It’s anything, really. We have people aged 18 all the way up to… well, I wouldn’t want to guess their age! They could be hobbyists or full-time pros, it doesn’t matter.
Everyone comes and has a good time and gets to network and meet new people because it’s not every day that you can just chat with your work colleagues about camera gear.
If you’re not doing photography as a full-time career, it’s hard to meet other people who are into it so you can network and improve and grow and then make the jump to being full-time.
When I was playing professional sport and team sports in general, I was very much a believer that photography should not be a solo pastime and it should be something that’s done as a group.
By doing that, you bring up those around you by helping each other out, whether that’s just giving a few simple tips or constructive feedback on some work – how they did something, how the lighting setup was for a studio shoot they did. Whatever it was, you can help someone and they can help you.
There are always going to be ways that you can bounce ideas around and do it in a team, rather than being closed off, not talking about things and not getting help from other people. That was an important factor when I was setting up Shooters.