Pro Spotlight – Chris Higgins

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JOBY Pro Spotlight | 13 Questions for a Pro Photographer |Chris Higgins

This month we’re featuring professional photographer Chris Higgins. You might remember Chris from our video “What Does It Take To Get The Shot – Caving” where Chris took us hundreds of feet below the surface and scared the @##@! out of us. Since we meet up with Chris a year ago he has been summiting peak after peak across the world. Follow Chris’s social sites and you’ll be in store for a view of places 99.9% of us never see.

 

Chris Higgins |  Age: 27   |  Tennessee, USA

Facebook: facebook.com/chrishigginsphotography

Instagram: instagram.com/chrishigginsphoto

Webpage: chrishigginsphoto.com

What type of professional photographer are you?

I consider myself an Adventure Photographer. I specialize in lighting and photographing remote and difficult locations. My camera leads me to climb up giant, ferocious mountains, and explore deep into the earth. I would say that my primary focus is caving, however, it was my first love.

Your Gear ­ What gear do you use regularly?

Nikon D750 and D7000
Nikon SB-700
YN-560s
Gorillapod Focus
Lowepro Hardside 300

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What would be your dream photography job?

Any job that pays me to do what I love (I think the obvious answer is Nat Geo but what photographer wouldn’t want to work for them?). The dream is to let my camera take me all over the world, while climbing as high and as low as I can get.

Why did you become a professional photographer and when did you know you wanted to be one?

I have always been interested in photography. When I was younger, it introduced me to incredible places that I could not travel to myself. I dreamed of one day being able to open other’s eyes to the places they could never imagine. This is why I really took a calling to cave photography. I began going to these places that words could not describe and many would never get to see in person. Over time I began to learn how to bring justice to these incredible places I was going so others too could be inspired.

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Did you study photography?

Photography started out as just a hobby, so I could show my friends and family why I spent every weekend with my face in the mud crawling underground. But, as I have gotten older I realized how passionate I was about it and how many places my camera could take me, so I decided to go back to school and continue my learning, I now have an associate’s degree in Photography.

Do you carry a camera with you daily when not working?

If you count a cell phone…Yes the camera goes everywhere with me. But I always lug my Nikon up every mountain and down every cave, just to be safe. I never know what I will see or find.

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When you’re not shooting photos ­ you are?

Editing photos…planning new photo trips…getting gear ready to go take photos.

If you couldn’t be a professional photographer you would be a?

An astronaut? I’d be good at that. Before photography paid the bills, though I was an EMT working on an ambulance so I guess I would still be doing that.

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Have you ever dropped a lens? ­ Come on be honest!

More times than I care to admit. One still sticks out in my mind, we hiked several miles to an overlook to watch the sunset. I was changing lenses and set my second lens in my lap. When I stood up I saw the lens take off down the side of the mountain. We missed sunset searching for the lens that rolled nearly 300’ down the mountain side…

If you could only have only one lens for a year what would it be?

Something wide maybe the Nikon 14-24mm.

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Name a famous person living or dead whose photo you would wish you could take.

Jimmy Chin. His work is second to none!

And finally what is the one thing you wish a professional photographer had told you before you became a professional photographer?

Don’t quit your day job.

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Zach Settewongse

Author Zach Settewongse

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