Beyond the Perfect Shot: A Photographer’s Guide to Initiative, Exploration, and Finding Beauty in the Process
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In the world of glossy magazines, tantalizing restaurant menus, and captivating ad campaigns, a single image has the power to stop you in your tracks, make your mouth water, and create a lasting memory. But behind every one of these compelling visual images is a team of dedicated artists, and often, at the center of that team, is the photographer—the person translating a complex vision into a two-dimensional reality.
On a recent episode of the
Style to Set podcast, host Callie Blount sat down with her friend and long-time collaborator, the brilliant commercial and food photographer Nick Bumgardner. Nick is more than just a man behind the lens; he's an educator who has taught at Nossi College of Art and Design, and the co-founder of Reactor Media, a large-scale commercial photography business. Having shot thousands of recipes and worked with countless restaurants, Nick offers a profound look into the mindset, ingenuity, and collaborative spirit required to thrive in the creative world.
This is a deep dive into the art of not just taking a picture, but of building a career through relentless initiative, embracing criticism as a tool, and discovering that the truest beauty lies in the freedom of exploration.
The Unlikely Path: From Law Books to Lenses
Many creative journeys follow a winding road, and Nick’s is no exception. While he got his first camera at age eight and it remained a hobby throughout his youth, his professional ambitions initially pointed elsewhere. “Instead of going to prom, I bought a camera,” he recalls. “So I knew there was probably something there”.
Despite this early passion, he went to college for political science and history, worked at a law firm, and fully intended to become an attorney. After a brief stint in politics alongside his then-girlfriend, now-wife, Katie, he realized the high-stress lifestyle wasn’t sustainable for both of them. This led to a moment of introspection. “I was like, what else do I like?” he remembers. The answer lay in the two black and white photography classes he had enjoyed in college.
Pivoting with intention, Nick leveraged his connections and broke into the world of photojournalism, shooting assignments for The Tennessean. It was on one of these assignments, covering the “Dickens of a Christmas” festival in Franklin, Tennessee, that a chance encounter would change the course of his career. He met Michael Gomez, a respected commercial photographer who would become one of his most important mentors. They bonded over their new cameras—Nick’s Canon 1D Mark III for photojournalism and Michael’s even more impressive Canon 1DS Mark III for commercial work. Michael invited him to his studio for a test day with medium format camera manufacturers like Hasselblad and Mamiya, and this is where Nick’s defining professional trait first emerged: initiative.
“I took the time before I went up there to be like, what are these cameras? I did a ton of internet research,” Nick explains. In 2007, finding deep technical information online wasn’t the simple Youtube it is today; it required a concerted effort. When he arrived at the studio, he was the only photographer in the room who had done his homework. He knew what made the cameras special and how to use them, which impressed Michael enough to offer him a job as a photo assistant, opening the door to the commercial world.
The Power of Initiative and Embracing Criticism
Nick’s proactive approach wasn’t a one-time fluke; it became the bedrock of his career. When he first met with Tom Stanford, the photo editor at The Tennessean, the feedback was blunt. “He was like, ‘you know, these are good photos, but it looks like student work,’” Nick recalls. Tom gave him a list of shots he needed to see—a football game, a soccer game, a variety of different scenarios.
Instead of being discouraged, Nick took it as a direct challenge. “The next week, I took that next week to go out and get all these photos that Tom wanted to see,” he says. He immediately sent them back, showing he had not only heard the feedback but acted on it decisively. That initiative landed him the job, and he continued working with Tom for the next 17 years, eventually joining him as a fellow instructor at Nossi College of Art and Design.
He repeated this pattern when interviewing for a product photographer position at Saks Fifth Avenue. After the interviewer noted some things that were “a little bit off” about his portfolio, Nick rallied his stylist friends the very next day. “I was like, ‘hey, you guys, you want to get back in the studio, and let’s correct some of these things,’” he says. He reshot the work, sent it back, and a week or two later, he had the job.
For Nick, criticism isn’t a personal attack; it’s an opportunity. “I think criticism's a great time to be able to think about what you've done and see how you can improve it,” he states. “I always try and use it as a tool to improve”. It’s a philosophy he now passes on to his students, ensuring his feedback is always constructive and actionable—not just pointing out what’s wrong, but providing clear steps for how to fix it next time.
The Art of On-Set Psychology
Handling feedback from a professor is one thing; navigating it with a client on a high-stakes commercial shoot is another. Every creative on set has experienced the tension when a client’s vision diverges from their own. Nick’s approach is a masterful blend of compromise and psychology.
His first step is to validate the client. “Let's get it your way, but then also let's get it my way so we can kind of have a little bit of compromise there,” he says. But his most brilliant tactic is one born from a deep understanding of human nature: he gives the client something to fix.
“On those first couple shots, I'm going to have something intentionally wrong on, like something that I want the art director to catch, something I want the client to catch,” he reveals. This isn’t a mistake; it’s a strategy. By giving them an obvious flaw to point out, he gives them buy-in. They feel heard, they feel part of the process, and their role as a critical eye is affirmed. “After they get that buy-in, they'll walk away from set. They're good for the day. Then they'll just let us create”. It’s a genius move that fosters trust and defuses potential conflict before it even begins.
He also emphasizes the importance of a team, particularly having a producer on set who can manage expectations and act as a buffer. "If I can be shooting, and then if he can be kind of managing expectations...I like to pass that off on someone else," he admits. This allows him to stay focused on the creative work while ensuring the client relationship is handled with care.
Making Magic: Reduce, Simplify, and Modernize
A photographer’s talent is often most visible when faced with a difficult environment. Callie recounts a cookbook shoot with Nick in what she describes as “the darkest wooden home I could ever imagine...like being in a 1970s yacht club” with very little natural light. Yet, the photographs that came out of it were stunning.
Nick’s method for tackling such a challenge is rooted in a clear philosophy: “reduce and simplify”. “We can go into a space that might not be amazing, but we're going to reduce that space to its elements,” he explains. In that "wood-paneled box," his goal was to find vignettes that celebrated the home's unique 1970s vibe while creatively manipulating light to make it look like it was “naturally lit on the best possible day”.
His preparation involves building a deep visual repertoire. For that particular shoot, he studied old Betty Crocker and Southern Living cookbooks to understand the aesthetic of the era. He even went a step further, calling a photographer friend who shot food back in the 70s to understand the vibe and techniques they used.
But research is only half the battle. The key is to avoid simple imitation. “What they're seeing in the 1970s, it looks very dated,” Nick notes. “We had to modernize that approach”. The process became a blend of influences: the retro elements from his research, the personality of the country star they were shooting, and his own modern photographic style, all coming together to create something fresh yet representative of the desired look.
The Collaborative Spirit: Art Shines with Others
Throughout the conversation, a powerful theme emerges: Nick’s deep-seated belief in collaboration. His decision to co-found Reactor Media with his friend Kris D’Amico was born from a desire to work together rather than compete. He saw that by forming a team, they could offer a larger-scale production with more capabilities, anchored by a producer who could smooth out the entire process for everyone involved.
“I can't do this thing by myself,” Nick states plainly. “I have to have other people around. I am not good at everything. I'm good at one little thing in my little lane”. He recognizes that a shoot’s success depends on every person—the photographer, the food stylist, the prop stylist, the producer—excelling in their specific role.
This belief extends beyond his immediate team to the very nature of art itself. While many artists have historically been lone wolves, Nick finds the most meaning and fun in creating with a community. “If you're showing it to other people, that's when art really shines,” he says in a mic-drop moment. “You have to show it to other people for it to have meaning. To me, at least”. Art created in a vacuum remains incomplete; its value is fully realized when it’s shared and experienced by others.
The Beauty of Exploration and the Amateur Mindset
When asked to define beauty, Nick’s answer encapsulates his entire approach to his craft. He acknowledges that on a commercial set, there’s a formula for beauty—a specific way of lighting, composing, and texturizing that will reliably produce a good-looking shot. But true magic, he believes, happens when you step outside that formula.
This is why, after getting the safe shot that the client wants, he is famous for taking the camera off the tripod and starting to play. “If we have any time, let's explore,” he says. “Let's go off the sticks, let's change up the lighting, let's have a little bit of fun with it, and just see what happens”.
He calls this “embracing an amateur mindset”. Amateurs, he explains, are often not so fixated on a specific outcome; they are free to explore. As a professional, he has the responsibility to deliver a set outcome, but after that’s done, he re-adopts that beginner’s curiosity. It’s in that space of exploration and serendipity that the unexpected, truly special shots are born. Beauty, for Nick, is not a rigid definition to be met, but an infinite territory to be explored. It’s the act of looking deeper at something mundane and, through exploration, finding what makes it beautiful.
For any young photographer or aspiring creative, Nick’s final piece of advice is the simplest and most powerful. When asked what they should do, he channels the famous slogan: “Just do it”. “Talking the talk is one thing, but you actually have to go do it,” he insists. “Go out there and create something”. Don’t let fear or intimidation hold you back. The most important part is the act of creating. Just begin.
