Interview for the club with =PolaroidVanGogh

Questions asked for the club by: =Ordinary-Ironic



How long have you been taking images and at which age do you have started photographing?

I am almost 41 and I have been taking pictures my whole life just about. At age 8 I got my first camera and then I was always the one who would take the family photos, so I would say over 30 years of picture taking, my family was a big photograph loving family so my moms house is filled with photos.

How were you introduced into Photography?

I guess you can say my dad started me loving taking pictures, but my real love of photography and really learning to look at composition and color and such started in highschool. I received a book called "The Family of Man" created by Edward Steichen for the very first great photography exhibition in the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The book fascinated me and from then on that's what I wanted to do, be a photographer and hang shows.

What camera do you use and why (example: analog or digital photography) ?

I use 3 cameras- For the last 17 years straight i have shot with a Polaroid Alpha 1 camera, this is my Love my Baby and now my Horror as I can't get real Polaroid film. This as you can tell is my PASSION, fingers crossed for impossible project.com. I also shoot with a Nikon camera,N 2020, it's from 1982, a great camera with a great Nikkor Lens, I love her as well. Finally against my wishes I have entered the digital world and shoot with a Panasonic Lumix TZ3, a sweet gem of a camera with an amazing Leica lens, I love her and am starting to soften up on my hatred of digital.

What is your favourite type of Photography and why (example: nude, landscape, children,...and so on) ?

My favorite type of Photography I guess you could say would be landscape and nature type stuff,Trees, flowers, fields etc..., but i really love to photograph my family and nieces and nephews who i have been documenting for 17 years. Polaroid Film and manipulating Polaroids is definately my favorite style though, that and black and white tray printing.



Do you have a reason for producing your images? To tell a story, produce a scene, or is it just the desire to create?

Mostly it is just an overwhelming need to create, but when I came up with my polaroid style and perfected it, it was because I would see a scene and say, wow everything is perfect in this scene for a great manipulated Polaroid. All of my work is done with sunlight only and when the light is just perfect it just calls out to me to capture the light before it's gone. Sometimes there is an obvious intention, but most times it is just the light calling to me.

Where do you find your inspiration?

Wow I find inspiration everywhere and with everything, movies, music, my family, deviantart, books, the light,my memories. Inspiration is all around you if your patient enough to wait for it and see it when it comes along, it could only be a fleeting second, but thats all it takes and when it happens you MUST follow through on it or you could have wasted a perfect moment of inspiration to create a masterpiece.

Is there anyone on Deviantart who has had a strong influence on your work? How and/or why?

There are so many artists on deviant who inspire me, so as not to take up too much space with everyone who I love I just mention some Hengki24 and intao for their strong sense of mood and emotions in their photos, Vexing Art, Grandeombre and kparks for their originality, pahness and snowmask for their graceful, sensitive and fluid styles, all those who love Polaroids like me including vickstar and equivoque, Ideoda for her amazing composition, god so many more friends who just inspire me with their kind words!! For me, after losing my Polaroid film and wandering in the creative wasteland for a year, deviantart in less than a year has rejuvenated my creative spirit back to where it was when I had film. It has shown me that there are people all over the world who love my work and have inspired me back into thinking about my art career and where i'm going instead of feeling soorry for myself and giving it all up. THANK YOU EVERYONE AND ALL MY FRIENDS FOR BRINGING ME BACK TO MY SENSES



Do you have any handy tips for Photographers on Deviantart?

Handy tips for shooting Polaroid I have, but my technique is useless now until there is more film to shoot. This is what I want to say to all the young photographers out there on deviant art, try to become a great photographer first before you go runnig to photoshop with an ok photo and try to make it a great one. Photoshop should be an editing tool and an assistance,but it shouldn't be your prints orcamera!! Look into old processes and see if you can do some great sepia toned black and whites in a darkroom in other words, go old school and let it help out your new school. The world of real film and fixer is still alive out there in all it's finger nail yellowing glory! I also believe in printing everything full frame with no cropping, I think it's important for every young photographer to really concentrate hard on filling the viewfinder with their art without the need for cropping. The viewfinder of your camera is your frame for a photograph that will hang on a wall as it was seen through the viewfinder, as seen by your eye, to me this is the most important thing, this is what composition is all about. Study the composition of as many Artists you can get your eyes on, Cartier Bresson, Ansel Adams, Wynn Bullock, Irving Penn, Dorothea Lange, Sally Mann, Jock Sturges, Robert Frank, these are the people who's compositions I studied over and over again so that maybe a little would rub off on me, and just keep shooting over and over and over again till you get your own style, so maybe this will help some and maybe it won't, but these are some of the things that have helped me.

Thanks a lot for the interview and the long long answers you gave!
To see more from this artist simply follow this link to his gallery: [link]