An interview with edlcsre,
First of all, thank you so much! I'm SO excited!
1) How long have you been into photography and what got you started?
I've always had an interest in photography. When i was at school (22 years ago now!!) i borrowed a Canon A1 for a half term holiday trip and I was hooked after that, shooting film and sending it off and waiting the for package of photos to come through the door and see what i'd got.
I've always been a keen amateur, but it was the advent of digital and the ability to post edit which really caught my imagination. I've been trying to sell some of my work privately since 2012, but don't quite have the courage to try and make it a day job just yet. I try and shoot every image as if it was film, not be lazy with my composition and just shoot loads, its just good practice to get as much right as you can at the time.
2) Do you have any formal training and what kind of photography do you do most?
No formal training, but i did do an on line photography course, which helped me understand more about exposure, and to think about composition, but with a digital camera i just try different ideas and see how they look. I tend to be an outdoor photographer most of the time, either that or abstract/close up work, i like cropping tight and breaking the rules from time to time.
3) In your opinion, what makes a good picture stand out from the rest?
A good picture stands out because its different, or unusual. If you shoot the same thing the same as everyone else, by definition your picture won't stand out, it'll look the same, so its just about either capturing the exact moment, portraying a picture, or breaking the rules to photograph something differently. One of my favourite photos is of the tower hosing Big Ben in London. Everyone who has ever been to London has a shot of Big Ben, but mine is a reflection of it in a puddle in the road. I feel it stands out because its different to the normal shots, and thats why its one of my favourites.
4) What equipment did you use and was there any special setup? Can you walk us through it?
I have to confess this particular shot was nothing more than a shot taken on an iPhone at the hospital. Its my wife's hand and my daughter, who was born 9 weeks early and spent some time in hospital, cuddling up for a little together time. This was one of the first times she was out of the incubator, and it was lit by a window behind her, which gave quite harsh light, but it was all about the moment of her falling asleep holding hands, the tiny size of the baby being highlighted by the comparable size of the lady's hand. I liked the fact there was a wedding ring showing too, just somehow added to the mood.
5) Do you post process your final images, and if so can you describe your workflow?
My standard workflow for any pictures would be to sharpen slightly, all digital images tend to be a little fuzzy, and just tweak of sharpness helps. I'll then most likely look at exposure and so on, and decide if the shot would be better or less distracting in black and white. This shot was post processed quite a lot as it was very grainy to start with, being shot on a camera phone under natural light. I removed noise, added black and white and adjusted levels to remove dark shadows. I also, unusually for me, decided to apply smoothing to the image, to just soften the whole lot a bit, as it seemed to work for the subject.
6) Who or what has influenced your photography and what inspired you to take your winning shot?
I love trying to capture a particular moment, or a mood or feeling, so i try and wait for the moment to take the right shot. You can edit most things afterwards, but you can't edit the moment in if you miss it. Influences in my photography would be someone like Ansel Adams, I adore his work and some of his books are really inspirational. I'll never get to his standard, but i like how he looked at the world, and can teach us much.
This shot was just a lucky chance, the light was right, the subjects weren't even posed, this was just how it looked and i took the photo. Sometimes you just need to be lucky to get the shot, its no more than being in the right place at the right time.
7) Would you change anything if you could do it again, and if so what?
I'd been giving Isobel a cuddle for a few minutes before she was placed down, and my t-shirt was quite a rough material, and you can see the stripes of my t-shirt on her face! I'd have a different t-shirt on, but other than that I don't think I'd change anything else. I like this shot as it really speaks for itself. It would have been nice to have shot this with an SLR but trying to get that lot out in the Special Care Baby Unit wouldn't have been an option, so it was the best i could do with what i had.
8) What is the one thing you wish you knew when you started taking photos?
That you never finish, you never complete your photography. There is always something else, another style to try, another new camera to get, a new technology to play with. I also wish i'd known now how far i'd progress, and had kept more of my old prints. Major thing is i wish someone had told me how important it was to label and categorise photos. If I wanted to find this image, i'd have to try and remember when it was taken, and search around. If you're digital, take the time to apply metadata when you import anything to help you find it later on. I still don't do it, and always wish i was better!
9) What is your favorite photography accessory, other than your camera?
I'd have to say a tripod, as so many of the shots i take rely on one, but its just an extension to the camera. I think my favourite is my neutral density filter. Adding that to the lens can make crowds disappear, and give you the most amazing effects in daylight you just can't get otherwise.
10) If you had to choose one lens which one would it be and why?
I shoot Canon and I've been able to use their 70-200 F2.8 lens and if i could have any lens it'd be that one, which I can't afford!! Gives great quality images at lower light, and a good range of view to cover most subject. Of the lenses i do have, it'd be my 50mm f1.8, sometimes i pop that on just to avoid being lazy and zooming the lens, and walk around to get the right shot. A prime lens makes you think more, and sometimes thats good.
11) What lighting equipment, if any, do you take on a shoot?
A couple of flash guns (nothing fancy, mine were £12 each on ebay, and you dial up the power to whatever you want, so i test the power before i shoot) I also rely on the remote firing mechanism, which means I can have one of the flashguns off to the side, or behind. I have a fold up reflector which i also throw in, its handy to be able to bounce light around when you need to.
12) If you couldn't do photography what else would you do?
Interesting one! I work in IT and I'd probably just be more embroiled in work than ever. Photography gives me a lovely escape from my day job, and it brings so much joy to me it'd be hard to imagine not taking photos. I always seem to have a camera of some sort with me.
13) Do you have any funny or interesting stories about your experiences?
Not a huge number, but one memory sticks in my mine. I was doing a time lapse photo shoot of some flower seeds in a window pot at home. I was shooting one frame an hour, camera on a tripod and this went on for 6 weeks in total. Anyway, i was using a timer and this would mean i could leave the camera for 99 hours without having to worry about it. Had to go away for the weekend, and my wife had said my brother in law could stay over while we were away. Imagine my surprise when i finished the shoot to find several photos of him and his friends had interspersed my other photos. I tend to keep the camera in my line of site these days.
14) Is there somewhere we can see more of your work?
I have a website,
http://www.chrisrose.net where i have some of my favourite shots, i'm on instagram
http://instagram.com/edlcsre and Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/EdlcsrePhotos and love hearing what people like and what they'd have done differently.
15) Do you have any advice for the rest of us?
I'm not really in a position to advise anyone, but if i have to i'd say don't be afraid to take the shot when you see it. How often do we see the most amazing sunset, or something interesting, and we walk or drive on by without taking a minute or so to take the photo, thinking we'll capture it another time, and we never do. Carry a camera with you as often as you can, and just try out different things. Even if you take 99 awful photos for every 1 good one, you're going to get some ideas of what you're doing wrong and improve over time. Delete the complete rubbish, the out of focus or wrongly composed, but keep the 'nearly perfect' so you can see how you can change the angle, the lighting, the composition to get what you really want.
If you want a real challenge, consider trying to take a photograph every day for a month. Can be anything you like, but you must capture at least one photo every day. Makes you look at everyday things differently, when you're trying to take a shot a day.
Just enjoy yourself and your photography, thats reason enough to do it.
Thanks again,
chris