On this episode of The Nerdy Photographer Podcast, we sit down with street and portrait photographer Tom Hoops to talk about a career built almost entirely on instinct — and on deliberately not looking at what everyone else is doing.
Tom didn’t pick up a camera until his early-to-mid 30s. He’d borrowed a friend’s camera intending to shoot candid street portraits as reference material for paintings. He never got back to painting. Within days of his first shoot, he knew photography was what he wanted to do — a story that sets the tone for the rest of the conversation: Tom’s career has been driven less by technical study and more by gut instinct, a fascination with faces, and a willingness to just go shoot.
That instinct-first approach shaped his early work, which he describes as rawer and more powerful than a lot of what came later, once fashion clients started asking him to soften his edge. It also shaped the advice he now gives to photographers starting out: don’t study other photographers yet. Don’t read the books yet. Pick up a camera, shoot only what you’d want printed and framed on your own wall, and don’t touch Instagram until you’ve built a body of work you’re proud of. Only after that, he argues, should you start looking outward — researching influences, studying technique, and figuring out what other photographers are doing well. Do it too early, he says, and you end up chasing someone else’s visual language instead of building your own.
That philosophy carries directly into his portrait style, which Tom is known for keeping raw and unpolished. He talks candidly about rejecting the “corporate headshot” aesthetic in favor of something more powerful and more environmental — shooting on location instead of relying on studio setups, underexposing intentionally to protect highlights, and treating lighting as something to set once and then largely ignore so his full attention stays on the person in front of the camera. He’s blunt about where he thinks the industry gets it wrong: too much emphasis on gear, too little time given to photographers on assignment, and an online culture that rewards quick lighting-setup hacks over the slower work of actually learning to see.
The conversation closes on The Underexposed Community, the group Tom founded after noticing how much of the photography conversation online centers on gear rather than craft, and how isolating the profession can be for photographers without a peer group. Modeled loosely on the Flickr community that shaped his own early development — a loose circle that included photographers like Jack Davidson, Brett Walker, and Kirsty Mitchell — Underexposed is built around critique, live discussion, and the kind of low-stakes creative accountability that’s hard to find once photographers no longer have colleagues down the hall.
Throughout, Tom circle back to a theme that runs through a lot of this show: technical skill is table stakes. What actually separates photographers — what makes work recognizable as yours — is everything else: how you direct a subject, what you choose not to fix in editing, and whether you’re chasing your own vision or someone else’s algorithm-friendly trend.
Stream The Episode
Stream the interview with Tom below or on your choice of podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and more.
Episode Promos
About My Guest
Tom Hoops is a portrait and fashion photographer known for his distinctive, emotive style and ability to capture raw human character. Working between studio and location, Tom’s images blend strong composition with a cinematic use of light, creating work that feels both contemporary and timeless.
His photography has been featured internationally, and he is recognized for his intuitive approach to directing subjects and uncovering authentic, powerful moments.
Tom is also the founder of Wild Dogs in Paris, Wild Dogs Editions and Underexposed.
- The Underexposed Community: underexposedcommunity.com
- Website: TomHoops.com
- Instagram: @TomHoops
Ready to Ditch Instagram and Bring Your Own Vision to Your Photos?
Did this interview with Tom Hoops convince you to stop looking at other photographer’s photos so much and bringing yourself into your images? Let us know about it on Instagram or Threads. We would love to hear from you.
