A Look Inside The Mind Of Milton, An ATL Photographer
Dive into your mind and think about things for a moment. What do you see? What can you create? That’s exactly what Milton Cotton does, a portrait photographer working in Atlanta and LA. Milton, also known as @itsthreesixty on Instagram, has captivated people with the work he creates. “Making my visions my reality,” is his thing.
So let’s take a look inside his mind, shall we?
Interview with Milton Cotton – The Mind of @itsthreesixty
What does “the mind of 360” mean to you? Is there a message you’re trying to portray to the people who come across your art?
The actual meaning of “Mind of 360” is more of me inviting others into my creative world. I have such abstract thoughts when it comes to creativity and art and I feel like the world can see how I view art through my eyes, instead of the standard way of viewing it.
When did you first realize you were passionate about photography?
I realized I was passionate when I caught myself staying up til 5 or 6 in the morning watching videos about photography on YouTube. I never had anyone to teach me or show me how to work a camera, or what the buttons, and settings meant. For the longest time I thought you just picked up a camera and took pictures, but the more I taught myself, the more I realized that this was something I wanted to do for the rest of my life.
Where do you draw inspiration from?
I get asked this a lot and for the longest time my answer would always be “nothing” or “no one” because I never really searched for it, but the more I sat back and thought about this, I was completely wrong. Everything inspires me.. music, other creatives art, the world, talking to other artists .. any and everything gives me inspiration and I just use everything around me to create whatever comes to heart.
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Does social media influence your photos? If so, how? For example: are you inspired or overwhelmed? Do you feel like social media influences what you create and how often you do it?
As far as my actual art it does not. I get a lot of comments about my art and people either really love it or hate it but neither compliments or hate effects me and the way I shoot because I create for myself. I will say though I feel social media does influence how much I post, I think we all have a sense of not wanting to fall behind and get forgotten so a lot of us constantly try and post so I admit to letting that influence me in a sense.
What do you use to shoot?
I shoot with Sony A7iii, with a 35mm lens and also I bring along a $10 disposable camera to a lot of my shoots for fun.
How do you balance your professional life and your personal life?
This has been one of my biggest challenges yet, especially when I first started photography…but overall I’ve learned not to kill myself for photography and learn to enjoy my friends and other things in life but also work hard at what I do professionally. I love photography so it almost helps with the balance of both lives.
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How do you want to inspire others through your art?
I want to inspire others to create what comes to your heart. Create what makes you happy. Don’t create for others, or social media, or whatever is trending or what can get you the most likes. Stay true to you and your art, and use it as an outlet to speak to others through another language. I want to show people it’s ok to push the boundaries and be weird, and be artsy and have fun with it and also create beautiful work. That’s my goal.
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Any words of advice for anyone following in your footsteps?
The best advice I can give to anyone is to make sure you enjoy the process and don’t rush anything. Forget about the numbers, the likes, the followers and enjoy making art, everything else will come and fall into place. The more you worry about your art and less about followers, the more attention you will get.
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