Inspirational Photography by Will Patino
One of the first photographers I was exposed too when signing up on Instagram years ago was Will Patino. I instantly fell in love with his photography and I'm happy to have witnessed his transformation into a full time professional during this time.
Watching Will evolve and find his own style has been really inspirational to me. During these years Will has developed his own unique style and is at the level where you easily recognise his images. His subtle, yet dramatic style, shows some of natures best sides.
His dedication to photography has paid of and I know few who have built such a strong portfolio over such a short period of time.
Image by Will Patino
I asked Will to tell us about his photography and what inspires him. Here is what he said:
My love and passion for photography first began back in 2012. I downloaded Instagram because I wanted to check out some of my friends photos. It turned out that it wasn't actually Instagram that he shared his work on but I kept the app anyway and began taking photos myself with the iPhone.
I soon began to see some pretty amazing landscape images on there that were clearly shot with a DSLR. This inspired me to dust off the camera I had at home and try and use it. After mucking around with it in the backyard for awhile I eventually went down to the beach for a sunrise. My life hasn't been the same since.
Image by Will Patino
Photography has given me a new outlook on life and totally changed the way I view the world. At the start of 2015 I found myself at a cross roads. I took a leap of faith and quit my stable job of 8 years as a HVAC technician in order to concentrate fully on my photography. Today I am blessed to provide for me and my family running workshops, selling prints and working on social media campaigns.
Image by Will Patino
I'm so grateful to be able to do what I love for a living, not a day passes that I don't think about photography or find myself inspired to capture an image in some way. My main inspiration has and always will be found in the nature. I love the strength of the ocean, resilience of the land and majesty of the mountains. The way morning and evening light falls across the earth gets me every time. In nature I am humbled and reminded of a power much greater than ourselves. It's this feeling that I wish to convey in my imagery.
The main photographers who inspire me are the people that continue to do their own thing despite whats trending and do it well. I really enjoy the work of Alexandre Deschaumes, Marc Adamus and my friend Mark Clinton.
Image by Will Patino
Image by Will Patino
Image by Will Patino
Image by Will Patino
Image by Will Patino
Image by Will Patino
Image by Will Patino
About three years ago I was introduced to Instagram, a place where you were supposed to share pictures of your food and brag about how epic your life is. I never got into that exact use of Instagram, instead I quickly found a great community where people where sharing beautiful photography. This inspired me to pick up my camera again and start learning how to use it. One of the first photographers I followed on Instagram was Larry Marshall. I still remember how excited I got the first time he "liked" one of my photos.