Sony Alpha Universe Presents a Week-Long Takeover with Nicole Zelkowitz!

[alpha-jessica-a]

Nicole Zelkowitz (@avecnicole) is a travel, adventure, and lifestyle photographer. She uses her images to encourage others to leave the comfort of their homes and travel to their dream destinations. She is highly skilled at creating unique images that give a sense of place and tell a story. 

It’s our pleasure to announce that Nicole will be participating in a text based Forum Takeover from September 16th to September 20th!

If you’d like to ask a question, post it in this thread and Nicole will answer it during her takeover. 

You’ll have a week to chat with and learn from Nicole. The takeover will also be saved and available to view after the week ends! 

[Nicole Zelkowitz]

Super excited to chat with everyone! Creators of all levels are welcome to join in 🙂 can’t wait to meet all of you!

[jajo]

Thank you in advance for sharing your wisdom with us, Nicole! 

My question is, what advice do you have for photographers looking to break into travel, adventure, or lifestyle photography?

[Rebel]

On 8/27/2024 at 10:02 PM, alpha-jessica-a said:

 

Is this the Alabama Hills looking up towards the High Sierras?  I recognize this spot.  I hiked it along the Pacific Crest Trail on my pursuit of the Triple Crown.  Descended down from Cottonwood Pass to Lone Pine and got a hitch out here to hike around and climb atop these rocks.  I fly this location a lot in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 & it is super realistic.  Every one of these rocks are fully rendered, plus you can adjust the sun to the exact time you want.  I like to take off in a F22 Raptor from the airstrip by Lone Pine & blast over these rocks and ascend to Mount Whitney all during the Golden hour in the morning when this scene would be lit up Gold.  This shot was taken in the blue hour.  It is a famous backdrop and filming location of many Hollywood Films and Shows, including the Lone Ranger.

Edited September 7 by Rebel

[nodav]

Hi Nicole!

I'd love to know.... what is your current struggle as a photographer, how do you overcome and combat it, and what are your goals for the 2024 year in terms of growth and learning?

[Salvador]

Hi Nicole!

Can you describe the moment you realized that you wanted to do photography full time? How did you go about fully immersing yourself in your journey as a photographer and what decisions did you have to commit to in order to focus on your own growth? How do you maintain a sense of flow with travel, photography, while balancing personal life?

Thanks so much for your time,

Salvador

[aidm]

Heyo Nicole! 

How has your style or approach to photography evolved over the years? What have been some pivotal moments in your creative journey?

So excited to learn from you.

[Nicole Zelkowitz]

On 9/6/2024 at 6:52 PM, jajo said:

Thank you in advance for sharing your wisdom with us, Nicole! 

My question is, what advice do you have for photographers looking to break into travel, adventure, or lifestyle photography?

Hey there! Thank YOU for your question 🙂 I think one of the most important things to keep in mind if you're looking to first get started is that you don't need all of the fancy gear to actually get started. A lot of people tend to think they can only first start getting involved and learning more about photography once they get their hands on a professional camera, but the truth is you can start earlier than that as long as you have a cell phone with a camera. After all, it's not the gear that makes the photographer great; it's the photographers eye that makes the photos great.

For creators looking to break into travel and adventure, I know backpacking and 10+ mile hikes are hyped up a lot in that niche. They're tons of fun to go on, for sure, but you can easily start creating epic travel and adventure content from a simple .5 mile hike! Showing scale is a really great way to add to your shots and bring more drama to a scene, so bring along a friend and start creating some great memories in beautiful places.

For the lifestyle niche, I tend to mainly create lifestyle photos when I'm creating for brands BUT I think it's pretty important to remember something that helps lifestyle photos not look too "staged" is to capture photos in real time. If you want your subject to be walking, actually capture them when they're walking; don't have them pose in a walking stance. Keeping things looking as natural as possible will help you, so boost up your shutter speed and have some fun with it 🙂  

For any niche you want to start creating more in, start following some epic photographers who already have tons of experience in that area so you can start getting inspired whether it be from shooting techniques or editing techniques. They'll all be able to teach you something or show you something you may not have seen or heard of before.

[Nicole Zelkowitz]

On 9/6/2024 at 8:05 PM, Rebel said:

Is this the Alabama Hills looking up towards the High Sierras?  I recognize this spot.  I hiked it along the Pacific Crest Trail on my pursuit of the Triple Crown.  Descended down from Cottonwood Pass to Lone Pine and got a hitch out here to hike around and climb atop these rocks.  I fly this location a lot in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 & it is super realistic.  Every one of these rocks are fully rendered, plus you can adjust the sun to the exact time you want.  I like to take off in a F22 Raptor from the airstrip by Lone Pine & blast over these rocks and ascend to Mount Whitney all during the Golden hour in the morning when this scene would be lit up Gold.  This shot was taken in the blue hour.  It is a famous backdrop and filming location of many Hollywood Films and Shows, including the Lone Ranger.

This is Alabama Hills, yes, on Movie Road 🙂 It's a really popular spot amongst landscape photogaphers, but it's also so much fun to just go out there and camp, look at the stars, hike around, and just chill!

I had no idea Microsoft Flight Simulator used this location, but it's so cool to hear that you flew here tons within that program! If you ever decide to head there and experience it in real life, definitely go in fall or spring for not-so-hot temperatures. But in the summer, it's the perfect location for astrophotography.

[Asteryx]

1. What’s your all time top places to travel? 
2. how do you find balance between your professional life and all your amazing 🥲 photo adventures. 
3. your photography inspires us.  
 

[JMisterJay]

Hiya Nicole! 
 

Thank you for always providing us with the beautiful visuals that you do! Keep them coming always 🤗🙏🏽

[Nicole Zelkowitz]

On 9/9/2024 at 3:33 AM, nodav said:

what is your current struggle as a photographer, how do you overcome and combat it

Hey there! 🙂

I think one of my main current struggles as a photographer is knowing when it's okay to just take a step back and take a break. When life becomes really overwhelming, I have a hard time being able to confidently accept that it's okay to not be so active in creating and posting and it tends to take a toll on me. I try to overcome it by telling myself that's how I'm going to feel burnt out and try to convince myself taking a break doesn't make me any less of a photographer. And when all else fails, my boyfriend and my best friends and the perfect supporters and help me see it through.

[Nicole Zelkowitz]

On 9/9/2024 at 3:33 AM, nodav said:

what are your goals for the 2024 year in terms of growth and learning?

You know... I started off this year with so many goals. I wanted to get more into videography and learn how to edit better on Davinci Resolve, and I wanted to post on Instagram every day and edit multiple photos each week even if it meant going back and editing older photos I haven't looked at in years. I also wanted to work with more brands this year than last year and increase my income from last year in freelance if it was possible. I started the year off strong but had so many things happen in my personal life that I havent met many of my goals for growth and learning.

That being said - when life has it's calm moments I certainly try to get back into my goals and tackle them. I learn a lot from my friends, but I also learn so much from Youtube. It truly is one of the best teachers out there! There's a million and ten videos and tutorials on everything under the sun 🙂 

[Nicole Zelkowitz]

On 9/10/2024 at 2:31 PM, Salvador said:

Can you describe the moment you realized that you wanted to do photography full time? How did you go about fully immersing yourself in your journey as a photographer and what decisions did you have to commit to in order to focus on your own growth?

Hi Salvador! Thank you for your questions 🥰

I actually am not a full time photographer, but I've got a great full time job that offers cool benefits like flexible scheduling that allows me to do photography a lot of the time, and most of the time as often as I'd like. I do remember a few years back when I was dating a photographer here in the Bay Area when I first started to mess around with photography. He had already worked with brands and our whole friend group was pretty experienced in this field. I was taking photos mainly for the fun of it (and I still am!) but there was this one day when I told my ex I was thinking about buying something, and he told me "Try to email them, you never know. I'll help you" and we sent this brand an email and they wanted to work with me and I thought it was the absolute coolest thing ever 🤭 

I think a lot of what I mainly needed to commit to in order to get this type of lifestyle really rolling was an online presence and the need to stay motivated to create. A few years back, instagram was all about photos and so I really honed in on that and I was going out to shoot every single chance I could. I shot so many sunrises before going to work, and I shot so many sunsets when I wasn't working or was off work in time. And I'd be so quick to post, and engage with the community and tried to make friends and tried to learn with these friends. I spent a lot of time on my laptop editing in Lightroom and Photoshop, and then spent the rest of my time on my phone which wasn't the most fun, but I was constantly seeing photos of new places and coming across new creators that helped me stay beyond motivated and kept me wanting to learn as much as possible.

[Nicole Zelkowitz]

On 9/10/2024 at 2:31 PM, Salvador said:

How do you maintain a sense of flow with travel, photography, while balancing personal life?

I like this question a lot, actually.

I work for an airline which helps me with the opportunity to travel often. The flexibility in scheduling is great and my flying benefits are even better, and it's cheaper at times for me to take a weekend trip to Europe than to take a weekend roadtrip to the Sierras or the PNW. Having a partner and close friends who love traveling and love being in the outdoors really helps me out with balancing my personal life alongside travel and photography. Being able to tell myself "hey Nicole, maybe your bank account can't afford this trip" is another story 😂

I think the hardest part about balancing it all is finding the right places to include my dog. There's so many places I want to travel to for the purpose of photography, but a lot of these places are either difficult to get to with my dog, or are not dog friendly and it's always hard leaving him at home. So more times than not, I'm out creating in these super beautiful places while simultaneously feeling like a part of me is left at home because he loves the adventures more than all of us combined. I will often tend to go to the same places I've been to a bunch of times, or not go on specific trails or hikes so that I can make what would otherwise not be a dog-friendly trip more into a dog-friendly trip this way I can have the best of both worlds. I guess I'm a bit lucky that's my only true difficulty in balancing it all out 🙂 

[sowil]

Hi Nicole! What’s in your travel photography kit? How do you decide what gear to bring on a trip to ensure you're prepared for various shooting conditions?

[Nicole Zelkowitz]

On 9/15/2024 at 10:39 PM, aidm said:

Heyo Nicole! 

How has your style or approach to photography evolved over the years? What have been some pivotal moments in your creative journey?

So excited to learn from you.

Hello! 🥰 When I first started photography back in 2019, I was shooting a ton more city/urban and a lot less nature. It was really fun shooting in the city, but I think what turned me off was how dangerous it became for a photographer in the Bay Area. I started going on more roadtrips to super cool places like Yosemite National Park, and the Oregon Coast, and I realized there's a lot more interesting subjects to shoot in these places. They caught my eye and kept my interest a lot more than the city stuff. I will say tho - I sure do miss a good rooftop 🤭🤫

[Nicole Zelkowitz]

On 9/16/2024 at 2:36 PM, Asteryx said:

1. What’s your all time top places to travel? 

If I had to pick my top, very top favorite... hands down it was the Lofoten Islands! I need a redo for sure due to all the random horrible weather than hindered all the epic hikes, but it was still so surreal.

Outside of there, I'm a huge fan of the PNW. I've been to Oregon way too many times to count, and I finally was able to touch the surface of Washington and I'm already itching to go back 😅

[Nicole Zelkowitz]

On 9/16/2024 at 2:36 PM, Asteryx said:

2. how do you find balance between your professional life and all your amazing 🥲 photo adventures. 

It's hard to find balance sometimes, but my job makes it easy with the flexible scheduling & my partner makes it even easier by always being willing to go on any adventure the second I say "let's go." I'm really fortunate to be able to work in a field that lets me travel whenever I want to, and even more fortunate to be with someone who is always down to explore and see the world 🙂 

[Nicole Zelkowitz]

On 9/16/2024 at 2:36 PM, Asteryx said:

3. your photography inspires us.  

Mine!? YOURS is so inspiring! Your videography, especially, has been getting more and more epic. You're a huge inspiration for so many creators, myself included 🤘

[Nicole Zelkowitz]

On 9/16/2024 at 2:37 PM, JMisterJay said:

Hiya Nicole! 
 

Thank you for always providing us with the beautiful visuals that you do! Keep them coming always 🤗🙏🏽

Thank you so much!! 🥹 Your work is so dope, I love always looking at your photos. You're a killer drone pilot, too 🙂 

[Nicole Zelkowitz]

On 9/17/2024 at 4:57 PM, sowil said:

Hi Nicole! What’s in your travel photography kit?

Hi there! 🥰 I'm honestly obsessedddd with all of my gear! In my camera bag you will find my a7C II, 12-24mm GM /2.8, 14mm GM /1.8, 24-70mm GMII /2.8, and 70-200mm GMII /2.8 ... you will also find my Mavic Air 2s because drones are so fun to mess around with!

[Nicole Zelkowitz]

On 9/17/2024 at 4:57 PM, sowil said:

How do you decide what gear to bring on a trip to ensure you're prepared for various shooting conditions?

This is a great question! For starters, I never leave home without my filters. I have the PolarPro Helix Maglock 2-5VND + 6-9VND, and PolarPro Chroma 2-5VND/PL which is my all time favorite. Filters are so, so necessary and I couldn't recommend them enough; especially the Chroma one if you're in the market for one. Having a variable + a polarizer in one is such a game changer. I'll also always bring both a lens cloth + a LensPen Lens cleaner because if I lose one somehow at least I have a backup 😇 Spare batteries and backup SD cards are also an absolute must. I couldn't imagine how mad at myself I would be if the sole reason me not being able to shoot some epic photo is due to not having a charged battery or enough space on a SD card.

[alpha-jessica-a]

What's something you wish you could go back and tell your beginner photographer self?