Reading · Chasing Moments: A Guide to Better Nature Photography

Like millions of people around the world, I’m a big fan of both Ted Lasso and Simon Sinek. So when those two worlds collided last week on one of my favorite mediums, podcasts, I jumped right in.

Brendan Hunt, the co-creator and co-star of the hit Apple TV series Ted Lasso, joined Sinek on his podcast A Bit of Optimism to talk about his career, the origins of Ted Lasso, and his unconventional path to success in the entertainment industry. As you might expect, the conversation was entertaining, thought-provoking, and it got me reflecting on my own journey into full-time photography.

I highly recommend setting aside an hour to listen to the episode yourself. In the meantime, here are three insights I took away and how they parallel the world of photography.

Purity of the Performance.
Hunt’s rise to stardom was anything but linear. He knew from a young age that performing was his path, but it took years of twists and turns, college, time in L.A., a stint in Amsterdam, and countless small venues to shape the writer, actor, and performer we know today. Through it all, one thing stayed constant: his commitment to the performance itself.
Reflecting on how importance this commitment was to his career advancement, Hunt said:
It’s the joy of the thing, it’s the joy of the moment. It’s the connection with the audience at that time and nothing else exists.
He focused on the moments that mattered most: being in front of an audience, honing his craft, building real connections, and becoming a better performer. How those moments fit into a long-term career strategy wasn’t his primary concern. While he admitted he might have benefited from a bit more planning, he believes that staying devoted to the purity of performance is what ultimately allowed him to grow into the artist he is today.
As a photographer, I immediately thought about how many distractions pull us away from what truly matters. Obsessing over likes and comments, worrying about how an image might affect our “influencer” status, wondering whether it will help sell the next workshop, or calculating its commercial potential. None of that actually makes us better photographers. More importantly, it drags our attention away from the very moments that moved us to stop, set up our gear, press the shutter in the first place.
Hunt’s insistence on being fully present on stage, connecting with his audience and savoring the experience as if “nothing else exists”, is a powerful reminder of how we might approach nature photography and our own evolution as photographers.
I do my best to live by a similar mantra: be present first, let the images be a byproduct of that presence, and resist getting caught up in all the noise. I’m far from perfect, those “I can’t wait to post this…” thoughts still pop up, but the more I commit to being present and trusting that this is the surest path to creative growth as a photographer, the more at peace I feel with where my work is headed.
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Reality vs. Our Imagination
During a really interesting point in the conversation about Hunt’s choice to leave the safety and “promise” of opportunities early in his career to do a residency in Amsterdam (which ended up lasting five years), Sinek and Hunt bantered about the oddity of staying put for what may happen vs. go after what you know will happen. Sinek offered the following observation:
We fear we’re going to miss out on the thing that is our imagination. Looking at real opportunity… versus stay here for your imagination. And people choose imagination.
Their point wasn’t to be creative, or not have hope, or to not have goals. Their point was to take advantage of the opportunities really present in front of you as opposed to those that may happen if in don’t take advantage of those opportunities. It’s a bit of a “bird in the hand versus two in the bush” argument in that there is huge benefits from taking advantage of that which you know is going to happen, even if it isn’t necessarily part of your “master plan” for growth and advancement (more on this in a bit). After some back and forth, the came to the following “aha” moment:
Don’t be so locked in. Have strong opinions loosely held.
I’ve never met a nature photographer who doesn’t have some level of FOMO (fear of missing out), and that includes myself. Scrolling through social media there is a natural tendency to lament the fact that you missed that shot, or you turned down the opportunity to go to that location, or think about how lucky that person was to be there for that moment.
Of more concern, allowing the wonder of what’s happening elsewhere while out in the field can easily creep in, especially if we are just on the edge of incredible light and wishing we were just a bit further north or on the other side of the ridge, see live social media stories of others shooting nearby, or see wildlife too far off in the distance to photograph from our current location.
That FOMO is exactly what Sinek and Hunt were talking about with regard to reality vs. imagination. So often we choose to allow imagination to run rampant in our minds when we have real opportunities sitting right in front of us. That’s not to say we shouldn’t have imaginations, in deed cultivating that creative side of our brains is important, but we can’t beholden to the “what if’s” and “if only’s” that come with the unknown. This brings us back to point #1 above, be present and find the image that sits in front of you, not the one you can’t create.
The Payoff of “Wasted Time”
Reflecting on the origins of Ted Lasso, Hunt described his five years in Amsterdam and his deep obsession with football, so deep that he’d spend random Sunday afternoons seemingly rotting on the couch watching lower-division European matches. What looked like a total “waste of time” turned out to be a hidden asset. That knowledge of the game became essential when his character, Coach Beard, needed to guide Ted, who’d never coached “soccer” before, through the nuances of football. Hunt couldn’t have known it then, but those lazy Sundays are now paying huge dividends as the co-creator, writer, and co-star of one of today’s biggest TV comedies.
Sinek captured it with this reflection:
Everything in our lives has some sort of purpose later on, but who’s to know what it will be.
I’d take that a step further. It’s not just fate magically connecting our “wasted time” to future opportunities. Having a growth mindset means actively looking for those connections, especially the subtle ones that aren’t obvious at first glance.
I spent thirty years in public education, learning about pedagogy, school leadership, budgeting, customer service, and the importance of human relationships. But the most powerful lesson I took away was the value of consistency: showing up every day, being present for students, supporting staff as a servant leader, engaging with parents, and trying to be a steady, positive presence. I didn’t nail it every single day, but over time, that consistency allowed me to build a career I was genuinely proud of.
That same lesson, learned far outside photography, is now shaping my creative practice. Getting out into the field regularly, refining my post‑processing, learning from photographers I admire on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram, writing consistently in this space, and making it a daily habit to share high-quality content (mine and others’) are all part of that cumulative growth.
I can’t point to a single moment when it all “pays off,” but I can see the incremental progress. The practice of consistency that I developed as an educator, something that doesn’t obviously scream “better photographer”, is doing just that. It’s a clear example of how one experience can have a purpose far beyond its original context.
What events, habits, or so‑called “wasted time” have quietly contributed to your growth as a photographer? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
Thanks for reading Chasing Moments: A Guide to Better Nature Photography! This post is public so feel free to share it.
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