My TOP 3 PHOTOGRAPHERS on YouTube - Part 3/3 Courtney Victoria
Whether hobbyists or professionals, we must surely realise how fortunate we are as photographers to enjoy such an abundance of online content in 2026.
Be it conversational, confrontational, instructional or downright inspirational, it is, for the most part, free!
In this series of blog posts, I present (in no particular order) my TOP 3 PHOTOGRAPHERS on YouTube who have guided me, and undoubtedly many others, on our photographic journeys.
Introducing: Courtney Victoria
SheClicks Women in Photography Podcast with Courtney Victoria: Finding Your Focus as a Photographer
Courtney Victoria’s YouTube channel has been going since November 2017 and has found great success. She was recently nominated for Content Creator of the Year in the Amateur Photographer Readers' Choice Awards!
Having started out as a landscape photographer, this delightful young lady was a rare female voice (eye) in a mostly male-dominated arena and brings an altogether different perspective to the logistical considerations of running a photography business as a woman.
I especially enjoyed this interview (below) in which she discusses diversifying into educational workshops; there are many associated safety and security concerns that must be addressed as a lone female venturing out into isolated locations with perfect strangers. Insightful indeed!
I Need Your Help to Keep Safe (featuring Courtney Victoria🌳)
These days, Courtney Victoria’s portfolio primarily focuses on macro - with a particular penchant for fungal growth!
“…it wasn’t until early 2019 that Courtney discovered her enjoyment of Landscape Photography while living and working abroad in South Korea.”
As her website profile explains:
“As Courtney made the difficult decision to leave South Korea during the 2020 pandemic and move back to the UK, she was determined to continue exploring landscape photography, however, this time with the aim of connecting more with the wild landscapes of Britain. Courtney currently enjoys exploring local woodlands and forests, following streams, observing waterfalls, and searching for fungi.”
Source: courtneyvictoriaphotography.com
Most recent video on YouTube: I Thought I Had A Great Photo...I Was Wrong
Top-rated viewer comments:
“That quote you put on screen, "Be confident enough to trust your eye, but curious enough to question it." should be on some merch, or on the cover of your first book. Solid composition advice!”
@KevWilOG
“Never judge your own photo. You may hate it while others might love it.”
@Ericbjohnston5150
(This last comment refers to a photo displayed on screen in the above-mentioned video at approx. 4:30. It is a superb capture! I think she’s being way too harsh on herself.)
Subscribers: 79.1K
Videos: 135
Self-portrait:
“A visual journal of my experiences and adventures in the outdoors with a camera in hand.”
Source: YouTube
“I am a landscape and macro photographer, usually found deep in the forest or following waterfall trails, looking for the oddities and magic of nature.”
Source: Facebook
What is it About Her?:
Often set amongst woodland, Courtney Victoria’s videos inspire mindfulness. Her mostly calm demeanour - aside from occasional outbursts of spontaneous expressive dancing! - provide a moment of calm for viewers. I may be wrong but I can't possibly image her turning her hand to photographing weddings or motorsports; the involuntary chaos and lack of time to think strikes as discordant with her personality. She reminds us to value the process over the end result. If we come away with a portfolio contender, well, that’s the cherry on top of an already beautiful bake.
She has been keen to point out the difference between loneliness and solitude - the former being a feeling and the latter being a state of being that most photographers specialising in this particular niche can relate to.
Her style begins with "seeing" a scene and ends with the quirky names/titles she gives her compositions, which are quite enchanting to say the least, sometimes aiming to personify her inanimate, albeit living subjects.
She is a master of focus bracketing and stacking - “…a shooting method where you take multiple shots at slightly different focus distances ('bracketing') and then blend or 'stack' them into a single image so that more of a subject or scene is in focus.” (Canon.co.uk) Furthermore, she is not afraid to experiment with artificial light to enhance a composition. You can learn more about her interests, inspiration and approach here.
Too Much of a Good Thing?
My only wish is that her videos were not so few and far between! Audiences are generally treated to around one video per month. Understandably, content creation is time-intensive and offers minimal financial return on investment. There is often a conflict between creating art and running a business. Whilst we'd all like to persue passion projects, money talks. That's not to say there aren't benefits to YouTube for photographers:
1) Exposure: Let’s squash the stigma around blowing your own trumpet - shameless self-promotion is a must! 99%* of success is in marketing. (Not an exact percentage but you get the idea ;))
2) Engagement: Likes, Comments, Subscribes, endearment to the unique personality of the presenter fostering a sense of investment in the individual and ultimately driving traffic to a dedicated website selling products and services.
3) Authority: Showcasing work and sharing tips and tricks may in time establish the author as an expert in their field. Do we not tune in to learn and be exposed to new ideas?
Am I just drawn towards Nikon shooters?
I'm far from a Nikon fanboy or brand ambassador but being able to recognise a familiar user interface made her instruction more easily accessible to me. For a time, Courtney Victoria shot with the Nikon D750, then with the D850 - the latter being an absolute legend of a camera and my dream DSLR if I were ever to go full frame. “Upgrading” is a temptation I have resisted until now owing to the 1.5x crop factor advantage afforded to me by an APS-C sensor providing extra reach in terms of effective focal length and allowing me to get closer, more intimate shots of angsty wildlife. For example, a 150-600mm lens becomes 225-900mm when mounted on my Nikon D500. That’s plentiful zoom!
“I must admit one of the things that drew me to your YouTube channel was the fact that you don't use the latest camera, you don't change to the latest model the moment one is released like some of the other YouTube photographers do. In fact, you using a D850 and the results you get prompted me to get one instead of a much more expensive mirrorless equivalent when I was looking to upgrade from a crop-sensor to full-frame camera.”
@davidtaylor8724
…
At the end of each of these blog posts on “My TOP 3 PHOTOGRAPHERS on YouTube”, I wish to end with a lesson from the master:
“I believe that there is magic everywhere if you allow yourself to see it. I don’t concern myself with travelling to epic locations to take great images, instead challenging myself to find inspiration locally. Not only is this a great photographic exercise, but it also allows me to build my own version of nature and the world around me. As a fantasy lover with an over-active imagination and a rather logical outlook on life, I adore immersing myself into ideas, stories and places that mix the ‘familiar with the fantastic.’ It is amazing what you can find hidden in small corners of a landscape and how even the tiniest of subjects can tell grand stories.”
Courtney Victoria
YouTube is an excellent resource for anyone interested in photography