About Me

Hey everyone! My name is Logan Smith, I am a Creative Director, Commercial Photographer, and owner of a design agency called Swedge Media. If you are reading this, you probably are already familiar with Swedge Media.

I am 1 part of the 2-man team, the other half is my good friend Ben Worden. We have worked together for the last 3 years. We finally joined forces this year to bring Swedge Media to life. I’ll let Ben introduce himself later on in the live Q&A.

From as early as I can remember I have been driven to create. I believe this was both the influence of my family who was very artistically inclined, and my insatiable desire to communicate my ideas and interests with others in a visual way.

Because of this, I have become pretty obsessed with design and photography over the years. When i’m not working i’m usually scrolling aimlessly through Behance and Dribble. or old college design text books for way too long.

Am I Educated?

I went to college for 3 years to get myself a Bachelors degree in Graphic Design. I spent those 3 years regretting every single second I was stuck in a class room. I felt like I wasn’t learning anything valuable.

I was spending thousands to get an education that I could have easily learned online for 10% of the price or even free. I didn’t want to spend 4 years learning how to use the programs, and not actually making anything of any worth.

It took me way to long to admit to myself that school was not for me. So 3 months before gradation I recklessly dropped out. I started doing freelance photography and design work for a little while.

Covid hit, the work dried up, and I started looking for jobs. I randomly came across a job listing for a product photographer job at a nearby company named Blade HQ.

I liked knives, and carried a Benchmade on me every single day for years. I thought it would be a fun job, so I applied. 4 years later, here I am, a mostly self-taught Photographer and Graphic Designer, with what I believe a pretty decent, and extensive portfolio of work that I am proud of.

What Inspires Me

I have always been inspired by people who can make a living creating things that people love. This has always been a passion of mine, so through the years I have developed an entrepreneurial temperament. I have dreamed of working with big brands, leading a creative team, and influencing the world in someway with my design and business.

I have made it a goal of mine to help other people become independent, quit their day jobs, and pursue their dreams through business. I believe that in the world today, basically everyone is capable of starting a successful business, but some may not know how to do it, or what they need to learn to make it happen.

I’m not claiming to be a guru or anything like that. I just want to share the things that I have learned that worked for me, because I think it could help others. Especially in the knife industry, where I have been deeply entrenched in for the last few years. I feel like I can provide my friends, and partners in the knife industry with a lot of value with my experience and expertise.

My Experience

I spent 3 years with Blade HQ. I started as a product photographer where I shot hundreds of thousands of white background photos of knives and other EDC items for their website listings. This was a huge learning experience for me. Not only was I able to handle and inspect hundreds of different knives every single day. But I was able to study exactly how light interacts with each and every handle material, blade finish, color, and inlay. I shot everything from gas station knives, to $12,000 Protech customs and beyond.

I did this job for a year and a half before I moved over to the Blade HQ marketing department where I became the Commercial Lifestyle Photographer. I was the successor to Kurt, who many in the knife industry know from Knife Banter (Blade HQ’s popular Youtube channel)

Kurt passed the baton onto me, and I took it, ran with it, and never looked back. Over the course of the next year and a half I would go onto to shoot hundreds of thousands more photos of knives, but this time it was far more entertaining.

I had to learn how to shoot the best and most captivating photos possible for one of the largest brands out there. Not only this, but I had to learn how to do it quickly and repeatably, day-in and day-out.

I would later go on to take over every Blade HQ social media account, on every platform, and manage, plan, and produce original content as their sole content creator. I had to wear a lot of hats, and it was stressful to say the least.

I quit in late 2022… I left to go work for a much much much smaller company called Knafs. There I would join forces with Ben Petersen. I consider him a mentor of mine, and a big reason why Swedge Media exists. I worked with him for about 6 months before I left and started working on Swedge Media full time in 2023.

What I Learned

These are concepts that I learned from my extensive experience creating marketing content and photography at a very high level. These are the concepts that I desperately wish I could go back and teach my younger self. Since I can’t, I figured maybe they could help others.

We will dive into each of these topics through out the duration of this course.

  • How To Thrive In A Fast Paced Environment

  • Gear Is Not As Important As You Might Think

  • How To Create Original Images With Minimal Resources

  • Overthinking Your Photos Is Holding You And Your Brand Back

  • You Can To Tell A Story With An Image

  • Photography Can Effect Your Viewers Emotions Deeply

  • Following Trends Is Just Another Way To Blend In

Each one of these topics could justify it’s own course in my opinion, but I’ll do my best to keep it short. Stay tuned for more on these ideas later on.