I began photographing seriously when I was about 21 and bought my first Nikon F2. These days I’m using Canon cameras and shooting digital photos. I love photography.
Recently I interviewed another photographer. Since she is on the other side of the world we did it by e-mail. I vowed that I would answer the same questionsI put to her so here is my interview with myself.
Canon EOS 1D MkIIN. Most of my image processing is done in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. I am shooting only digital now.
What do you want to shoot?
I enjoy shooting a range of work. Sports, products, studio work and portraits. I especially like street photography and shooting at night and in low light.
That’s a good question. My grandmother took lots of pictures as I was growing up. The first pictures I took were with an old Polaroid camera. Even then I remember posing my toys and taking pictures of them. When I was 21 I bought myself a Nikon F2. I built up this kit over the years and shot mainly slides. I reached apoint where I wasn’t happy being an “advanced amateur” and so just stopped taking photos.
In 2006 my passion for photography was re-ignited when I had an opportunity to spend a couple of days using a Canon 1D MkII and got some positive feedback on my work.
My vision is my curiosity. I have always had a good eye for composition and subject. Now I’m focusing on awareness of what I’m drawn to in these images.
Some drama, or conflict, juxtaposition or irony. Some moment that would pass by unoticed if I didn’t make the photo.
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I live in the Bay Area of San Francisco for almost 7 years.
I grew up in Georgia and Tennessee until I was 17 when I moved to the West. There I lived in New Mexico for a long time.
I owned my first business when I was 21 - a small restaurant in Santa Fe with a partner, employees and the whole thing. I started college when I was 29. I began as a psych major but life intervened and I didn’t finish that program. A few years later I completed a BS in Business Science.
I need to be willing to see what is actually before me. By that I mean that a lot of times I get caught up in wanting to see what I think should be there or wish was there. I make the best pictures when I open myself to seeing what is actually there.
Recently I sat down for a one on one session with better photographer than. Listening to him critique my work and more importantly the way I was presenting it I realized he could just as well have been talkinga bout my life in general. I don't think that's a bad thing, by the way. I think it the images I make frequently say as much about me as they do the subject.