How to Shoot—and Make a Living—With Your Cell Phone and a Small Camera
by Robert Gallagher / Bigbobby—Photography by Gallagher / Studio L7 If you handed me a time machine and dropped me somewhere in the late 90s, right in the middle of an overbooked commercial shoot stacked with strobes, power packs, film backs, and coffee that tasted like printer toner, I’d whisper one thing to myself: “One day, the whole industry fits in your pocket. Don’t fight it—use it.” Because that’s where we are now. I’ve used every piece of gear imaginable. Cameras that required two hands just to lift. Lenses that doubled as gym workouts. Lighting kits that could heat a small cabin. And rigs that made people freeze like a deer in headlights the moment you lifted them. But the biggest shift I’ve seen in three decades of shooting food, beverage, B2B content, field recordings, and ASMR is beautifully simple: You can build a real creative career—a living, a brand, a portfolio, even a reputation—using nothing more than your phone and one small camera. This isn’t hype. It’s...
