Everybody shoot landscape. But
only selected create some good ones. What did they missed to make
it good?
Art, in all forms, is immensely subjective.
I don’t know if anybody can give
universal reasons why something
should be categorized as “good” or
“bad”. I certainly do not have that understanding.
Some photographs touch
us emotionally, more deeply than others.
There are many reasons why this
could be, including; choice of subject
matter, technical excellence, aesthetic
pleasure, personal resonance, intellectual
curiosity, etc.
You do very intense personal project
and also commercial project. What
interesting for us is both project
output have the same style and the
same character. While some photographer
do a very different style &
character of output when shooting
for personal & commercial project.
What do you think about this? Why
can’t they do the same?
I am very fortunate and due to the success of my landscape work, I have
been able to accept commercial work
which allows me to use my personal
style of photographing. There would
really be no reason for anybody to
commission me if they didn’t want the
resulting images to be in my style. I am
also not sure I could photograph very
well in any other way. Practically speaking,
most photographers are not in a
position to turn down work and it is
necessary for them to adapt their style
and technique to the client’s needs and
wishes. I would certainly do the same
if my fine art work did not give me any
income!
Mention one word that describe
your photos
Sorry, I cant : ) I will leave that answer
for somebody else



What kind of picture deserve labeled
as “the great one”?
I think a book could be written on
this subject! In fact, many have been.
I believe a “great” photograph is in
the mind, heart, soul and spirit of the
beholder. Some photographs may be
considered “great” by consensus, others
by single individuals. There are “great”
photographs by ordinary photographers,
and ordinary photographs by
“great” photographers. Ultimately,
“great” is a label, subjectively applied.
You regularly do exhibition. Do you
think all photographers should do
exhibitions regularly? How often?
And please explain the reasons.
I cannot speak for other photographers.
For myself, I think it is important
to share images, whether it is through
exhibitions, web sites, books, calendars,
posters, notecards, etc. I think one
of the prime reasons to be a photographer
is the willingness and even
necessity to exhibit what is created.
Being a photographer means that I
hunt for experiences. I am privileged to
witness amazing things. I try to record
and interpret them. I don’t believe I
should hoard the results. I like to think
that I am a medium for others to see
things they might not otherwise have
the opportunity to see. I think that I am
really a guide.

Practically, exhibitions give me deadlines
to finish prints. They help me to
survey a body of work objectively, and
I am always interested in the viewers
reactions and responses. Exhibitions
also enable to me to survive because
my livelihood is very much based in
print sales.
If there is some kind of checklist
to achieved before you press the
shutter release, what aspect/point
should be on the list?
I would suggest that there is some sort
of resonance, connection or personal
response with the subject matter. But it
is different for everybody. Sometimes,
it is a form of therapy just to wander
and photograph. The results may not
even matter. Sometimes it helps to
see, understand and connect us the
world. Sometimes, it does precisely the
opposite and rather than experience
the world itself we hide behind the
camera. I like to think that I am having
a conversation with whatever I photograph.
I try not to steal an image, but
rather acknowledge that a photograph
is being made.
I look for an interesting composition,
an arrangement of shapes and tonalities.
I am drawn to certain lighting conditions and atmospheres. But it is
all so personal. For example I’ve always
liked to photograph in “conditions”;
mist, rain, snow, etc., where distracting
backgrounds are eliminated or subdued.
Sunshine and blue sky has never
appealed to me. Too much light tends
to reveal all the details of a scene and
I am not interested in a perfect photocopy.
I prefer suggestion over description.
I like to use the analogy of haiku
poetry where just a few elements act as
catalysts for one’s imagination. Often
I make long time exposures so that
detailed water becomes floating mist,
clouds in the sky become blurred masses
of tonality and a populated scene
becomes empty. The world is pretty
chaotic, seemingly always speeding up
and getting louder and more visually
dense. I am interested in finding and/or
creating calm shelters from the storm,
places where quiet solitude is encouraged
and inner contemplation is possible.
I think we could all use a break
from time to time…

How did you know photography? Tell us from the beginning.
I was born in 1953 in Widnes, Lancashire, England, The youngest of six children
in a working class, Irish-Catholic family. There was certainly no tradition of art
among my family at the time. Growing up I was highly impressed by the Catholic
Church and just before I became 11 years old, I entered a seminary school to train
to become a priest. I left the school when I was 17. Art had been one of my strongest
subjects and I went on to study at the Banbury School of Art in Oxfordshire.
Photography was one of many art mediums that I was exposed to as part of the course-work. I made images of my surroundings.

It was very exciting. I think
I took pictures in my mind from when I
was a child, but my first serious efforts
were made at this time.
I later went onto the London College of
Printing, where I studied photography
for three years. Initially I studied more
commercial aspects of the medium;
fashion, advertising, sports, still lives,
photojournalism, etc., and did not
know about the rich tradition of landscape
photography. Later on, I saw the
works of such luminaries as Bill Brandt,
Josef Sudek, Eugene Atget, and Alfred
Steigliz. They were profoundly impressive
and influential. I had studied the
history of art in other courses and I was
particularly entranced by the painters
Casper David Friedrich, John Constable
and Joseph Turner. But who knows
where influences come from. I am
sure that there have been thousands
of painters, sculptors, photographers,
writers, musicians, poets, etc., who
have greatly influenced me. The list
would be very long.
After graduating, I did some assisting
and printing for an advertising photographer,
Anthony Blake. Landscape
photography became my hobby and passion which I did in the mornings,
evenings and on the weekend when
I wasn’t “working”. It was really only
when I went to the USA in the mid seventies
that I considered the possibility
of making a living in the fine arts. There
were photography galleries in New
York and there seemed to be a higher
acceptance of photography as an art
form. I decided to base myself in San
Francisco, and subsequently lived there
for many years, before moving North
to Portland, Oregon in 2004, and then
Seattle, Washington in 2007, where I
currently live.


What interest you on photography?
Imagine being out at night, alone,
under starry skies, listening to silence,
watching the world slowly move, all
senses alive, thinking, imagining, and
dreaming. The camera is recording,
creating, documenting, seeing what
the eye cannot see – cumulative time.
Or imagine the sensation of being in
a field as the snow falls on a single,
exquisite tree. White all around. Just
the sound of snow falling. Or again,
the crashing of angry waves, pre dawn,
against white sand, clouds in the sky,
a glow on the horizon from the slowly
wakening sun. Then call that “work”.
There are moments when the elements
of life come together magically; conditions,
places, subject matter, inner connections;
moments that are singular
and very special. It is a privilege to be
present at such times and to have the
possibility to integrate into the scene
and subjectively interpret. It is an experience
that defies description, at least
from me. These experiences drive my
photography. I think it is a wonderful
way to go through life. I love almost all
aspects of the photographic process;
planning, traveling, searching, image
making, seeing the first contact sheets,
printing, exhibiting, making books,
everything. I am a very lucky person to
have found this path and am extremely
content.
It seems that you love doing black &
white photography, Please explain
why.
I believe black and white is immediately
more mysterious because we
see in color all the time. It is also more
subjective. I think it is quieter and more
calm than color. I like to print all my
own work and I can interpret black and
white very subjectively in the darkroom.
It is a personal preference.

to be continued ……

While the other option is looking some inspiration from music. Buying Adam lambert tickets and then watch his shows. Some photographer found their inspiration by looking on music instruments, try to find your own inspiration there.

Either from great illusionist or from musical event, new inspiration of shooting a moving object is always a challenging way. If those are not your area of fields, try to get Churchill Downs Tickets, more interesting event you’ll discovered there.

How did you know photography? Tell us from the beginning.
It started as a hobby, and from hobby it became a profession and later it became
a passion. Photography has become a big part of my life. I can only remember
shooting around with a compact camera when I was 13 years old. I took photography
seriously only while I was studying at graphic design school, and that was
14 years ago.

What interesting to you in photography?
I am more of an artist, a trained graphic designer. Photography to me is the fastest
way to create an art piece. My passion is to bring to people pictures of God’s
creation and pictures that touch lives.

You had a graphic design formal education background. Does it
help for your photography capability?
Definitely, we were trained to have eyes for colors, balance, line-arts and flexible
mind to create, etc. I often find myself out there try to create pictures instead of
taking good picture.

What’s the most difficult thing
shooting landscape?
I love the mother nature and the challenge
of the unpredictable weather. We
can have the best equipments in our
hands and as creative as we can be but
if the weather does not cooperate with
us, there’s nothing we can do. To me
that’s a great challenge.

We have seen so many landscape
picture. There are some
photographer that shoot the
same spot but get different
result. What should we pay attention
more to create a better
shot even in the same spot with
others?
Capture with your heart, it will be your
style. The idea is to be creative and not
to follow others. Remember, if the result
of what you are going to shoot will
be the same as others’, what’s so great
about your photographs then? What
impact can it make? A great photogra-
pher’s work will bring the audience to a
new level of visual experience.

Are you a kind of photographer
that tell a message on any of
your photos or a kind that only
pursuit a “good visual”? Please
explain why?
A good picture is when it tells a story.
Often what I capture does not have
the same impact. My job is to build the
stock photo library for the company I
work at, so I literally have to capture
almost everything.

What kind of photo satisfied you
most when creating it?
The kind of pictures that would make
me jump up and down when they were
captured and those that bring smiles to
people’s faces.
Whether it is a portrait, animal or
scenery….I love them all. Today, I enjoy
doing fine art photography and pictures
that leave strong impression to
the audiences.

Mention one word that describe
your photos.
Touching Lives

What is the most attractive spot/
location for you on shooting?
This is a tough question. Every place
I visited had its own beauty, it is the
question of how we appreciate it.

You said “photography is all
about opportunity. An artist
doesn’t make art – art happens.”
please explain.
As an artist, you may plan in mind the
kind of pictures you are going to shoot
but the results may not be what you
expect. You may agree with me that
sometimes the accidental shots are the
best ones.

What should a photographer
have in their mind when creating
a picture regarding that
statement.
Arts can happen anytime, anywhere.
It’s a challenge for a photographer to
always be ready and alert to capture
the moment

Please share us some tips to create
a good landscape photos.
Picture tells a story
Every picture tells a story. As an old
adage goes: “ a picture tells a thousand
words”, so the next time you take a
picture, ask yourself what story are you
going to tell. A good picture is the one
that speaks to you.
Foreground & Background
Photography is about composition. You
can go to a beach and take a picture,
but when you reach home and look
at the picture you took, what do you
see? You probably only see the sky and
the sea. The picture doesn’t look as
beautiful as the real thing. Why? That’s
because you don’t capture the atmosphere.
There are many things present
but you can’t capture them all into your
frame because it’s too big of an area.
That’s why the understanding of foreground
and background is important.
Try to bring a subject by the beach into
the foreground. It could be a flower, a
driftwood, a seashell, etc. This will give
depth to the image you are about to
take.

Colors
My pictures are often very colorful
because I know that colors attract
people’s attention. When I took a shot
of a bumblebee on a flower, I took time
to select the background. Remember,
whenever you take a picture you must
not only concentrate on the subject
matter but also to select a nice background.

Clean-cut
Focus on the subject that you want to
share with others, do not let unnecessary
objects distort your story. Many
times when you take a picture that
you think will be nice but turns out to
be not as nice as you thought it would
be. Why? There are many reasons, one
of them is because you have included
too many subjects in the same image.
Remember, when there are unnecessary
objects come into your frame, crop
it off. That is what I mean by Clean-cut.

Angle
It will be interesting if you can capture
your images from an angle that unpredictably
different from what others
would expect it to be/ from what others
would normally see . Capture your
images at a different angle and not at
eye level. It will give your pictures a
different feeling. If I shoot a picture from
the top of a tree, I’m also taking my
audiences up to the tree with me.

Warm Up
Most good pictures come unexpectedly.
Usually when I go on a photography
trip, I only shoot rubbish during
the first few days. You need to warm
up in order to get your system ready
to capture images. I remember on one
occasion I saw a man walking down the
road carrying two piles of wood one
on each side. Suddenly a gusty wind
blew his hat away up to the air. When I
finished focusing my lens, the hat had
already landed on the ground. A good
shot was missed! I said to myself if only
I had warmed up, I’m sure I would have
captured that moment.

Think Out of the Box
Do not think too technically because
it takes away your creativity. Get out
of the box! You will probably agree
with me that many experimental shots
turned out to be quite good. Allow
yourself the latitude to explore. Especially
with digital SLR camera today, no
film cost, so why wait?
In conclusion, photography is about
practice more than possessing a
creative eye, it is about making an
effort. You don’t wait for the picture
to come. You go for it. You must have
the attitude of mind that everything
has its own beauty and your role is to
bring out the beauty of each subject.
Remember you are the creator of the
image. You are the author of the story
that you are about to tell.

How to do such a photo? It’s a mixture
of Hollywood-like techniques – and
simple tricks. First, we built an almost(!)
exact miniature model of the island.
A perfect reproduction would have
turned it into a “find the 10 differences”
picture … not what I had in mind! We
spent nine days working on the model
of the rocks. It is made by Styrofoam
and is coated with cement.

As I couldn’t find any
cedar trees like the ones
in the original, I took pictures
of some poplars and
“cedared” them with the
aid of image processing.

In the original, a boat is
moving towards the island,
so my idea was for
a balloon-selling page
– and who better for the
role than Markus? – to
be sailing away from the
island. The only hitch
was finding a suitable
wooden boat, because
here we have only glassfiber
boats. I was lucky – I
found one in a souvenir
shop, a little model of
30cm.

Finding a merry-go-round was the next
challenge. I spent ages searching for
something suitable, and finally found
one in Paris. However, once it was
edited into the picture I realised that
it was far too pompous and practically
eclipsed the other elements. I
finally found what I was looking for at
a historical fair: a small, cosy, steamdriven
merry-go-round. Perfect! I had
to improve that photo a lot, see the
difference:
My brother
Markus is a
real entertainer,
so he
was perfect
as the balloon
page.

Now the photo was nearly finished, but I needed the reflection of the entire scene
in the water! We have software for producing this effect, but it is not good enough
for my needs. And here comes a very simple tool, to get the perfect reflection in
the water: my refrigerator! Most of the refrigerators have a sheet of “ribbled” glass
in the bottom (how is yours?).

I put this sheet of glass on a black paper in front of my monitor (if you try this,
take care of not damaging the monitor screen!). The “Island of the Death” scene
reflected perfectly in the sheet of glass. I only had to photograph it with a high
f-stop (f22, because it is a macro shot and I wanted to have everything sharp).
I love those simple tricks!
Let there be Light!