"The reason I love photography so much is that it challenges you in so many ways. You need strong technical skills to select and operate the complex equipment for each assignment, but you also need a creative approach to imagine how a scene or model can be best presented in the context. Then, you have to organise everyone – to get the people and products in the right place, knowing what you need them to do and how to do it, liaising with the client to minimise the time taken and understand their requirements.
Just like there are those three core skills – technical, creative and organisational, my work has three parallel tracks; weddings and events (which are more about being creative and organisational), commercial work shooting products and people (technical and creative) and commercial work of premises for businesses or real estate (which is technical and organisational).
I enjoy being the other side of the lens too – I think it makes you a better photographer if you can appreciate the model’s needs and perspective. For instance, a small movement of the arms can change the framing of the shot, for which the photographer may need time to adapt, but a model cannot hold a fluid pose – so it helps to understand the constraints that others face.
I am also an experienced digital retoucher, and knowing the strengths – and limits – of post-processing software allows me to photograph with an ultimate effect in mind, or to see a scene differently. It also means I have learnt a lot from the mistakes of others, having seen thousands of images that could have been taken differently!"
From left to right: Alex Wallace, Benji Marshall, Me, Sam Stratton