Start Simple: Photography with Keagan Gill
Keagan Gill is a 17-year-old photographer from Dover, Pennsylvania. I don’t know him that well personally, but I’ve been a huge fan of his photos ever since he started posting them on Instagram. Since Keagan’s been pursuing photography only about two years, it’s been fun to see his rapid growth and the different ways he’s played with style while discovering what his niche is. I had to smile while editing our interview because Keagan just makes it all sound so easy. Get camera, take pictures, share pictures. Practice, practice, practice. It seems obvious, but it’s so easy to forget (especially when you’re a more seasoned or “world-weary” creator) that you don’t need a secret combo or complicated roadmap to improve in your craft. Just do it! Keagan’s story is proof that that’s always enough to get started and make progress.
How did you fall in love with photography?
Oh boy. I know that many of my family members did a lot of photography and art, but I didn’t start taking pictures until I was 14 and I’d gotten a new phone that had a decent camera. I started taking photos and I just liked it, it was different for me. Before, [my family and I] would go on trips and I’d take a photo to remember something, but the photo was sort of bland. Like it was just a photo of the trip or of the landmark so I wouldn’t forget it. But once I started taking photos with different techniques, I just kept trying new things and that changed everything.
What are some of your other creative outlets?
I did start acting in 2014, around the same time I started photography. Those are the two things I’m most passionate about.
What do most people not know about photography or your own personal creative process?
I’ll often get questions like, “How did you take this shot?” Or sometimes they’ll ask what the editing process is. But I don’t know, I hadn’t really thought about it like that. (I use a lot of Adobe Lightroom for editing, and when I’m in a hurry I’ll use the Google Snapseed app.)
You have almost three thousand followers on Instagram — how did you amass your following?
I’m not sure because I only get about 30–50 likes per post, but then I have 3000 followers, so a lot of those are seemingly inactive followers. What I think happened was in the beginning it was a lot of friends of friends, and my mom’s friends, and people who only “kind of” knew me… but then I would tag things of course, and then I guess people liked some of my stuff, followed, then disappeared. [Do you post kind of randomly, or have a system?] Honestly I’m a little bit of both, it depends on how I feel. Sometimes I stick to a pattern and I’ll try to post in a certain window of time regularly. When it comes to tags, I’m not sure if I’ve found what actually seriously works, but I usually just use generic ones because I don’t want to tag-spam my posts. I just want people to see the photo.
What helps you recharge your creative batteries?
I go through Instagram search a lot. There’s a lot of really good art and stuff, great photographers, like way better than me, so it’s a really good place to find inspiration. You can just scroll and scroll and scroll.
A lot of your photos seem to be out in nature, is there anything in particular about being outdoors that inspires you?
Usually what I do is take a camera and just go outside during the sunset. And I’ll just see things. I’ll just be walking and see something and I’ll be like “Woah, okay, if I crouch down like this, then that looks way different than if I’m just standing here.” I guess the reason why I take a lot of close-ups is because not a lot of people stop and bend down and really get close up to a flower and look at it. So when they’re just scrolling through Instagram and they see this really cool close-up shot, it’s just something you don’t see every day.
How many photos do you typically take per session?
I usually pick about 3 out of a session, maybe 4 at best out of a session to post. But I have to take like 250–300 photos to get that 4, and that’s an hour and a half or so to get all of those.
What is a daily (or regular) discipline you’re following right now, related or unrelated to photography?
For photography, I make it a daily habit to check in the morning if the lighting is good enough or if it’s too cloudy or something. I just check in the mornings and evenings to see if the lighting is good enough for me to even go outside. Other than that, I can’t think of any others I’m currently following for photography.
In what ways have you improved over the past few years? What do you still struggle with?
The quality has definitely improved overall, because I’ve gotten better cameras, better software, and I’ve started actually learning how to use the software. I didn’t really have any techniques when I first started, so I guess that’s what’s improved. Right now I’m trying to get the most out of my camera and my software. Like for depth of field, trying to get that without effects. I know there’s a lot you can do with effects but there’s a lot you can do with the camera itself to get better at depth of field photos. I’m also trying to get a grip on different exposure shots.
Even if you never “succeeded” in your craft, what would keep you creating anyway?
Well, I’m not sure what the definition of success would be for me yet. I guess not succeeding doesn’t matter to me because it’s not like I’m trying to make money off of this. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have any reason to stop. [Could you ever see yourself making money from photography?] I’ve done paid photography for events, so sure.
What are your creative goals right now?
Just trying to be a lot better at photography. I mean I’m trying to get myself out there more — I’m just taking photos and posting them, just putting my work up, because what does it do just sitting on an SD card?
Are there any tools, books, or other resources you would recommend to others starting out in photography?
The camera I use is a DSLR that’s a Nikon D5100, and then I have my S7 Edge. If I’m in a hurry or something, that’s always in my pocket so I just use that. I got some guides for Christmas: How to Photograph Everything and Adobe Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC for Photographers.
What other advice or words of encouragement would you give to other creators in your field?
I guess just trust yourself. Don’t copy other people for the sake of copying other people. If you know what you feel your style is, you should go with that, because that’s your style and that’s what you’re good at. Try everything and see what you like and see what sticks.
