Uploaded April 2024 | Updated September 2026, 14 hours ago
In this episode of made. a podcast for creatives, we talk to Travel Photographer and fellow Japan enthusiast, Benjamin Lee, aka itchban.
We talk about his story of transitioning from UPS worker to full-time photographer, being around at the very start of Instagram, social media, and modern "influencer" culture, how the landscape has evolved over time, Japan, Lifestyle Design and much more.
Find Ben here:
itchban.com
instagram.com/itchban
youtube.com/@Itchban
tiktok.com/@itchban
—
0:00 Introduction
0:29 Childhood Ben
4:23 Previous jobs and study
7:00 Uni period
8:43 How Ben got into Photography
10:29 “Back in my day”
13:23 Back to Photography
16:50 How much savings before making the jump
19:09 How influencer marketing used to be
19:55 First real gigs
28:51 Commercial gigs
32:00 More on first gigs
36:54 We followed the technology as it advanced
39:19 Finding the “One” gig
45:52 How Ben makes money today
48:36 On brand loyalty
52:03 Samsung Ambassadorship
54:40 Distribution of income as a creator
1:00:41 Japan
1:02:39 Working in Japan
1:06:38 Japan in the Summer
1:07:58 Stopping posting about Japan
1:09:18 Comparing the rest of the world to Japan
1:12:10 Picking up agency jobs in Japan vs Australia
1:13:26 What is a “Travel Photographer”, anyway?
1:14:59 Labels
1:15:49 YouTube
1:16:23 Solving for overflowing backlogs
1:19:22 Ben doesn’t do educational content
1:20:14 On Lifestyle Design
1:22:12 How do people transition to doing what they love?
1:29:33 Becoming “that” person who makes “that” content
1:30:40 The consequence of running with trends
1:34:39 How short form content has fried everyone’s brains
1:37:04 When Ben tried to get Pat onto TikTok
1:39:26 On art vs content
1:42:44 Using short form content to your advantage
1:44:32 Making work that matters
1:45:44 Thinking about short form as a business tool
1:46:27 Short form video and income
1:49:46 Keeping up to date
1:53:56 Doing cringe things
1:55:21 Adapt
1:57:19 What does success mean to you?
1:58:13 Where you can find Ben
1:58:25 Outro
—
Listen on Apple Podcasts
podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/made/id1741735314?i=1000652732629
Listen on Spotify
open.spotify.com/episode/2qKbwnLKgtmqc95EQLI3x8?si=8296082810d0462f
—
🌐 Find me at
Website - patkay.com
Instagram - instagram.com/pat_kay
Instagram (second account) - instagram.com/heypatkay
Discord - patkay.com/discordinvite
🛍 Shop
30 Day Photography Fundamentals Accelerator — patkay.com/accelerate
Lightroom Editing Masterclass — patkay.com/lightroom-masterclass
Photography Guide to Japan - geni.us/DiscoverJapan
Photography Guide to Tokyo - geni.us/TokyoGuide
My entire Adobe Lightroom preset pack - geni.us/presets
Prints - geni.us/pkprints
📷 Gear
Full gear list here - geni.us/A6HPT
In this episode of made. a podcast for creatives, we talk to Travel Photographer and fellow Japan enthusiast, Benjamin Lee, aka itchban.
We talk about his story of transitioning from UPS worker to full-time photographer, being around at the very start of Instagram, social media, and modern "influencer" culture, how the landscape has evolved over time, Japan, Lifestyle Design and much more.
Find Ben here:
itchban.com
instagram.com/itchban
youtube.com/@Itchban
tiktok.com/@itchban
—
0:00 Introduction
0:29 Childhood Ben
4:23 Previous jobs and study
7:00 Uni period
8:43 How Ben got into Photography
10:29 “Back in my day”
13:23 Back to Photography
16:50 How much savings before making the jump
19:09 How influencer marketing used to be
19:55 First real gigs
28:51 Commercial gigs
32:00 More on first gigs
36:54 We followed the technology as it advanced
39:19 Finding the “One” gig
45:52 How Ben makes money today
48:36 On brand loyalty
52:03 Samsung Ambassadorship
54:40 Distribution of income as a creator
1:00:41 Japan
1:02:39 Working in Japan
1:06:38 Japan in the Summer
1:07:58 Stopping posting about Japan
1:09:18 Comparing the rest of the world to Japan
1:12:10 Picking up agency jobs in Japan vs Australia
1:13:26 What is a “Travel Photographer”, anyway?
1:14:59 Labels
1:15:49 YouTube
1:16:23 Solving for overflowing backlogs
1:19:22 Ben doesn’t do educational content
1:20:14 On Lifestyle Design
1:22:12 How do people transition to doing what they love?
1:29:33 Becoming “that” person who makes “that” content
1:30:40 The consequence of running with trends
1:34:39 How short form content has fried everyone’s brains
1:37:04 When Ben tried to get Pat onto TikTok
1:39:26 On art vs content
1:42:44 Using short form content to your advantage
1:44:32 Making work that matters
1:45:44 Thinking about short form as a business tool
1:46:27 Short form video and income
1:49:46 Keeping up to date
1:53:56 Doing cringe things
1:55:21 Adapt
1:57:19 What does success mean to you?
1:58:13 Where you can find Ben
1:58:25 Outro
—
Listen on Apple Podcasts
podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/made/id1741735314?i=1000652732629
Listen on Spotify
open.spotify.com/episode/2qKbwnLKgtmqc95EQLI3x8?si=8296082810d0462f
—
🌐 Find me at
Website - patkay.com
Instagram - instagram.com/pat_kay
Instagram (second account) - instagram.com/heypatkay
Discord - patkay.com/discordinvite
🛍 Shop
30 Day Photography Fundamentals Accelerator — patkay.com/accelerate
Lightroom Editing Masterclass — patkay.com/lightroom-masterclass
Photography Guide to Japan - geni.us/DiscoverJapan
Photography Guide to Tokyo - geni.us/TokyoGuide
My entire Adobe Lightroom preset pack - geni.us/presets
Prints - geni.us/pkprints
📷 Gear
Full gear list here - geni.us/A6HPT
