Rudy Umans' photostream

Please visit: www.rudyumans.com


I have been taking pictures for quite some time now. I used 35mm film, Medium format film, and Large format 4” x 5” film. I was honored with two solo art shows in South Florida and two in Europe. One called “Beyond the obvious” and one simply called “Wood”. Digital is a great medium and a lot lighter than my 4” x 5”

Interview

1. What do you think of photography these days?

Although almost everything is digital now, photography itself has not changed all that much over the years. No matter how complicated or simple the subject is, it always was and is the expression of somebody’s perception and/or feelings. I do not agree with people who think that photography is different now because the technique is different.

One advantage nowadays though is that everything is much lighter. My 4” x 5” backpack weights about 40 pounds with wooden tri-pod. Now it is more like 4 pounds. My lower back loves digital.

2. What did you want to be when you were younger?

A DJ

3. Tell us about the time when you first got started in photography.

My first camera was Kodak instamatic that my parents bought me in the sixties sometime. In a small touristy town in Germany. Just over the dutch border. In the seventies I bought my first SLR, a Nikon FM. I was wild and so was my photography. I took a lot of pictures of riots and all that in Amsterdam.

4. How would you describe your work to first time viewers?

I won’t. It is all in the eye of the beholder. After showing my portfolio numerous times and after several one man shows in Europe and the US, I gave up on that.

5. Do you shoot to what your heart tells you or do you go through a complex check list in your mind when you produce your work? Describe the feeling/check list.

For a planned studio shoot, I go through a complete check list. For nature and location work, I go through an incomplete check list. Usually, it works out to be a combination of the two. Like the boys or girls scouts, you have to be prepared. In nature, you never know what opportunities you can run into. There are so many factors involved.

6. From your experience, what subjects gives you the greatest satisfaction?

There is not one particular subject really. All subjects have their own set of challenges. If you set out to do something and it works out to be how you envisioned it, that give great satisfaction. It is even more satisfying if the pictures are well received.

7. Describe who/what inspires you, tell us why?

Life inspires me. Be aware of your surroundings. With nature photography in particular, music inspires me too. If I have to drive for 2 hours to a location and I listen to classical music, I come home with different pictures than when I listen to hard rock. One is not better or worse, just different. For some reason, the sixth symphony of Beethoven has a different influence on me than Sweet home Alabama of Kid Rock. :)

8. What do you do when those creative juices just seems to evade you. How do you “get creative”?

I just stop and smell the roses. I walk away from whatever I am doing and try to clear my mind, even just for a few moments.

9. Tell us about a time when inspiration just hits you, and you felt the insatiable urge to create. What did you do with that energy?

If the circumstances are such that I can dive into the studio or get in my car, I will do that right there and then. If not, I try to write it down. Writing things down, materializes those things and makes them come “alive”.

10. What have you discovered about yourself through photography?

For me photography is almost a form of meditation and it helps with my patience (or lack thereof) and understanding for the world around me and situations around me.

11. Whose work do you admire the most? Why?

In general, I like wildlife photographers a lot. Especially bird photography is so hard. These people have to take everything as it comes and still come home with outstanding work in a highly competitive field.

12. You have a funny accent. Where are you from?

I am born and raised in a small town in the Netherlands called “Haarlem”. Lots of old stuff in that beautifull little town. They think that a Haarlem native Laurens Janz Coster invented the book printing and not Gutenberg. The opinions about who really did are divided. About 150.000 people think it was Coster. Everybody else thinks it was Gutenberg. They are proud people. I Lived in Miami, Florida for the last 20 years or so. So, I am pretty much “Floridized” by now.