What Teaching Photography Has Taught Me

For much of my professional life, I’ve been an educator.

Long before photography became my full-time profession, I spent decades in higher education helping students, faculty, and institutions learn and grow. Today, I continue that passion in a different way, teaching the Photography Merit Badge at Scout camp, mentoring interns from local colleges and high schools, and occasionally working alongside new photographers as they begin their own journeys.

People sometimes assume I teach because I have experience.

The truth is, teaching has made me a better photographer.

Whether I’m talking with Scouts who are just learning how a camera works or mentoring someone photographing their first wedding, I’m reminded that teaching isn’t simply about sharing knowledge. It’s about examining your own work in ways you might not otherwise do.

Teaching Makes Me Think About My Own Process

After photographing weddings for many years, much of what I do has become second nature.

I instinctively look for the best light. I know where to stand during a ceremony. I can anticipate moments before they happen and make dozens of small decisions without consciously thinking about them.

Experience has a way of turning individual skills into habits.

Then someone asks a simple question.

“Why did you stand there?”

“Why did you choose that lens?”

“Why did you wait a few more seconds before taking the photograph?”

Answering those questions requires me to pause and think about decisions that have become almost automatic over the years.

Teaching gives me the opportunity to revisit my own process. It forces me to explain not only what I do, but why I do it. In doing so, I often discover small ways to refine that process or approach it more intentionally the next time.

Teaching Brings Me Back to the Fundamentals

One of my favorite parts of teaching Photography Merit Badge is returning to the fundamentals.

We talk about composition, the rule of thirds, leading lines, framing, perspective, depth of field, and the way light shapes a photograph.

These are concepts every photographer learns early in their journey.

As professionals, however, we often stop thinking about them because they’ve become woven into our instincts.

Every time I teach those ideas, I find myself asking a quiet question:

Am I still doing what I’m teaching?

Am I intentionally using leading lines to strengthen an image, or am I simply relying on habit?

Am I making deliberate compositional choices, or am I assuming experience will carry me through?

Those conversations challenge me to look at my own photographs with fresh eyes. They remind me that the fundamentals never stop mattering, regardless of how many years you’ve been behind the camera.

Every Student Sees Something Different

One of the unexpected joys of teaching is realizing that every student notices something different.

A Scout may become fascinated by reflections on a lake.

An intern may notice a quiet interaction between family members that I almost overlooked.

A new photographer might ask a question I’ve never thought to ask myself.

Those moments remind me that photography isn’t about seeing the world one “correct” way. Every photographer brings a unique perspective, and sometimes that fresh perspective helps me notice something I might otherwise have missed.

Teaching has reinforced something I believe deeply: we never stop learning from one another.

Writing About Photography Has Taught Me the Same Lesson

Over the past year, I’ve also begun writing books and guides about photography and the experience of being photographed.

At first, I thought I was simply putting years of experience onto paper.

Instead, I discovered that writing teaches in much the same way mentoring does.

When you write about posing, you can’t simply say, “Stand here.” You have to explain why one pose feels natural while another feels uncomfortable. You have to think about body language, connection, and the subtle ways small adjustments change the feeling of a photograph.

When I write about helping couples feel comfortable in front of the camera, I’m also reminding myself of the conversations I want to have on every wedding day.

Writing requires the same reflection that teaching does. It asks me to organize years of experience into ideas that are clear enough for someone else to understand. In doing so, those ideas become clearer to me as well.

A Craft That Is Never Finished

Perhaps that’s the greatest lesson teaching has given me. Photography isn’t a skill you master once and simply repeat for the rest of your career.

Like any craft, it requires continual refinement.
That’s one of the reasons I continue teaching, mentoring, and writing. Each encourages me to reflect on my own work, revisit the fundamentals, and become more intentional in the photographs I create. The finest artisans never stop refining their craft, and I hope to approach photography with that same mindset—always learning, always improving, and always looking for a better way to tell someone’s story.

If teaching has taught me anything, it’s that every conversation, every lesson, every question, and every page I write is another opportunity to continue refining the craft I love.