbackstermedia, isn't it? Is that correct?
Speaker 2:Well, there's two. There's Jason Backstermedia, which is obviously just that's boring commercial work, but all the landscape work is on Jasonbacksternet, so if anyone wants to have a, have a good poke around, then you know feel free, and also on Instagram.
Speaker 1:we connected on Instagram, didn't we? So are you just Jason Backster on Instagram?
Speaker 2:My Instagram tag is Jason Backster.
Speaker 1:Thank you. It's been lovely to meet you today and thank you for sharing that.