Andy H.I am pleased to introduce you to Andy H. I hope you are already familiar with his work here in the project. If not, stop now and check out his profile here.... A seasoned veteran for sure, his work is sublime. For me, it is all about the lighting and composition, I see that first off and then everything else comes into play. Even in thumbnails, his portraiture is unique and outstanding… you just have to check it out BIG. My first vote for an interview was cast for Andy and I’m glad many others agreed. Thanks Andy.
1. Tell us about your first stranger?
There have been a few firsts. There was the first person I was going to ask. I wonder if everyone has one of those. I also went out shooting street portraits for a day before I came across the 100 strangers project.
The first stranger I shot specifically for the project was Abe. He was looking schmick. I had my background picked out. I had in my mind how I wanted the light to look. He had actually just sat down for a coffee with a really striking girl and I was going to ask for either or both of them to help me out.
Of course I was anxious. I nearly chickened out, again. I had quick internal monologue that finished with, "Just start. Just walk up, open your mouth and say whatever comes out. Just take the first step, and everything else is a chain reaction". So I rolled forward off my back foot, and started.
That's probably my headspace every time. Just roll forward, Andy, and then you're committed.
2. How has the project influenced you and your photography?
I'd looked at Danny Santos' and Benoit Paille's strangers and thought, "I want to be able to do something this good", so I went into Melbourne and had a go at some street portraits. They were very 'Meh'. I didn't really have any kind of strategy about how I was going to make them better. I found the project and saw Rich Hill, Xavier and Teppo's stuff and was hooked.
I had a decent camera and a lens with a shallow depth of field. I thought that would have gotten me most of the way there. I was so wrong.
Over the nine months or so i took going through the project, the camera became a smaller and smaller piece of the puzzle. I worked on making every shot just a little better than the last. As I progressed through, the things that I had been working on earlier became more and more second nature. The further i got through the harder I had to work to improve, because improvement became about tiny, tiny things. In the end, my photography became about planning, building a rapport, shooting, fine-tuning, shooting again, post-process, and presentation.
But, I never would have gotten to the end without the encouragement and inspiration of everyone else in the group. Many times someone wrote something like, "Wow, I wish I could do something this good", when i'd been looking at their stuff and thinking the exact same thing.
3. What’s in your kit? Favorite equipment?
When I go out to find a stranger shot, I should just take my D90, my Sigma 50mm f1.4 and my reflector. I haven't hit the limits of what that can do yet and i don't think I ever will. Of course I take more than I need, though. As well as the 50, I have a sigma 50-150 f2.8 that I use to shoot projects where I'll miss the shot if I have to move. With a bit of luck a tax refund will see me with a Tokina 12-24mm. The kit 18-105 gets used from time to time for family snaps when I am only carrying the camera and one lens. I also have a Sunpak PZ42X for light and assorted other bits and pieces.
It took me a while to think of my favourite bit of gear. I am really happy with the D90, and the 50mm is what I finally figured out was perfect for me, even though I had to sell three other lenses to get it. I really have good memories of using the 105mm f2.5 AI and having to do manual everything, too.
In the end, the one thing I have that I wouldn't be able to live without is my humble 5 in 1 reflector. I have used that thing so many times, in so many different ways it's not funny. It can add light where I want it and take it out where I don't. It's hard to get an impressive shot without impressive light.
4. How did you come to photography? Your history?
My dad had a Yashica Minister-D when I was growing up and I always liked the way everything had to be set up, dialled in and especially the splt prism focus. For me, it was like carefully setting an elaborate trap and then hoping an impressive moment would get caught.
I'm pretty introspective and I've always been into trying to get snapshots to reflect my family and friends how I saw them. I got a Canon A480 (with 3x optical zoom!) when that came out ten or so years ago and absolutely went to town. I kept it with me wherever I went. I took a snapshot of everything I looked at and thought about. I played with aperture and time settings. I did panoramas. I put a polarising filter on the front. I lived 3km from work but rode 20km home taking photos. I ended up taking about 16,000 shots with that thing.
After that I upgraded cameras a couple of times and worked them to death until I bought an Olympus DSLR and started to play with an old Zuiko 50mm f1.8.
5. Your best tips or advice for the other members?
1. Move forward. If you haven't taken the shot of your lifetime, you need to get closer to it.
2. Keep going. Especially with this project. There have been a few times when I thought that I had it as good as I was ever going to be able to. I think I was wrong every time.
3. "Photograph the light, not the land". I can't find who said it first but I tried to keep it in my head. But don't make the mistake I did and say it to one of your subjects. Oops.
Anyway, Thanks again Dave. Thanks to Teppo for starting the group, plus you and all the other people that put a heap of work into it.
@Andy: Thanks for the nod :-) It's a shame we weren't doing the project at the same time IMO.
I'm also interested in how Andy uses his reflector. I've written a tutorial on my blog about using them here:
blog.rchillphotography.com/post/2011/06/04/Using-a-reflec...
but think Andy has a couple more tricks up his sleeve
I'm also interested in how Andy uses his reflector. I've written a tutorial on my blog about using them here:blog.rchillphotography.com/post/2011/06/04/Using-a-reflec...
but think Andy has a couple more tricks up his sleeve
Thank you. I was a bit dumbstruck that I was the first picked for this. I am better than when I first started doing the stragers for sure but only about 1% of the way to being as good as I want to be. There is so much to learn it's not funny.
Reflectors eh? I use them the same way that Rich uses his and it's a great blog post, too. Most of the time I will hold it to the side of someone's face so that light comes back in under their eyes, which looks great, and at an angle that like it might be natural. I also hold it as close as I can to their face without it being in the frame. I like really nice big circular catchlights a lot. I also really like using it with the cover off as a scrim in harsh sunlight, but then I have to find a darker background.
Probably another big way I use it is as a bit of a.. I don't know the right word. Magician's trick? Distraction? Hook?
It's hard to get someone to deviate from their plan for the day, to get really involved in getting as good a shot as possible. I always have all these things I want to try but in the end, all I really have at the start is a slight indulgence on their part. So I talk.
I explain what I'm doing and why. I tell them that I'm photographing strangers because I want to get better and then say what I want to do.
"See how the footpath looks black but is actually reflecting a lot of light up? That is going to fill back under your eyes a bit and look great. Look, I'll just take a quick shot and show you. Don't worry, I'm not going to use it, I just want to show you how it looks.
Click
Then I point at bokeh lights, explain about matching colours, etc and show them on the back of the camera. All the while they're getting a little bit more involved because they've contributed and seen how their contribution has made the shot better. And I'm not just giving a camera lesson, I'm asking about their day and responding to what they tell me. They start to relax and have some genuine engagement, which I think is crucial to get, and hard to capture.
Back to the reflector. When that pops out, POPS, out, all shiny, I say something like:
"Now watch this. This will make just a really small light in your eye, called a catchlight. It's a tiny little effect, but it has a great effect"
I snap off a couple, hopefully at the point that they're still a bit bemused at the reflector, which makes them forget to be self-conscious. I show them that shot, and zoom in on their eye, pointing and saying that it looks great.
Then hopefully they're happy about how the last shot went, really relaxed and genuinely enjoying themselves. Then hopefully I can get a shot where it all comes together.
I know I just wrote a lot, but I get excited thinking about shooting.
And
, I think that woudl have been cool ;-)
bomvu: It's kind of amazing how many great 100 Stranger photographers have been through this group and once no longer in sight are kind of forgotten. Andy rarely post to Flickr these days. I was glad I got him to do the first write up and talk about his work. It is truly a great portfolio worth revisiting. I miss seeing his views on portraiture.