Interview with 1LPhoto

• My friend Katie graduated last week with a degree in Fine Art with a concentration in Photography. As part of her final portfolio, she needed to interview a professional photographer. Since I currently work in a studio (www.FlipFlopFoto.com), she asked me if I'd mind chatting with her for a bit. I absolutely love talking about photography so of course I obliged.
• Katie: Where do you find your inspiration?
• 1LPhoto: My best inspiration is the phrase: Because the light was good. Really that's all I need. (The guy over at reimerstuff.com taught me that.)
• K: What advice can you give for newly graduated art students?
• 1L: Immediately forget whatever your professor told you and whatever your professor expected from you. You are now your own photographer. Most importantly, don't give up. Things might not fall into place the way you thought they would. Partly because of this economy. Partly because that's life. Trust your art and do what you do.
• K: What's it like to be a lead photographer for a photo company? What are some challenges and some of the positive parts? Did it change your thoughts about studio photography?
• 1L: Studio photography isn't just about moving lights around and shooting babies. It's very fun, and very difficult. Even a simple headshot can be interesting and you can show a person what they really look like. One challenge is definitely confidence. Some days I'm not bringing my best stuff and I get really down on myself. The positive parts come when I show a senior or a bride a photo on the back of my camera and they say, "OOOOMMMMMGGGGG I CANNOT WAIT FOR MY MOM TO SEE THAT!" That's what I love about it the most.
• K: How would you describe your work?
• 1L: My work? My personal art or what I do for the studio?
• K: How about the difference between the two.
• 1L: When I'm shooting for pleasure my only criteria is that the light is good. Shooting for the stuido is a bit harder because you have to make the light good.
• K: What is your advice for someone who has trouble posing models?
• 1L: I always have trouble the first few minutes of a session. You can't pose someone if you don't FEEL someone. It's one of the reasons we're all so good at shooting our best friends. So for the first 10 minutes or so, do what you know will work and talk to them a lot. Get them to trust you. Get you to trust you. Then just do whatever feels right. Know they're not going to like some of your poses. Hell, you're not going to like some of your poses. Just do what makes them look good and feel good and shoot A LOT OF FRAMES.
• K: What do you do to help feel positive and confident about your work when you don't feel so great about it?
• 1L: A simple quote that I heard online a while back. "We all suck sometimes." I know that I'm a good photographer. Sometimes good photographers make bad art. That's just part of it all.
• K: Have you always wanted to do studio photography or do you hope to steer away into something else?
• 1L: Haha, well I graduated wanting to teach French. Then I wanted to be a sports photographer. Then I wanted to be a journalist. Then this studio job just kind of happened. Studio offers the entire gamut of what professional photographers do. We shoot anything and everything. It's never boring. If it does get boring, I'll find something else. I just know that I want to be behind a camera.