*Note: This is not a gaming related interview, so not sure how long it will last in this section*
Interview by
Jani
---
Hello, could you introduce yourself and tell us how you got into photography?
Well, my name is Andrew (or more commonly known as Panda) and I'm from Wales. I first started getting into photography around 6 years ago when I was handed down an old SLR (Canon EOS 650) and started playing around with black and white photography. From there I got fascinated by the developing side and wanted to learn as much as possible about photography in general!
Is it still a hobby and where do you see yourself within the next 5 years?
Due to work commitments at the moment it's still only a hobby. Although 5 years from now I do hope to be employed in the photography business, even if that is being more freelance and selling my work elsewhere. I have always wanted to work alongside the film crew taking stills for many nature programs that Sir David Attenborough narrate such as Planet earth and the upcoming Frozen planet series, He's a great inspiration and I really admire the stuff he goes through, so being able to meet him and photographing some of the locations they go to would be such an achievement for me.
What are you doing nowadays besides taking pictures?
At the moment most of my time is spent working so I have little time actually going out to take photos or do anything for that matter! But when I do get some free time I'm always walking around our countryside looking for new opportunities and places to photograph. I’m a keen biker so I enjoy some cross country and downhill around the local valleys and I've just got back into rock climbing, so I have enough to keep me occupied!
No wonder then that you have such a great gallery of landscape pictures! Is there something else behind this also?
I guess it's just something I've always enjoyed doing. I have tried a variety of work before ranging from sports, wedding, portraits etc but landscapes and nature/wildlife is my main interest. One of my main intentions was to show a lot of local people what there is to be seen in our beautiful countryside in hope for them to try and get out and explore the place more.
What is your favourite time of the day to take photos?
Like a lot of people who are quite keen on landscape photography I guess the 'magic hour' would be my favourite time. Getting up before dawn and shooting off to a specific location to catch the rising sun or waiting along the coastlines until the light fades beyond the horizon. That is when you get to see some spectacular colours!
Where do you channel your inspiration? I know myself that when I go out with camera, the first problem is that I don’t know where to start to shoot. Any tips for the beginners?
Most of my inspiration comes from my all time favourite photographer 'Ansel Adams' as I studied his work a lot when I was doing black and white photography and developing my own work. But I also get a lot of inspiration from photographers such as Joe Cornish, Lee Frost and Fay Godwin. Some days I just lack motivation to go out and photograph something, but then browsing through some of the fantastic work on websites such as flickr it really gets me going. I suppose for beginners my main advice would be to learn how the camera works first as it saves you a lot of hassle when you go out. Because otherwise you would be stuck trying to figure out which settings for what and wondering why things never turned out to be as you planned. You need to stick at it and keep shooting! A tip I learned when studying was to have a set goal before going out shooting so you can focus on that. Else you will be wandering around trying to find something to photography. Though that's not to say wandering around with no theme in mind is a bad thing!
Have you studied photography somewhere then or have you self learned everything?
When I left school I enrolled on a black and white photography course to try and familiarize myself with a few more terms and hope to progress more. It was a great introduction to film photography and I learned quite a bit in developing my own work. However, as the course suggested, it was only an introduction for beginners so I wasn't progressing enough. So most of what I know now is just from trial and error, reading a lot of books and trying to put that knowledge to good use.
Have you noticed any effect in your life and the way you see things now after you started photographing?
Yes, totally. For me I'm always looking around everywhere I go for possible things to photograph. Many times if I don't have my camera I would go back to the location time after time to try and get the perfect lighting and conditions. Sometimes it can be a dangerous thing, driving along the road and you spot the most perfect landscape with sun rays creeping through the clouds, kind of takes your eyes off the road ;-)... It's a fascinating subject because what you see one day at a location would be totally different the next. So everything is ever changing and evolving on our planet, which is a great thing for us photographers! When out with the camera you tend to see things a whole lot different, even from the same spot! For example, you got a wide variety of focal lengths on the lens and what one may see with a 10mm wide angle lens would be completely different to that of a 300mm super-tele, so it definitely opens your possibilities.
Where do you stand between processing and not processing pictures digitally afterward?
When it comes to processing, I try to do as much as possible while out on location. Whether that is moving around and using different focal lengths to save you cropping afterwards, or adjusting the white balance/exposure/colour profiles etc. in camera. I have been known to process a lot of stuff digitally in Photoshop and programs alike which I think is a great thing to do from time to time as it can spark up you creative side even more! It all comes down to personal preference and who you ask. A lot of the 'famous' photographers of the past edited their work significantly in the dark rooms to achieve what ‘they’ saw and not what camera took. One thing I dislike though is people who overly edit their work digitally and then deny it ever happened.
If you was to crash on a tropical paradise island with only your camera with you, what lens would most likely be attached to it and why?
That is a tough question. I guess it depends on what the island inhabits, but I guess you can't be picky on what island you crash on hey? ;-) But, I would go for the canon 70-200mm f/2.8 L lens. Although I've only used the f/4 version of the lens, it's one of the best I have tried, pin sharp and a nice focal length for all-round work.
Do you have some achievements you are particularly proud of?
I don't have many achievements I am particularly proud of, but winning a few battles, camera club competitions and being highly commended in a few online photography competitions (namely amateurphotographer.co.uk) has given me great satisfaction. Selling my first prints was also something I was proud of too. I had a few people getting in touch with me at a photography exhibition I was in and one thing led to another and ended up selling a number of my work!
Where would you like to travel to take pictures? What about Finland?
I would love to be able to go to Finland, and indeed other surrounding Scandinavian countries to photograph at some point, especially during the snowy/winter months for some nice moody black and white shots. One place that is on my list though is Iceland, I have seen great shots from some online friends such as Helga's http://www.flickr.com/photos/hkvam and it's really making me get myself into gear to travel soon! One of the main things I like about Finland are the (metal) bands, so that would be my main attraction, and going to Helsinki!
But hey, thank you a lot for going through all these questions and being such an inspiration! This has been very rewarding and at least I learned something new of photography. Do you have anything to say to our readers?
Just get out there and explore everything around you. Try not to specialize in one subject and keep at it. Photography is not meant to be a very serious thing, so go out and have fun!
Hopefully the upcoming summer will be very fruitful for you!
Hopefully we will hear from you in the near future in Finland too!
More pictures in his gallery: http://www.flickr.com/photos/inyunyyn/
Interview by
Jani---
Hello, could you introduce yourself and tell us how you got into photography?
Well, my name is Andrew (or more commonly known as Panda) and I'm from Wales. I first started getting into photography around 6 years ago when I was handed down an old SLR (Canon EOS 650) and started playing around with black and white photography. From there I got fascinated by the developing side and wanted to learn as much as possible about photography in general!
Is it still a hobby and where do you see yourself within the next 5 years?
Due to work commitments at the moment it's still only a hobby. Although 5 years from now I do hope to be employed in the photography business, even if that is being more freelance and selling my work elsewhere. I have always wanted to work alongside the film crew taking stills for many nature programs that Sir David Attenborough narrate such as Planet earth and the upcoming Frozen planet series, He's a great inspiration and I really admire the stuff he goes through, so being able to meet him and photographing some of the locations they go to would be such an achievement for me.
What are you doing nowadays besides taking pictures?
At the moment most of my time is spent working so I have little time actually going out to take photos or do anything for that matter! But when I do get some free time I'm always walking around our countryside looking for new opportunities and places to photograph. I’m a keen biker so I enjoy some cross country and downhill around the local valleys and I've just got back into rock climbing, so I have enough to keep me occupied!
No wonder then that you have such a great gallery of landscape pictures! Is there something else behind this also?
I guess it's just something I've always enjoyed doing. I have tried a variety of work before ranging from sports, wedding, portraits etc but landscapes and nature/wildlife is my main interest. One of my main intentions was to show a lot of local people what there is to be seen in our beautiful countryside in hope for them to try and get out and explore the place more.
What is your favourite time of the day to take photos?
Like a lot of people who are quite keen on landscape photography I guess the 'magic hour' would be my favourite time. Getting up before dawn and shooting off to a specific location to catch the rising sun or waiting along the coastlines until the light fades beyond the horizon. That is when you get to see some spectacular colours!
Where do you channel your inspiration? I know myself that when I go out with camera, the first problem is that I don’t know where to start to shoot. Any tips for the beginners?
Most of my inspiration comes from my all time favourite photographer 'Ansel Adams' as I studied his work a lot when I was doing black and white photography and developing my own work. But I also get a lot of inspiration from photographers such as Joe Cornish, Lee Frost and Fay Godwin. Some days I just lack motivation to go out and photograph something, but then browsing through some of the fantastic work on websites such as flickr it really gets me going. I suppose for beginners my main advice would be to learn how the camera works first as it saves you a lot of hassle when you go out. Because otherwise you would be stuck trying to figure out which settings for what and wondering why things never turned out to be as you planned. You need to stick at it and keep shooting! A tip I learned when studying was to have a set goal before going out shooting so you can focus on that. Else you will be wandering around trying to find something to photography. Though that's not to say wandering around with no theme in mind is a bad thing!
Have you studied photography somewhere then or have you self learned everything?
When I left school I enrolled on a black and white photography course to try and familiarize myself with a few more terms and hope to progress more. It was a great introduction to film photography and I learned quite a bit in developing my own work. However, as the course suggested, it was only an introduction for beginners so I wasn't progressing enough. So most of what I know now is just from trial and error, reading a lot of books and trying to put that knowledge to good use.
Have you noticed any effect in your life and the way you see things now after you started photographing?
Yes, totally. For me I'm always looking around everywhere I go for possible things to photograph. Many times if I don't have my camera I would go back to the location time after time to try and get the perfect lighting and conditions. Sometimes it can be a dangerous thing, driving along the road and you spot the most perfect landscape with sun rays creeping through the clouds, kind of takes your eyes off the road ;-)... It's a fascinating subject because what you see one day at a location would be totally different the next. So everything is ever changing and evolving on our planet, which is a great thing for us photographers! When out with the camera you tend to see things a whole lot different, even from the same spot! For example, you got a wide variety of focal lengths on the lens and what one may see with a 10mm wide angle lens would be completely different to that of a 300mm super-tele, so it definitely opens your possibilities.
Where do you stand between processing and not processing pictures digitally afterward?
When it comes to processing, I try to do as much as possible while out on location. Whether that is moving around and using different focal lengths to save you cropping afterwards, or adjusting the white balance/exposure/colour profiles etc. in camera. I have been known to process a lot of stuff digitally in Photoshop and programs alike which I think is a great thing to do from time to time as it can spark up you creative side even more! It all comes down to personal preference and who you ask. A lot of the 'famous' photographers of the past edited their work significantly in the dark rooms to achieve what ‘they’ saw and not what camera took. One thing I dislike though is people who overly edit their work digitally and then deny it ever happened.
If you was to crash on a tropical paradise island with only your camera with you, what lens would most likely be attached to it and why?
That is a tough question. I guess it depends on what the island inhabits, but I guess you can't be picky on what island you crash on hey? ;-) But, I would go for the canon 70-200mm f/2.8 L lens. Although I've only used the f/4 version of the lens, it's one of the best I have tried, pin sharp and a nice focal length for all-round work.
Do you have some achievements you are particularly proud of?
I don't have many achievements I am particularly proud of, but winning a few battles, camera club competitions and being highly commended in a few online photography competitions (namely amateurphotographer.co.uk) has given me great satisfaction. Selling my first prints was also something I was proud of too. I had a few people getting in touch with me at a photography exhibition I was in and one thing led to another and ended up selling a number of my work!
Where would you like to travel to take pictures? What about Finland?
I would love to be able to go to Finland, and indeed other surrounding Scandinavian countries to photograph at some point, especially during the snowy/winter months for some nice moody black and white shots. One place that is on my list though is Iceland, I have seen great shots from some online friends such as Helga's http://www.flickr.com/photos/hkvam and it's really making me get myself into gear to travel soon! One of the main things I like about Finland are the (metal) bands, so that would be my main attraction, and going to Helsinki!
But hey, thank you a lot for going through all these questions and being such an inspiration! This has been very rewarding and at least I learned something new of photography. Do you have anything to say to our readers?
Just get out there and explore everything around you. Try not to specialize in one subject and keep at it. Photography is not meant to be a very serious thing, so go out and have fun!
Hopefully the upcoming summer will be very fruitful for you!
Hopefully we will hear from you in the near future in Finland too!
More pictures in his gallery: http://www.flickr.com/photos/inyunyyn/
Panda <3
but why some finnish parts? ;o
i will read it when i have time!
Have you tried taking normal pictures of waterfalls yet, or only ones with longer exposure?
[e] got a 1280x1024 sized one? (or bigger)
(L) Pandrew ;*
You can check his photos here :)
How's Yonah? :=d
Might do a small run of A2 prints soon ;-)
Not that easy to get a job in the bussiness though, out of all the people I know only a few actually managed to get a good job with photography involved.
Still, luck be with you <3
Sigma 10-20mm
Canon 18-55mm
Canon 50mm f/1.8
Canon 35-70mm
Sigma 100mm macro f/2.8
Think that's it :P
Why you have no 200,300mm or higher?
I used to have a few teles, canon 70-200 and sigma 70-300 but ended up selling them. Will get the 70-300 again soon as they are cheap and fun to use :)
This was @ 10mm, I was about 5-10" from the waves!