My upcoming book: How to take amazing photos

I still find it hard to believe that my photography-learning book, How to take amazing photos, will soon be released.

This is not a self-published photography book, instead, a reputable publisher established in London for over 30 years, approached me and asked me to write it. 

What a trip.

OK, let’s rewind a bit and pay attention as this next bit could help some of you wondering how to get more online visibility.

My website generates 250,000 page views on average every year, 72% of which come through organic search, through Google.

I’ve been writing on my photography blog since 2014. Covering many aspects of photography including:

Leading lines in photography

Negative space in photography

Low angle photography

And many more.

Why persevere? Because writing good quality content regularly makes me a better writer and it is what brings traffic ultimately leading to opportunities.

You write about a subject you know well, for me it’s photography and videography which I’ve practised since 2008, and provided you write quality articles paired with a website offering a good user experience, then your website should do well in search results. What page and how high it will rank depends on many factors (from how old your website is to how fast each page loads) which I’ve managed to learn and master over the years. It’s called SEO but I’m sure you know that.

If you doubt the power of truly well-executed SEO, I’ll just say one more thing: All the big paid jobs I ever did for brands like Adidas, Heineken, Amazon, Jose Cuervo, McLaren F1, Citroen, Peugeot etc… all came to me after finding me online.

Photographers focus on Instagram, almost everyone, this leaves a lot of opportunities for photographers who write well and have good SEO knowledge.

Back to our photography-learning book.

I received an email from the person who is now my editor at the publishing company, in which she informed me that she had found my photography learning blog through Google search after searching for photographers who write about photography and that they were interested in collaborating on a book.

At first, I thought it was a scam, not because of anything she said, but simply because it’s nothing short of a dream and to be approached and asked if you’d like to make your dream come true… well it sounds like a scam. But it’s not.

I was asked to write a sample chapter, they liked it and we got this thing done.

The book features a large and eclectic selection of my London street photography, urban photography, architecture, nature, macro, light painting… Only my images. It is aimed at beginners to intermediate level and will not delve deep into the technical. Look at it more as creative direction, how to see better, how to think like a photographer. I believe some people take better photos with their phones than some photographers with top-of-the-line cameras. Sure a good camera is great, but if you can’t see s*it, what’s the point?

The book will include almost all my very best images since 2008 and how to obtain similar results through very simple steps.

It is currently due for release in early 2023.

I’m hugely honoured by this opportunity, it feels like the work I’ve put in for over a decade, learning my craft, making mistakes and learning important lessons from them was really worth it and all anyone can do is persevere. I hate blowing my own trumpet and marketing myself is a difficult thing without crossing that thin line where you just sound cocky.

I’ve had some great times and some pretty tough times following my passion for photography and videography, refusing to fit or remain inside the corporate machine I used to be a part of before and where I didn’t belong.

Alright, I’ll stop here.

Do you know the best part though? It’ll be holding my book in hardback for the first time, fresh out from the printers with my photos looking way better than those compressed website photos which do them no justice.

Until next time,

Nico