Joits

FEATURED PHOTOGRAPHER: Joits!


photographing people who i don't know out in public is something that i don't think i'm very good at. its something i try to work on but i'm always a bit nervous about people's reactions when they see you taking their shot. for this one, i was presented with this scenario and i am glad i managed to capture this moment. it's a photo that i sometimes am amazed that it was me who took the shot. the response i've gotten from the community on Flickr was amazing and overwhelming, especially when it was featured on Flickr's blog




i am a huge fan of cosplay. i am constantly amazed by the level of skill and dedication that these fans have in order to re-create their favorite anime, video game, or pop culture character(s) at anime expos or comic cons. it's also a challenge to try and get good shots at what can be a chaotic environment with hundreds of people in the background, other photographers jostling beside you, in front of you, etc to get their own shot. despite having to deal with all those issues, it's worth it when you are able to get shots like this. i loved the make up and the intensity of her eyes with the red contacts.

1 Tell us a little about yourself
I was born in the Philippines, but was raised in Zambia, Africa. I attended boarding school in the UK while still living in Zambia, and then eventually emigrated to the United States. I currently work for LA County and use that to fund my obsession with trying to experience life through my lens.

2: How long have you been involved in photography?
I think I got serious about photography when I bought my first DSLR from a friend in the spring of 06. I never took any classes, but I considered Flickr, the interwebs, and the many Flickrmeets I"ve attended as my class.

3: Equipment you use?
I currently use a Nikon D300. Lenses include: Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II, Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8G, Nikon 35mm f/1.8G, Nikon 60mm f/2.8D, Nikon 50mm f/1.8D, Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8. I also use a Nikon SB-900 flash.

4 Who or what inspires you?
The friends that I've made as a result of the many Flickrmeets I've been to. I'm amazed that people I've met on a website have become my closest friends today. I am constantly amazed by their talents whenever they upload photos to Flickr. Not only are they great photographers, they are some of the best people I've ever gotten to meet. I've had fun going on photo adventures with them and I look forward to more of them in the future!

5: Preferred subject matter?
While I love taking long exposures, or doing travel photography, I think I really love attending events like Anime Expo, Comic Con, etc. Cosplay photography is something I find tremendously fun and challenging at the same time and it never gets old because the cosplayers keep on making amazing costumes!


6: Name one thing you haven't caught with the camera that you REALLY want to capture.
I've always wanted to capture lightning! Living in SoCal makes that a bit difficult because we don't really get a lot of lightning storms here. But I'm hoping that one day I will be in another part of the world and have the opportunity to capture this powerful, but beautiful natural phenomenon... safely of course.

7 If you weren’t a photographer would you have another artistic pursuit? If so what?
Other than photography, the only other endeavour I pursued that I considered artistic was learning the guitar. I don't know if I would have pursued it more had I not discovered photography but that's the only thing I can think of!


8: Do you have any advice for someone just starting their photography journey?
Just go out and shoot! In the beginning when I started, I would shoot everything I saw. I would go on Flickr, look at photos and make it my "homework" to try and take photos similar to what I saw. Eventually you will learn what your style is or what you like to take. I think learning through books and reading websites can be helpful, but I think you learn more when you are actually out there and experiencing different photographic situations... and it's more fun too!


9: Plans for the future?
Nothing specific, just to keep having fun with photography. I really believe that my life changed for the better when I took this as a hobby. I hope to be able to meet more fellow photographers and to experience new things, visit new places and capture it all on my camera.


10: In one word, describe your photography.
Adventurous. I had trouble with this one... so I asked a friend to help me out and that's what she came up with. Thanks SoupyB!

Sma_Kee

FEATURED PHOTOGRAPHER:Sma_kee!


I would say this photo is quite representative of my work (actually, I wouldn't even call it work at all, but well.. ). I have been playing with self portraits lately and with diptychs or other kinds of collages, I think they make it easier to show a certain feeling or emotion. It's a game, an exercise of esthetics, but in the same time the feeling of freedom of choice. This particular one tells the story of the rain in Brussels, where I've lived in the past year and which I got to love and now, since I left, to miss


What a cliche it is to say I love traveling and I find Paris incredibly romantic! But the truth is I couldn't be more of a dreamer and I couldn't fall more in love with moments and atmospheres that you encounter and you live in certain cities. And well, some cities couldn't be more beautiful.

1 Tell us a little about yourself


I am still discovering myself, I am 23 and studying architecture, looking for means of expression, speaking a lot, trying to keep my life simple but complicating it with every chance I get.

2: How long have you been involved in photography? Photography and I have a strange relationship. I take photos when I try to shut up, I think. It's true that I've been doing it a lot more since I joined flickr, which was 1 year and a half ago.

3: Equipment you use?
 Unfortunately, by now I didn't have funds for getting any professional equipment. I normally use a digital camera, a Pentax X70 (the first "expensive" thing I ever bought myself with my own money, 2 or 3 years ago). Lately, I've been trying my hand (and my eye) at analog photography and I must say I'm liking film more and more!

4 Who or what inspires you?


For "who", I would say my sister. And when it comes to the "what".. I think solitude. Although I'm rarely alone and half the times when I am, I'm hating it.

5: Preferred subject matter?

 As I love traveling, I love taking pictures of what I see in my journeys. This way, I'm making my own memories, choosing what to remember, giving shapes and colors to my future thoughts about those moments. So I photograph streets, windows, light reflections, trees, people, moments, moments, moments..

6: Name one thing you haven't caught with the camera that you REALLY want to capture.


I am completely no good when it comes to night pictures. I have a lot to learn and to practice about it, but at one point, I would really like to be able to photograph the midnight skies in August in the village of my grandparents. They are a dream, a fairytale.

7 If you weren’t a photographer would you have another artistic pursuit? If so what?


I tried dancing and loved it, but lately didn't have anymore time for it.. However, I hope my future career will have as many artistic implications as possible, this is part of why I chose it :)

8: Do you have any advice for someone just starting their photography journey?



Uhmm... I feel like I am just starting it as well.. I would suggest trying to picture your dreams, thinking of things that make you happy and then photograph them again and again until you find the image that resonates with the one you have in your mind about them.

9: Plans for the future?



I am trying not to make plans. I am trying to let life happen to me by itself and to spend my time welcoming it. Most probably, I will be an architect starting next year, I would like to be a good one, but apart from that, who knows? The best things happen unplanned. And this is my super-rational-organized-controlfreak-mind that is speaking!

10: In one word, describe your photography.


I would say "personal". Not private, but personal. As in.. mine, about myself, through my eyes :)

Jeanette Lowe (Fishflix)

FEATURED PHOTOGRAPHER: Jeanette Lowe (fishflix)!


#1 Beach Boys
I love this photograph because I like to think I captured some of the essence of the boys’ personalities in the brief moment it took to press the shutter. It wasn’t a staged shot. I was photographing the stairwell when Tadhg and Aaron ran up and adopted a pose. It was a fun moment and they were gone. Having this photograph accepted as one of 60 selected from 6000 worldwide to hang in the National Portrait Gallery in London as part of the Taylor Wessing Portrait Photography Prize was very special.


I like this photograph on many levels. I like that people are drawn to it because they are not sure what it is initially and also not sure if it’s a painting or a photograph. I also like the voyeuristic nature of it and that it’s not easy to say where it was taken. It was actually taken in London on a rainy day looking out a steamy window by the Thames.

1 Tell us a little about yourself

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I was born in and live in Dublin Ireland. My background is in Marketing, Communications and IT. Last September I gave up the day job to concentrate more on photography. I guess I made the decision to give it a go when a friend asked me what I would do if I won the Lottery and I said - travel more and spend more time on photography. She said you don’t have to win the lottery to do that…

2: How long have you been involved in photography?
I guess without even knowing it photography has always been a passion whether its looking at other peoples great shots or being happy with the result that comes from my own camera. Saying this, even though I have always owned a camera, I only feel that I am “involved” in photography for the last couple of years. Before that I took photographs, but never showed them to anyone. I actually have to thank Flickr, and this group in particular, for giving me an outlet and an audience for my photography and for great encouragement.

3: Equipment you use?

Canon
I’ve moved up from the 350D to the 40D to the 5D Mk II.
Lenses - Canon L 2.8 28-70 and 70 – 200 L 4.
I love cameras as design objects in their own right. I don’t get caught up on the technology as long as it can do what I want it to. I would love at some stage to own an old Leica rangefinder because I find them beautiful. So if anyone has one lying around......

4 Who or what inspires you?


I have taken courses in the National College of Art and Design in Dublin for the past two years (Photography and Painting) and I get huge inspiration from my fellow students. Apart from that I have to say Henri Cartier Bresson as I was buying postcards of his for years before I knew who he was and still feel the same about them when I see them now.

5: Preferred subject matter?


Unstaged “moment in time” shots

6: Name one thing you haven't caught with the camera that you REALLY want to capture.


Too many to mention…. this journey is only starting for me.

7 If you weren’t a photographer would you have another artistic pursuit? If so what?


I studied design, which got me back into photography. I hope to continue to study a wide variety of art and design forms as I know it can only impact positively on my photographs. Never say never...

8: Do you have any advice for someone just starting their photography journey?



Yes – don’t be afraid to fail. I spoke to a research scientist recently and he said his business was all about failure and it was something the students had difficulty with initially but once they did it gave them a great skill for life.

9: Plans for the future?



I intend to travel more and spend more time on photography ☺

10: In one word, describe your photography.


I like to think I capture a little bit of Life

Radonich Aleksandra

FEATURED PHOTOGRAPHER: Radonich Aleksandra!!


I love to photograph places like this because they make me live the fairy tale which I had been listening when I was a child. I travel a lot and luckily still there are many wild / abandoned places like this in the Balkans.


This is another representative photograph of my social portraits set. I love to photograph old women in Serbia while they are working. I try to hide myself and to catch them while they are spontaneously doing their things. These kind of photographs are some kind of a documentary because soon in Serbia there will not be anymore super women like them.

Then the questions...
1 Tell us a little about yourself
I was born in Pancevo, Serbia, in May of 1984. I'm a self-taught photographer, philologist (I love etymology), mythology devotee and admirer of Milos Crnjanski (great poet). I also learn how to make violins (yes, fiddle)!

2: How long have you been involved in photography?
Since I started to use digital camera, when I was in high school. I enjoyed my solitude (one of the greatest gifts that an artist can experience) and I wandered a lot.

3: Equipment you use?
Olympus e-pl2 (interesting camera), Canon 400D, Fujifilm s5600 (at the beginning and still for some studio shots!), Canon ef 70-200mm (not so much)

4 Who or what inspires you?
Everything. I love life. If I have to pick something, then I say old women in Serbia who despite their hard life show us how we must fight to survive...

5: Preferred subject matter?
Vanishing life and will for life in whatever shape.

6: Name one thing you haven't caught with the camera that you REALLY want to capture.
Spirit of old life in Italy!


7 If you weren’t a photographer would you have another artistic pursuit? If so what?
I would play many musical instruments (now I play but not professionally) or I would be a painter (oh how I wish to paint!) or I would be a pro film maker of writer. Or scientist (I'm thinking to renew my mathematics knowledge).


8: Do you have any advice for someone just starting their photography journey?
Be alone for a while, enjoy the solitude, listen to the nature and your true self in photography will show.

9: Plans for the future?
To make a good violin. I'm sure I will because lately I had been seriously neglecting photographing because of violin making lessons!

10: In one word, describe your photography.
Livingfairytale

Thank you! The World Through My Eyes is the best group on Flickr!