July 28, 2010

Being a full-time artist selling my photographs at art festivals I am constantly asked questions about me and my photography. I have assembled some of the most popular questions here along with my answers.

1. What type of camera do you use?
   I use primarily digital SLR cameras. Throughout my 20+ year professional career I have photographed with almost all major manufacturers. I even occasionally use my iPhone camera.
2. What is your favorite camera?
   Whichever one is with me at the time of inspiring light.
3. Did you take all of these photos yourself ?
   I sure did. I also did all of the printing and framing/assembly myself.
4. How come my photos don’t look like that?
   I am an artist and have been printing my own photographs for over 28 years. Through hard work, dedication and experimentation I have become extremely skilled at bringing back all of the detail, emotion and life of the scene just the way I saw it. When you view my work you are looking through my eyes and seeing my vision.
5. But you must have a really good camera!
   It’s nothing too fancy. Millions of people have the same or similar equipment as I do – but there is only one of me. For me, photography is all about the print, and I do all of my own printing. To get a great print you don’t need the best camera ever. What is needed is a camera you know how to use properly along with great light, composition, and skill at printing your vision.
6. Do you enhance your work?
   Absolutely! I don’t limit my creativity to just what a simple camera can “see”. The camera constantly screws up my vision that I then have to restore through my printing. You can’t expect a cold, lifeless camera to capture a scene the way a living, breathing artist sees it.
7. Do you use paint?
   Absolutely not! I wouldn’t ruin a great photograph with paint. The strong colors you see in my work are the result of both my unique style and my skills as a printer. I view the world as being intensely colorful and I am able to share my vision of the world through my photography without the need to use paint.
8. Where did you go to school for this?
   I am self-taught. I was a photojournalist – published worldwide – for 17 years prior to becoming a full-time artist over 4 years ago. I started printing my own photographs when I was 12 years old using a black & white chemical darkroom, followed by a color chemical darkroom, and now a digital “darkroom”.